FINTON HOUSE SCHOOL FUTURE SCHOOLS GUIDE Contents Introduction 2 What comes after Finton House? 3 Advising and supporting parents 3 Open Days and visiting schools 3 Finding out more about schools 4 Applying to schools 4 Scholarships, awards and bursaries 5 Entrance procedures and examinations 6 11+ Day Schools 6 11+ Boarding Schools 7 Pre-tests and 13+ Common Entrance 7 Preparatory schools (at 11+) 8 Maintained schools: state and grammar 8 Specialist schools 9 Co-educational 11+ Senior Schools 10 Boys’ 11+ Senior Schools 12 Girls’ 11+ Senior Schools 13 Prep Schools (11-13) Day and Boarding 15 Year 6 Offers and Acceptances 16 Scholarships and Awards (2012-2018) 18 1 Introduction The aim of this booklet is to help parents understand the 11+ process, the options that are available and how Finton House will support them in choosing the best senior school for their child – a school at which their child will be happy, enjoy learning and continue to thrive. At Finton House, we treasure the broad, balanced education we offer and the sense of warmth and security we provide for children. We are committed to ensuring that all children achieve their potential and to helping parents select a senior school that will continue to provide the best for their children during the next stage of their education. We firmly believe that there is no such thing as the ‘best senior school’, just the best school for your child. This guide is designed to walk you through the process including: Offering advice and focusing on some key questions you may have. Outlining the application and assessment processes at different types of school and information about publications and websites that offer further information about schools. Listing the range of schools that are popular with Finton families, demonstrating the breadth of choice available to you in deciding on the best school for your child. Overviewing the offers, awards and scholarships our Year 6 children have recently received. I hope you find this guide helpful, and above all feel welcome to come and discuss future schooling with your child’s class teacher, Mr Ben, or myself. It is our wish that you are well supported throughout the whole process. We are proud that our Year 6 leavers are awarded places at so many excellent and extremely competitive schools, and that many win scholarships and awards. However, in my mind, the real success is seeing and hearing how Finton boys and girls settle quickly, happily and with confidence into their new schools and how they have a love of learning and an enthusiasm for life that ensures they make the most of every opportunity. We look forward to talking with you. Kind regards Karol-An Kirkman Academic Head 2 What comes after Finton House? After Finton House, there are a number of options open to you and a variety of different types of school you may wish to consider. These include independent or maintained co-ed or single-sex day schools taking children from 11-18 years of age, or boarding schools, again either co-ed or single-sex, starting at 11 (or 13). You may also need to consider any particular talent or special educational need that your child may have. Whatever the type of school you are looking for, you will need to feel confident that its ethos and policies reflect the values that you hold as a family. Advising and supporting parents The process and conversations around choosing the best schools for your son or daughter can take time and we are very keen to support all parents at all stages of their decision-making. Please contact Joanna in the school office ([email protected]) if you would like to make an appointment to see either Mr Ben or Miss Karol-An. The first thing parents are encouraged to do is to share their initial thoughts and ideas and ask any questions they may have about the 11+ process. These conversations provide a good opportunity for parents to gain advice as to what sort of school may suit an individual in terms of academic expectation. By sharing your thoughts with us and discussing the different options, the process will become less daunting. In addition to individual meetings with parents, which usually begin in Year 4, Finton House holds an 11+ evening for Year 4 parents to explain the 11+ process in detail. This usually takes place early in the Summer Term. Individual meetings with parents continue throughout Year 5 and Year 6, and include a special 11+ Parents’ Evening during the Summer Term of Year 5 at which parents meet with Mr Ben, Miss Karol-An and the Year 6 class teachers to discuss shortlisted schools and 11+ preparation. Finton House’s Future Schools’ Evening is a biennial event at which parents have the opportunity to talk to representatives from approximately 30 schools. Our next Future Schools Evening will take place on 3rd May 2018. If you have any questions regarding the 11+ process or future schools, you are very welcome to contact Miss Karol-An at any time ([email protected]). Open Days and visiting schools Open Days provide an excellent opportunity to get a ‘flavour’ of the establishment, and are worth going to in order to start compiling a shortlist of schools that may be suitable for your child. Often you will be given a tour by a senior pupil, which gives you the opportunity to see what sort of young people the school is turning out at the top, as well as giving you the chance to ask the questions that are important to you, but which might not be in a prospectus. Sometimes individual visits, special tours and ‘taster days’ are arranged by schools instead of Open Days – all are excellent opportunities which will give you the chance to ask questions and get a ‘feel’ for the school. Flyers and notices about many forthcoming Open Days and events can be found on the Senior Schools’ Noticeboard opposite the Parents’ Noticeboard. However, if you are interested in visiting a senior school, we advise you to ring their Registrar to ask for details of their next open morning, 3 tour or taster day. Some schools will require you to register online to attend an Open Day event, so do check their website for the latest information. It is a good idea to visit a school more than once and in general, we would advise taking your child with you on your second rather than first visit. Once you are registered with a school, you and/or your child may be invited to additional events which will help to strengthen your understanding of the school’s ethos, the type of educational experience it offers and its suitability for your child. This booklet contains lists of some of the schools to which Finton House pupils have transferred in previous years, together with scholarships and awards they have been given. This is only a small selection, and you may wish to use some of the resources, events, publications or services detailed below to widen your search. Miss Karol-An and Mr Ben regularly visit a wide range of senior schools, both those to which Finton children regularly transfer and those which are new to Finton families. This helps to ensure that Finton House has an excellent relationship with senior schools, and up-to-date information about them which enables us to provide you with the best possible advice. If you are interested in finding out more about a school or would like us to contact or visit a particular school on your behalf, please do let us know. Finding out more about schools School websites are a good source of information about a school’s ethos, curriculum, admissions procedure, and leavers’ grades and destinations. A school’s website will also give you access to their latest inspection report. In addition, school magazines provide an excellent insight into activities and the breadth of opportunity throughout the school year. There are a number of useful organisations and publications, which provide school reviews and the opportunity to conduct school searches. These include: Good Schools Guide (www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk) John Catt “Which School” guide (www.schoolsearch.co.uk) Independent Schools Council (www.isc.co.uk) HMC (www.hmc.org.uk) In addition, parents may like to attend the Independent Schools Show in Battersea Park, which takes place on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th November 2018. Tickets are £10 on the door or advance tickets are free if you register online: http://schoolsshow.co.uk/ . Applying to schools Parents need to complete a separate application form for each senior school. This may be in paper form or an online application, and completing these can be very time-consuming. In general, the closing date for registrations for many 11+ independent schools is in October/November in the year preceding entry i.e. the Autumn Term of Year 6. However, there are exceptions to this, with some schools recommending early registration and others opening and closing their registration lists at different times. For this reason, it is very important for you to speak to the Registrar at the senior school to ensure that you have a good understanding of their admissions timeline. The number of schools to which you need to apply varies according to the nature of the school and the admissions procedure. Please feel welcome to speak to us for advice. However, as a rule of thumb, we usually recommend that parents considering competitively assessed London day 4 schools for their child should apply to three schools.