How to prepare for a public school if you're abroad?

[Barly]

Hello, everybody, from a first-time poster.

I have the following question:

Our son is three and some months now. If he's fine with this, too, we'll probably want to send him to a good public school at the age of 13, with the usual tests and interview when he'll be 11. For business reasons, I've no idea where we'll spend the next ten years, and it's quite probable we'll be abroad at least for a part of it.

What's the best preperation for the entrance exams? (Sending him off to a boarding prep school isn't a realistic option.) Do associations of independent schools or the schools themselves have lists of recommended schools abroad?

Simply asking around what the best school is, both for him in particular and in terms of academic standard, doesn't always help, as other countries have different curriculums, of course.

Qualified tutors abroad? Self-study materials?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Increasingly public schools have opened spin-offs in key expat locations such as HK, Dubai, China etc and there are often British curriculum and Prep Schools which will work to similar curriculum as UK prep schools or you may well find that many come over to UK at 11 to prepare. Ask any school you consider where their pupils go on to to get a feel for this. There are often alternative arrangements for overseas candidates so CE at 13+, for example, may not be a requirement for your ds even at some top public schools. Also many private secondaries no longer rely on CE to assess candidates, but have their own entrance tests.

Where do you think you'll be?

It can be tough. I am in a similar position. Trying to be as prepared as possible and plan (as far as possible) for every eventuality is a good move.

I would make a short list of the schools you think you'd likely consider in time and speak to them explaining your own personal situation. How popular/selective are the schools you are potentially considering?

Beware of the spin off schools, many are franchises that bear little resemblance to the 'mother' school.

Many international schools are designed so children can fit effortlessly back into a good UK state school in time. This does not help if you are planning for CE. Ours does do a few familiarisation sessions but IMO these will not be adequate for most children. It's a problem and a reason a few senior people I know - with this eventual goal - have stayed in London.

There are, of course, many other benefits to an international education and
I am told 'international'/expat children are generally liked by Public schools and similar.

Give him the best and most interesting local education you can. As he gets older check what he is doing (in terms of standards for English and Maths) against widely available UK books (eg CGL, Bond) for his age group) just so you can be sure he's roughly in the ball park. That shouldn't disadvantage you for a good public school and frankly, any public school which is so wedded to a particular Common Entrance exam track is a public school that probably you can do without. If you have a particular one in mind then it is a very good idea to contact them a few years in advance of admission date to sound out their views.

The websites of the schools in question may have procedures for applying from abroad.

A school which welcomes overseas students will make allowances for not having studied for CE.

We're planning on doing this with our DCs -we've visited the school in the UK and spoken to them regarding their admissions procedure.

It's not unusual at all for them so they know how it all works from their point of view. We wouldn't have to do common entrane, but the school's own entrance exam. There is also an interview/weeding session at 10 years old.

FWIW we're going down the international school route as a 'prep' alternative as we need to be sure that their written english is tip top - but it's not essential.

Speak to your preferred schools and see what they suggest.

Dora - the problem we've found is that the some schools (re: schools own papers) on our list won't give us past papers or show us exam format. They will tell us they are looking for potential and approximate curriculum.

If a child sits a totally unfamiliar paper my concern is they will be disadvantaged. If our children sit CE then we can at least practise papers and we know exactly what the exam will look like (plus they only have to take it once).

The weeding sessions also worry me as prep children (from feeder schools) will have been advised and are so at an advantage. When a school is hugely popular and over subscribed I worry that our international children will be disadvantaged especially if they are not in the top 5% academically (who will probably be ok regardless). I know you need to trust the schools you've chosen and also that often they are looking for a well rounded child who can fully contribute to the school community in every sense.

Hamish - I completely understand where you're coming from. We were told when we asked about past papers for the school's exam that they were 'on our website' I spent quite a lot of time hunting them down on the website and didn't find them - only the curriculum. Now as far as I could see this was very similar to CE. The school we're looking at asks overseas students to sit maths and english papers.

My plan following the first tranche of interview/IQ test at 10 when we would get a conditional offer if we're to have a chance of getting in, would be to look at past CE papers in maths and english and see where we are then - giving us 3 years to prepare.