FURTHER INFORMATION 2019 GRANT’S HOUSE Founded in 1750, Grant’s is the oldest house in any of the Public Schools. It is named after the “mothers” Grant, who were landladies who owned the property and put up boys in the days before boarding existed. Welcome This booklet provides parents and pupils with all the information needed to apply for boarding or day places at Westminster School. Entry to Westminster Entry at 13+ 3 Entry at 11+ 5 Entry to Under School at 7+ or 8+ 5 Entry at 16+ (Sixth Form entry) 6 Applying for a boarding place 6 Scholarships and Bursaries 8 Fees 10 Aerial photograph showing location of school facilities 12 – 13 Additional information The Challenge 2018 15 Our 13+ feeder schools 2018 16 Exam results 17 – 18 Leavers’ destinations 2018 19 3 Entry to Westminster Entry at 13+ Pre-interview Tests Interview The first stage is for the candidate Candidates who have performed At 13+ entry every year Westminster to take some tests in Mathematics, strongly in the ISEB Common has an intake of about 120 boys who English and Reasoning. Westminster Pre-Tests are invited to Westminster enter Year 9. About 45% come from School uses the Independent School for an interview. Parents Westminster Under School and the Schools Examinations Board (ISEB) are informed mid-December and remainder comes from a wide range Common Pre-Tests. interviews take place in January of schools. At 13+ pupils may apply and February during the Lent term. for boarding or day places. For more information about these When a boy comes to Westminster tests please refer to the ISEB for his interview he also takes short 13+ Registration website: https://www.iseb.co.uk/ tests in English and Mathematics – The first step in the 13+ entry Parents/What-are-the-Common-Pre- he will spend about 90 minutes at process is to register your son. Tests. Boys take the tests at their the School. A boy should be registered by the prep schools during October end of Year 5 (the academic year or November. These tests are online School Report of his 10th birthday). To register with no special preparation We attach great importance to online, please visit our website: necessary. Raw scores are adjusted the report we receive from a www.westminster.org.uk/admissions. to take account of a boy’s date candidate’s present school. Apart of birth so that younger candidates from information about the boy’s are not disadvantaged. It is usually Visiting the School character, interests and potential, possible for overseas candidates to The best time to visit the School we also ask for information that take the tests at their own schools. is while your son is in Year 5. To will help us, where appropriate, If there is a problem, however, we arrange a 13+ visit please enquire to compare him with other can arrange for the boy concerned online: www.westminster.org.uk/ candidates from that school. to take the tests at Westminster. admissions/open-days/. Every year Boys who attend primary schools there are three 13+ Open Afternoons should be registered for 11+ entry and there are also regular tours to Westminster Under School (see of the School in groups of no more page 5) – the system described than five families. above is for boys who can remain at their prep schools until they are 13. Meeting and assessing the candidate While a candidate is in Year 6 we decide whether to offer him a place. We do this by gathering information from various sources: 4 5 The Challenge Online registration opens in June Entry at 11+ Entry to the Under one year before the date of entry The Challenge is the traditional Our 11+ entry of approximately School at 7+ or 8+ and closes at the end of September name for Westminster’s 13+ 25 boys is designed for pupils who – registration for entry in 2020 scholarship examinations. It is Entry to the Under School at 7+ attend state or independent primary will close in September 2019. There the means by which Queen’s and 8+ is by competitive examination schools that they must leave at are two open days every year, one Scholars, Honorary Scholars and in the January before entry. For the end of Year 6. Boys spend two in June and another in September Exhibitioners are chosen. For information, please contact the years (Years 7 and 8) at Westminster bookable from April on our website. information about this, please read Under School’s Registrar alycia.lee@ Under School and then transfer to Admission is by competitive the section of this booklet entitled westminster.org.uk. Please note that the senior school when they are 13. examination and interview. ‘Scholarships and Bursaries’. boys who enter Westminster Under A pupil who enters the Under School Candidates select the four subjects, School at 7+ or 8+ must be registered at the 11+ stage automatically has in which they are examined, based The decision about whether to separately by their parents for entry an unconditional place for entry to on their likely A-level/Pre-U choices. enter a boy for The Challenge is to Westminster School at 13+. Westminster School at 13+. A boy Candidates may sit the examinations usually made by his prep school. who is awarded a means-tested overseas at the British Council but If you would like your son to sit bursary at 11+ is guaranteed a place they must come to Westminster The Challenge, it is, therefore, Entry at 16+ at Westminster School at 13+ subject School for interview on the essential to discuss the matter to satisfactory progress. For further (Sixth Form entry) designated day. The examination with his present head teacher information about bursaries, please day is in early November and the and ask him or her to counter-sign There is an intake of 75 or so pupils consult the section entitled interview day is at the end of that The Challenge application form. who enter Year 12 (16+ entry). ‘Scholarships and Bursaries’. Most of these pupils are girls but month. Offers of places are made in early December. Reaching a decision The Waiting List The Challenge examinations take applications from boys are also To register your son for 11+ entry place in April or May. All Challenge welcome. Both boarding and day We look carefully at all the If we do not feel that it would please visit the Under School’s Four Queen’s Scholarships are candidates sit papers in the following places are available. information we have assembled be appropriate to offer a boy an website: www.westminsterunder.org. awarded to girls entering the Sixth before deciding whether to offer an immediate unconditional place, subjects: Mathematics, English, uk/admissions/entry-points/. 11+ Pupils joining the Sixth Form of Form. Means-tested day bursaries unconditional place. The decision to we may put his name on the Waiting Science, French, Geography, History Open Mornings are held in June Westminster School must be under are available for candidates who live offer a boy an unconditional place List. From time to time we will ask and Latin. (If a boy attends a school and September, booking is online: 17 years old. The procedure for entry in London. For further information, means that we believe he will be able head teachers to update us on the where Latin is not taught, please www.westminsterunder.org.uk/ at 16+ is explained fully in a separate please look at the section entitled comfortably to achieve the standard progress of boys on the Waiting List email the Registrar for advice.) admissions/open-days/. publication. To obtain a copy of ‘Scholarships and Bursaries’. we require for entry to the School and, in this way, boys who did not Past Challenge papers can be the Sixth Form Courses Brochure, when he is 13, while also enjoying do themselves justice in the tests Please contact the Under School’s downloaded from our website: please visit our website: a broad and varied education. are given further opportunities to Registrar alycia.lee@westminster. www.westminster.org.uk/admissions/ www.westminster.org.uk/ show us what they are capable of. org.uk for further information about scholarships/the-challenge/ admissions/prospectuses/ An unconditional offer is on the A boy who is on the Waiting List the 11+ entry process. expectation of continued good may be promoted to an unconditional Once the decision has been made conduct and academic progress at place at any time up to the end to enter a boy for The Challenge, his existing prep school, including of March in Year 8. parents should email registrar@ an unreserved reference of support westminster.org.uk to obtain from his school in Year 8. It is not Parents who wish to accept the a Challenge application form. our intention that boys should be offer of an unconditional place will put under unnecessary pressure – be asked to pay an entrance fee we want them to enjoy sport, music, of 4% of the current annual day fee. drama and all the other activities The fee is refundable only if the that make school life richer and prep school considers the candidate more enjoyable. to have failed to demonstrate the expected continued good conduct and academic progress and is consequently not admitted to the School. 6 7 16+ (Sixth Form) Entry Boarders from overseas satisfactory before an application from an overseas candidate can A 16+ candidate who wishes to For boys under the age of 16 be accepted. board must indicate this at the time Westminster is a weekly boarding of registration.