It is usually not enough merely to be able to afford to send a child to an independent school. Many fee-paying senior schools operate a form of selection, and admit pupils only upon the successful completion of the Common Entrance Examination, or an equivalent.
The exam is particularly popular among boarding schools, and is intended to test whether the child has the right level of ability to do well there. It can be taken for entry at ages 11, 12 and 13 years. Girls’ senior schools tend to admit pupils from 11, while boys will transfer to secondary schooling from 13. In most cases, a child will also be subject to an interview before gaining entry.
The exam is set by a central examination board, called the Independent Schools’ Examinations Board, but every school marks applicants individually. As a result, schools will also set their own ‘pass’ rates, meaning it may be harder to get into some schools than others.
For example, where a school has set a pass mark of 65% or over, it is selecting pupils of a higher academic ability. Where the pass mark is 50% or lower, then it can reasonably be assumed that the school is seeking to select a wider range of abilities and may be better able to allow for differences in the child’s earlier schooling.
The exam is broadly in line with the national curriculum, and comprises tests in English, mathematics and science. English as an additional language may also be taken as an option, and for entry at 13 candidates may also opt to sit tests in history, geography and religious studies, as well as a number of languages, including French, German, Spanish, Latin and Greek.
Pupils who attend fee-paying prep schools are at an advantage when it comes to Common Entrance because they are coached to pass, usually over the two years preceding the test. Prep schools may offer this preparation for just one school, or a number of fee-paying schools in the locality.
The Common Entrance examinations are held in February or March, and June, for boys and girls aged over 13. Examinations for entry at the age of 11+ are usually held in January.
Most independent schools are keen on widening participation and will make provision for pupils educated in state schools by offering them alternative, equivalent entry examinations which are based on verbal and non-verbal reasoning tests to check their IQ, as well as English and maths.
Parents wanting to send their child from a state school to an independent should contact the Independent Schools’ Examinations Board for details of the tests available.
Caroline Wood, director of admissions at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, says the school uses a form of the 11+ for pupils coming into its junior school, and Common Entrance for those coming in at 13 who have already been attending the junior school.
‘We have devised our own examinations for pupils coming in at 13 from state schools so they are not disadvantaged at not having received the appropriate preparation,’ she says. ‘We would certainly not want to disadvantage or miss out on any excellent students because they had not had the benefit of being coached at prep school.
‘So our 11+ allows us to test potential and basic intelligence through non-verbal reasoning tests, and this is also fair for those pupils who have special needs.’
She says that, usually, pupils joined the junior school with a view to continuing to the senior school. ‘If they pass the exam at 11+ then they are virtually guaranteed to pass the Common Entrance Exam because they will have been prepared for it,’ she says.
‘All pupils need to sit the Common Entrance Exam to go to the senior school, with the exception of those who went to state schools, who will sit our own test.
‘We would expect about a third of senior school intake to have come from our junior school, while the rest come from outside. Those coming from state schools, and independent schools where there is no preparation for Common Entrance, will sit exams in English and maths, and French if they have already done at least two years of French.’
In line with most good independent schools, Cheltenham College offers means-tested bursaries, which are awarded on the basis of parental income, while scholarships are available for students who show particular ability or aptitude in certain areas. These could reduce the child’s annual fees by up to half.
Ms Wood added: ‘Our aim is to be as inclusive a school as possible, and this system works well for us.’
For many families, of course, a fee-paying education is out of reach financially, regardless of any bursaries and scholarships offered by schools. In such cases, parents are increasingly turning to grammar schools as a viable alternative, particularly in a time of recession and economic downturn.
Entry to grammar schools is by examination. In most areas, pupils sit the 11+, but some schools now set their own exams, which are based to a large extent on the traditional tests.
However, there are only 164 grammar schools remaining, and their distribution around the country is patchy, with some local authorities having several, while others have just one or two, or none at all.
Kent, with 33, has the most grammar schools, followed by Lincolnshire with 15, Buckinghamshire with 13 and Birmingham with eight. Several towns and cities have between two and four, with fierce competition for places. Parents often spend thousands of pounds on private tuition to ensure their children secure a place.
‘The annual performance tables show us that there is little to choose between the academic results of independent and grammar schools, and in many cases grammar schools outperform their fee-charging rivals,’ says Nick Seaton of the Campaign for Real Education and a spokesman for the National Grammar Schools Association.
‘One of the difficulties, however, is that there are so few grammars and they are concentrated in certain areas, making them completely inaccessible to pupils in huge swathes of the country.’
In Kent alone, the number of pupils sitting the 11+, living both within and outside the county, has risen from 9,672 in 2007 to 11,059 in 2009.
In one recent case, it emerged that a pupil was being forced to do a 100-mile round trip every day to attend her grammar school after failing to be accepted by schools closer to her home.
Mr Seaton added that the clamber for places in grammar schools is aggravated by inconsistent admissions arrangements around the country.
‘In some areas, local authorities try to maintain some control over admissions, while in others, schools are responsible for setting their own policy,’ he says.
‘As long as people are prepared to travel, some heads don’t care who applies to them and they don’t conform to any catchment areas.
‘So while grammars are an excellent alternative to fee-paying schools, it can be exceptionally difficult to get in.’
Web links
www.iseb.co.uk/
www.ngsa.org.uk/
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