13+ boarding SOS

[firstboard]

Dear moms,
My DS will got to Year 6 in Sept . My husband is being transferred to Switzerland and we may be moving countries frequently. We have decided to take DS to Swiss for 2 years and then send him to UK boarding schools from 13+ age.
I live in Manchester, so we don't have local boarding options. I have been franatically searching internet and have managed to register DS for Winchester, Westminster, Eton, Kings, Tonbridge, Harrow and Whitgrift ( Yes, I am paranoid !!) .
DS is very bright, managed to get through Manchester Grammar for Boys here. His maths is good and English is also above average.
I have received test dates of Eton and Tonbridge. Where should we begin preparation.
Getting registered and getting a test date all happend in span of 15 days and I am now wondering if I should prepare DS or leave everything to his potential because there is not much time left to shift gears.
We will be doing 11+ English, VR, NVR and maths - GL assessments . What else should I do?
Thanks for your replies .

[JenniferClarissa]

I agree with the suggestions of looking at Uppingham, Oakham and Oundle - they are not far from each other (and play each other at sport), but each has a slightly different feel. I don't know Rugby as well as those three, but it was also suggested by our prep HM as a possibility for DS1.

[LIZS]

You could also try Cranbrook which is state boarding with an 13+ intake. Don't know about ratio of full/os boarders though as boarding intake seems relatively small.

[happygardening]

Win Coll also writes it's own entrance exam rather than using CE.

[stealthsquiggle]

Oundle? Rugby? Shrewsbury? Sedbergh? All good schools with excellent cricket reputations. Do you have family in Manchester that it might be useful for DS to be in striking distance of (who would be his guardians while you are abroad?) ?

[happygardening]

You could easily get overwhelmed with suggestions. In the beginning we only looked at those that pre test in yr 6, which then wasn't probably as many as do now. Decide exactly what you want and which location will work best for you, so for example we never even considered Harrow because for us the location is impossible, I loathe North London and from where we live at the time it might as well have been Mongolia, we also decided we wanted super selective, and proper full boarding so that narrowed it down in our case to 3-4. If my DS hadn't got a provisional place at one of these we would have then considered others who didn't pre test at yr 6.

[stealthsquiggle]

Not that there is anything wrong with your initial list, but none of my suggestions pre-test in Y6. Your boats are by no means burned if you don't choose right now, that was sort of my point.

[firstboard]

Happy - I haven't missed SPS registration ( Sept for 2017 entry) but it is primarily a day school with a few boarders, so am in two minds.

You are right about Westminster not suitable for International students. We have friends in London but I don't want to pile DS on them for all weekends.

[JenniferClarissa]

firstboard we were expats for four years and full boarding was really important to us (we were too far for a weekend trip).

DH went to a day school that took boarders, but had the best of both worlds as a boarder with parents close enough to visit for matches, Sunday lunch etc. But he says it was very much the boarding house vs the rest of the school.

[happygardening]

SPS is basically a day school with boarders only suggested it because your DS could I suppose come home every weekend as they finish at 4 ish and Heathrow is only up the road (although as I said matches are often on Saturday) and if you happened to be in London in the week you could take him out to a restaurant/theatre etc. most full boarding school won't let you take them out in the weekday evening unless it's a very special occasion and even then schools like Win Coll won't let you. A different type of boarding but could suit some.

[stealthsquiggle]

Personally, having seen the life of boarders in a mostly day school and heard accounts of the life of day pupils in a mostly boarding school, I want my DC to be in the majority. So if you need full boarding, I would pick a school where full boarders are in the majority, and certainly not one where most are weekly boarding - that would make for some grim weekends, IMHO.

[firstboard]

Thanks everyone. I have enlightened myself a bit more about this Full and weekly boards and it seems most full board schools do Common Entrance.

As LIZS said, no school in Zurich will prepare DS for Common entrance. So Eton, Harrow, SPS, Westminster ( due to weekly board) are out of question.
I spoke to SPS admissions team and they said that without going to a prep school that prepares for CE, there is no chance that DS can score the cutoff 70% !! And I do not want to drill DS for 3 years at home on CE.

The only encouraging school seems to be Winchester and Wellington because they do not depend entirely on CE.

The choice is between preparing for CE exam for 3 years at home or settling for seemingly full board school that may not have many weekend boaders ( like Tonbridge) .

DH and me are serioulsy thinking of taking DS with us around the world and hopping IB schools every 2-3 years if we fail to get a place at a good school.

[stealthsquiggle]

Lots of good schools have lower CE cut offs than that, and will put more emphasis on interview, especially if they are coming from an overseas school. I would keep talking to admissions departments until you come across a more reasonable one IIWY.

[JenniferClarissa]

One other option that you haven't mentioned (so I am guessing you probably don't want to do it) is to board your son for prep. He'd have 3 years (?) before senior school, plenty of time to get ready for CE and used to boarding.

The other possible advantage is that he'd potentially move up to senior school with a cohort of boys he already knew. 3 boys went to DS1's senior school from his prep (one to the same house), and he ended up in the bed next to a boy he'd been playing rugby against for several years (and now plays rugby with!).

[Patricia909]

I remember agonising about entrance to UK boarding schools some years ago. But (with the possible exceptions of Eton, Harrow and Winchester) our experience suggested it was a bit of a buyers market. If your son is a well rounded boy with the academic ability to enter MGS, is a good sportsman and has developed his language skills during his time in Switzerland, he will be snapped up by most British boarding schools. He is precisely the kind of child they are trying to recruit. This will apply at 13 plus and (assuming he continues to develop in the same way) at 16 plus if you decide to go down the international school route for a few years. So you do not have to limit yourself to those schools which pre test at 10 plus. You can keep your options open. (Almost) all schools offer a non CE path for students whose schools do not specifically prepare for CE - if they did not they would be limiting the pool of talent available to them.

Not sure if I misunderstood, but if you are indeed contemplating regular weekend commuting to Switzerland for your son, I should reconsider. Our children have flown back to Europe for the occasional weekend but it is fraught with worries. Once they are at senior school, they have sport and prep at weekends and are tired. A ten hour round trip ( if all goes well) is just exhausting. But the worst thing is when the last flight from Heathrow on a Friday evening is cancelled....

[LIZS]

Brighton College, for example, definitely has a non CE 13+ entrance route and while a mix of boarding, includes o/s students who could not return home for a weekend but may have a guardian for exeats (or could you return for the occasional weekend visit) . There are others, too numerous to mention.

[Xpatmama88]

According to my DS, CE is a lot easier exams than Winchester own entrance paper.
He is good at Maths and English, and being in Int'l Sch he is also Ok with German and French, and Science teaching in Int'l Sch is at par with UK curriculum. He found those subjects are pretty easy to handle. I don't think history and geography is his strength, all he did was read a few text books from Galore Park, and tried a few past papers. He found those exams are a bit like comprehension, just need to apply common sense. I think the subject he dislikes most is Religious Studies, but he had to sit the CE for that.
With Winchester, we got exemption for Latin, but he did an extra Maths paper. He still has to learn Latin in his spare time.
We live overseas. He got a place in Westminster, being weekly boarding, that mean DS has to go and stay with SIL every weekend, and his place in Winchester was subject to entrance exam, they only confirmed his house after the exam. So we had to keep both applications going! At the end we went for full boarding option.
I think the best is go for the pre test. Also ask Your Ds where he wants to go, make the decision a joint decision. He is the one who is going to spend his 5 years there. If his is very bright and ambitious, and he wants to go to that school, he will be motivated to work hard and prepare for the exam.

You will have the Int'l Sch as a back up, may be he finds that IB MYP is more suitable for him, and he prefers to stay with you. Your DS will also learn a lot of different cultures when living abroad.

[summerends]

Might be worth thinking about IB boarding schools like Sevenoaks as entrance criteria may be more flexible from international schools or you could leave it to sixth form, joining from an international school, or he could potentially join at 11 (if that was n't too early for you).

[firstboard]

Jennifer - Sending DS to a prep boarding school will be too fast too soon. Its been only 20 odd days since we began talking about Boarding.
Stealth -
Patricia - I have just started UK boarding process and it doesn't feel like buyer's market at all!! I am also talking to International schools in Zurich and that is a buyer's market - they are happy to give us a seat without seeing DS !!!

xpatmom - Is your DS also from Swiss International school?

[stealthsquiggle]

Have faith, I. It is more of a buyers market than it looks, but you may want to avoid the really big big names.

It might help narrow the search if you think about who would be his guardian, where he would go for exeat weekends when flying to you wasn't practicable, who would come and watch matches etc - and then look at schools within a reasonable distance of those people.

[stealthsquiggle]

I = OP, according to my phone

[happygardening]

For the small handful of over subscribed usually very selective boarding schools often pre testing in yr 6 it's not a buyers market for the rest even amongst the big names it's not particularly difficult to get a place.

[JenniferClarissa]

first that's fair enough (and I guessed that might be the case).

The Sevenoaks/IB suggestion was a good idea-the children of some friends of mine have done very well there (and been happy).

[Patricia909]

There is a huge amount of unnecessary worrying about entrance to these schools. Emphasising the scarcity value is all part of their marketing strategy. The bottom line is that supply of boarding school places in UK outstrips the demand from solvent British families with the sort of intelligent, well rounded DS you appear to have. They can fill their places many times over with Russian, Chinese and other international children but they need to retain a critical mass of British students if they are to continue to market themselves as British schools - which is what the international parents are buying. That is why, assuming the school thinks parent/company can pay and the parents do not come across as a bonkers DCs like yours are a much sought after commodity.

Exceptions to the above are Eton and Harrow (global brands) where demand outstrips supply. But again I have seen students enter from international schools, so do not rule them out. Winchester is in a special category but if your son is really clever and likes academic work it'worth a try.

Our own experience, applying in March of year of entry was that after a short time on the waiting list DS1 16 and DS2 13 were both offered places at two of the schools mentioned in this thread ie four offers in total (we did not apply to the others) and DD 11(with mild SEN) was immediately offered a place at another good school better suited to her.

Honestly, it's all hype! You can relax!

[firstboard]

Patricia and Happy - You give me lot of hope. I am beginning to see a place in school for DS now.
We ruled out idea of flying home to weekends . Its too much worry and hassel for DS and not too cost effective.

DH and his prep school thinks DS will be fine in Pre tests. I think I will have a better idea after we clear pre- tests. We will know how many Common Entrance and how many non CE are on our list and what are the realisic chances of passing the main exam.

StealQ - I have to work out exeat weekends. It is one of 500 things to ponder !!!

[happygardening]

You are generally correct Patricia only the global brands are desperately oversubscribed you listed Eton and Harrow I would add Winchester which apparently has more interest/registrations this year than ever before but does regularly take pupils from international schools, Marlborough which I have on very good inside authority is also over subscribed and a Tonbridge but it is basically a weekly boarding school so probably not suitable for the OP. Eton a Winchester and Tonbridge pre test in yr 6 miss the pre test and basically you're unlikely to get a place especially at Eton which also runs this weird waiting list system, Harrow tests in yr 7 least it did in my day as I think does Marlborough again miss the pre test and I suspect you chances of a place at a later date are slight. Those aside I agree most will take you arm off to have a bright student and the OP has plenty of time.