Private schools - how many to apply to?

[SamPoodle123]

This may seem like a silly question, but I am curious,

I think you need to provide more information than that ... where are you; how competitive is the private school sector near where you live; are you looking just at selective schools or a mix; do you have a state option that you would prefer to take and the private school is just a backup; how many schools do you feasibly have as an option; are you looking for a bursary or can you comfortably afford fees ...

otherwise you will get answers ranging from 0 to 6 ...

We live in London, where it is super competitive to get into. My list includes Queens Gate, Thomas's, Francis Holland, Godolphin, Latymer Upper, Putney high etc. We have 8 total.

We have a state school option, but also again not guaranteed a space. If we got into private and state, we would let my daughter help with the decision. We do not need help with the fees.

I'd think in terms of a spread- so one or two that are super-competitive, one or two mid rank, one or two bankers. Eight is too many IMO.

Has her current school given you a steer about what's realistic for her?

If I lived in London and could afford private I'd definitely send mine to a private school

Make a list of when the exam dates are and how many rounds etc. for each school. Then work out what is actually feasible and realistic and not counter productive. Some schools like Westminster Under at 11 plus do 3 rounds plus eg. music scholarship audition. That is very intense on a child and like applying to 3 schools. So the most selective can have multiple rounds!
You need to have 1 safe banker and your child needs to go into the interview there and basically tell them that is their first choice….

I would say 5 max. 1 banker, 2 competitive, 2 medium

Many thanks, yes, I think 8 is too much. I will do as the suggested above and go for 5. But the problem is, how do you know they will get into the banker school? lol. The head of school gave us a range as you mentioned. But they cannot really say if she would get into the less competitive schools. For the online practice tests her score atm is 122 and ranking is 9/10 for the different areas - Math, English, Verbal and Non verbal. I have no idea what scores are required to pass the first round of selection. I tried to google this, but it is not very clear. I am also aware the interview round might be very tough as well. We were not planning to do the 11+, but last minute change of circumstances we are now having to (not to do with finances). So I went from not looking into it at all to suddenly trying to figure it all out in the last few weeks.

Visited 4 schools. Selected 2. DS sat 2 lots of entrance exams. Received 2 offers. Made a list of pros and cons and then made our final choice. This was for 11+ entry. DS also sat the 11+ for grammar school, passed and was offered our 1st choice of state school. Ultimately though we needed a school with boarding facilities and do went private.

I’d say most people in London do 4-6 and some slightly unhinged (parents) do up to 12 or more…
On your list, Thomas’s for example would be more of a ‘banker’ but it can all be a bit of a lottery and children will get offers from schools that are perceived as harder to get into and not the ‘easier’ ones etc.
Will depend on your DD- mine was totally happy to sit 6- didn’t phase her at all. Others got very stressed.

Also- I visited some schools without DD and only took her to the ones I liked. She then flatly refused to sit for a couple so that whittled down the list..

@Winterofdiscontent22 thanks, that is a useful tip. I am hoping when we visit the schools that will help narrow our choices for applications. My dd seems to enjoy taking the mock tests and gets excited when we talk about it. She is very motivated. However, I am sure it can be VERY tiring when it comes to doing the real thing, esp when it is multiple schools. Heck, it is tiring for me just researching the schools!

We applied to 9 last year (yes, bonkers!)

We are in London and DD is in state primary whose ofstead rating switches between 'requires improvement' and 'inadequate'.

We were preparing her ourselves at home starting year 5 and we had absolutely no idea where she stood relative to her peers.

In the absence of any useful information from school, we applied for three very selective schools (likes of Henrietta Barnet, CLSG etc), four relatively less selective (SHHS and similar), and two with broader intake.

At the end, she didn't receive offer from any of the super-selectives, but received offers from most of the rest. So it sort of worked out.

If we had more information about her relative position among peers, like what prep schools and most professional tuition classes give, we would have probably applied to four, or at most five (one dream school, two middle of the road, two safer options).

We didn't take daughter to visit all the schools though, only three schools where I thought she had better chances. I visited all nine 😣

@justanotherdaduser thanks for the feedback. I think that is what makes it hard, not knowing how she is compared to others (especially in private schools). I do think private schools are better prepared for this. I wonder if they schools take this into account.

Some prep schools run Cat type tests every year from year 3/4 for their pupils. Only 1 of mine was in a private primary for a short space of time due to a house move. She sat Incas tests and always scored almost right at the top for maths and English. It was something like 141 she scored including in reasoning so that is why private schools parents know where their DC sit. They also gave her stanines that year (happened to be year 5) and she was 9,9,9,9 so we knew super selective grammar would be ok for her.

I don’t think you can tutor that many points for any child really. So the super selectives will have kids with scores across the board 130 Cat and above and mainly stanine 9.

But I am not sure how a state school child could access these tests to get an idea? There must be some providers. Won’t the mock tests for state grammar give a rough idea where your DC sits? For example, my above mentioned child sat 1 mock test for the school we wanted and was ranked out of 990 plus kids which gave us a very clear idea that she should be fine in the actual test without too much preparation.

I think cognitive ability has nothing to do with what school a child goes to, beyond a small amount of familiarisation with the type of test.
So I am wondering if maybe you can somehow get a better idea on where she sits compared to national average (eg top 2-5 per cent would be most selective schools, top 10pc, top 25 per cent etc)

@Abuildingwith4wallsandtmrinsid thanks for the feedback. It would be great if they gave these tests at her school. They almost do not want you to know how your dc is compared to others it feels. I do know she got tested for maths and English and they said she did really well, above average....but did not give much more information.

We signed up to atom learning two weeks ago and atm her scores range from 115-122. Her rankings for English is 8, Math 9, Verbal reasoning 10 and non verbal 9....so according to atom learning she seems to be doing well. However, I do know her writing can use some improvement....which is not being tested with the mock tests that are multiple choice. I wish her school would do CATs. Anyway, I am going to have her apply to a range of schools and hope she gets into at least two so we have some choices!

@SamPoodle123 - those sound like great scores to me. Personally I wouldn’t send such a child to an average independent. I would do grammar and superselective independent plus max 2 medium banker independents. Also bear in mind that a bright child will also do well in a great comp (if you have any locally).
If you know writing is her weakness sign up for one of those creative writing courses where they send you tasks to do over a number of weeks. We never did it but I do remember someone recommending it.

Two for each child. Full boarding academic/all round type schools and midlands. Competition isn’t an issue in this sector for you average child imo. (Thank God.)
dc were offered places Oct y7 subject to passing y8 entrance exam without even having an interview. It was just done on chats between senior school and prep head (who have long standing relationships). I imagine it went something like
SS: do you think this child is suitable for this (full boarding school) based on the years you have known them?
PH: Yes
SS: great. They have a place.

@Abuildingwith4wallsandtmrinsid many thanks. I need to look up grammer schools. I am not from here and same with my husband. I will let her try for two super selective, two medium and two banker schools. As I am not sure how she would do for the interviews for the super selective. I tried asking her a few questions and atm I am not impressed with her answers! I mean, I guess she does okay, but when I read about it I feel like for the super selective schools you have to nail the interviews.....does not seem easy to me! I did tell her she must elaborate on her answers, not just give yes or no responses because they are trying to learn about her and her thought process.

I am hoping I can sign her up to a writing course during the summer.

Re interview for superselective, they are typically looking for a child with deeper interests and a spark. So does she have hobbies she can talk about in detail, does she read the newspaper etc and can she hold a good conversation with different adults? My nephew never did any interview practice and got offers from all the top boys schools, Westminster/eton/Winchester. All we did is ask him to write out his reasons of why he liked each school etc plus he used to love reading the Financial Times so was always up to date on current affairs. I don’t know the girls schools but Westminster would definitely ask what do you think about Partygate, the war in Ukraine etc and are looking for a child who can speak on different subjects. Always read good books she is happy to talk about too - get her to chat to other educated adults. Does she know what subjects interest her the most? That is another one that can come up. They like kids who are already passionate about certain subjects and can say why.
I do think the girls schools are a bit nicer at interview - my nephew turned up at his Winchester interview to be interviewed in French initially! Being able to talk about an abstract painting or poem is another one.

@Abuildingwith4wallsandtmrinsid Thanks so much for the interview tips! I really appreciate it. And omg - if my dd turned up to an interview to be done in French, she would ROCK it! :) She is completely fluent (thanks to her school, as we do not speak a word of French). Lessons for her are completely in French one week and the next in English. So she learns math, science, history etc in French as well as English. Is there a reason they started his interview in French? Does your nephew speak French? I would love it if this happened :)

That is impressive your nephew read the Financial Times for enjoyment at age 10! I do not think my dd would be as keen. I will get her to start reading the news.

My dd has a lot of hobbies and is passionate about them. She likes to keep busy and her favourite is netball, art, debate and dance. She also does tennis. I will ask her to tell me about them to see how she does.

She is quite confident normally and the head thought she would have no problem with the interviews. But it is different when she is talking freely with adults versus being interviewed I think! Initially when I asked her a few random questions she gave one word answers at first and then kind of froze, or wasn't as naturally as she normally is. She has improved, but this part makes me a little nervous.

I know that the OP in this thread is in London but for anyone reading this outside London, I just wanted to add that applying for more than 3 (absolute maximum 4) independent schools is very unusual outside of London.

Most people at our prep (in Bucks) applied (by which I mean DC sat the exams/assessment day) to 2 or 3 schools. Same guidance about a mix of competitive/banker schools applies.

The other thing to understand is that the assessment timetable is different around the country. In London the assessment days nearly all seem to happen at about the same time (circa lent term of year 6) whereas in the wider South East this is not the case (anytime from year 5 to year 8). Depending on what you are trying to achieve this can be a good thing or a bad thing. I.e. in London you potentially can wait for answers from other schools before forking out a £ deposit. Or on the flip side, more spread out entrance processes could mean your DC does not have to sit more assessment days and you don't have to pay wasted deposits, if you already have the one offer that you really want fairly early on.

I have seen this point be very relevant to Londoners who were also considering boarding schools, commuting to schools in the home counties or applying late for whatever reason.