Arnold House has had a long standing reputation for encouraging boys to invest their efforts across a wide range of interests. Working hard in the classroom has always been part of the bigger picture; celebrating musical talents, sporting prowess or artistic interest has always been equally important to us as a school. It is perhaps one of the reasons why our boys often go to some of the top schools in the country. Do these aspects of our curriculum still hold equal value in today's competitive academic environment? Do we now find ourselves at a crossroads where the cello needs to give way to the online NVR practice? Should parents cancel their son's football training because the Maths tutor takes priority? It is no secret that our families are aspirational for their sons and invest a great deal to ensure they have every opportunity to win their place at various top flight senior schools. How does this all come to fruition? Is the process of gaining a place at an independent senior school simple and straightforward? Everybody who has been through the gauntlet will have an opinion and anyone who is yet to will likely hear said opinions at some point at the school gate, on a WhatsApp chat or at a boys birthday party. It is a popular talking point amongst many parents and one we are keen to ensure there is transparency in the process, open forums for discussions, ongoing advice and adequate preparation.
Many of our Year 6 boys have been quietly gearing up for the ISEB Common Pre-Test which will be done next week. While this is a popular choice for a lot of senior schools to begin their sorting process, it’s not the only initial assessment. Likened to the lawless ‘Wild West’, each senior school has the opportunity to use the ISEB CPT or choose to use other testing platforms, or indeed, make up their own assessment. As a preparatory school, we need to ensure that all bases are covered.
So what does the road look like for parents who are yet to experience the process? The Good Schools Guide covered this very topic and described the following…
Can parents prepare for selective school applications? You’ve done your homework - been to the open days, studied the prospectuses, balanced larger playing fields against smaller classes, shorter journeys against longer bills. The first thing to recognise is that applying to a selective school will mean an entrance examination. Many parents feel that the moment they embark on the process of applying to a selective school, they are in the hands of an unfriendly system that is unlikely to spot the merits - however obvious - of their offspring. The more desperate you are to get your child into this or that school, the more dark and forbidding its front door appears! It can be helpful to establish at the outset that the right school for your child will, more than likely, happily offer him a place and if it doesn't then it is probably not the right school. However, it is true that most good schools are oversubscribed and inevitably lots of deserving candidates don't get in. It is, therefore, essential that you have other options - ideally more than one - a school you like and your child likes and one to which you would be perfectly happy to send them - even if it is not your first choice. Perhaps the most important thing at this stage is your child's - and your own - approach to these admissions assessments. It cannot be stated too strongly that no child should ever be left with a sense of having failed. This can do severe damage which will not just go away but be with him for a very long time. The business of applying to this or that school should be a 'let's give it a go' venture, not a matter of life, death, family honour, tradition, pride or, above all, fear of letting one's parents down. There is never only one possible school - as many families who feel that their world has collapsed at the arrival of the 'wrong letter’.
So how does Arnold House measure up in this process and what does the picture look like once the dust settles? Of course, each year varies and the ground beneath us is ever changing. Having said that, we are proud of how we as a school are constantly adapting how we support our families.
Looking at our most recent cohort to have gone through this initial process (our current Year 7 cohort) is highly encouraging.
• Of the 36 boys, 188 applications were made to 30 different senior schools.
• 137 of these applications resulted in an invitation to interview.
• From these interviews, our boys earned 81 firm offers and 30 reserve list places.
• On average, each boy applied for a range of five schools, was interviewed at four and received good news from at least three of them!
Of course, we have boys on the periphery of these statistics and this is common. We continue to adapt and tweak what we do to give our boys the best possible opportunity to be successful in the process. This year we have welcomed Oppidan Education into the fold; a mentoring organisation who have already been in to see our current Year 5 and Year 6 boys. Having an experienced outside body to come in and help with our boys oratory and presentation skills for interviews ensures we continue to offer a robust and well thought out programme which is threaded within our current curriculum.
On the immediate horizon, (as part of our ongoing mission to ensure parents are informed and kept up to date) we have a planned meeting with all Year 6 parents next Wednesday 13th to discuss the next steps after the ISEB CPT.
To quote Lieutenant Tuvok from Star Trek… "We often fear what we don't understand. Our best defence is knowledge." Our aim is to take the fear out of the process and ensure all families are well informed in order to make the best decisions for their son's continued education after Arnold House.
Dayne Matthews
Director of Senior School Transfer, Head of Assessment & Pupil Progress, Head of Years 5&6