Private admissions - will turning down place count against us?

[TherapeuticVino]

Hi

We were planning to move my 10yo daughter to a private secondary at 13, but she is going through a rough patch now she's in year 6 and we're thinking of letting her try out for year 7 BUT we have to decide in the next coupe of days. If she gets offered a place for year 7 and we decide against moving her now, will that be held against her for year 9 entry?

I hate having to make such big decisions on the spot!

Thanks.

No, it shouldn't be held against you.

But an offer at 11+ will not necessarily mean a 13+ offer as there will be a different field of candidates then and the selection procedure might differ.

No it shouldn't be , but she would have to sit 13+ with everyone else. In our area at least girls staying to 13 is still relatively unusual so socially there are more opportunities to have new friends among the intake at 11. However the trend is increasingly for kids to stay until 13 (Prep fees cheaper being one reason) and that could make it more competitive at 13+. dd sat 11+ under similar circumstances last year , made the move and is so much happier.

Thank you, those are really helpful replies. We're going for it!

I imagine that the senior school will put a lot of pressure on you to accept the Y7 place, and will give you no guarantees for Y9 entry. You will not actually be at a disadvantage at 13+ though.

I'm not sure if turning down the place is a good thing and i suspect it all depends on your reason and how over subscribed the school is. If I was in charge of a admissions and I knew a family had turned down a place at year 7 for a reason that i considered to be pretty weak I would slightly hesitate to offer a place at yr 9 becasue I would wonder if you would do the same again. Lets say your child was competing for a place with another everything else is equal but the other parents you know are desperate for the place and you have already turned it down who would you offer it too?

I worried about this too as we rejected placesat 4+ for one child and at 7+ for another. Our present teacher thought I was nuts to think that after 5 years they would remember it when they sifted through thousands of applications in the intervening years.

Many senior schools now have all a childs records on computer and part of the information held starts when you first contacted the school, dae you attended an open day etc. details of any correspondence between parents and school will also be detailed.