11 Plus Exams Forum

Does each Indy school know what other schools you are applying to ? Do you think they actually check up or collude with each other when offering places ?

Suspect they would like to know - not sure that they actually do however. Sometimes they ask at interview.
Often they can guess depending on the prep school they are at etc etc

Usually on the registration form it asks for the other schools that your child is registered at, not that you have to put that down but they may ask the prep Headmaster on the report. It is not unusual for certain pupils to enter for the same set of schools. At our prep nearly everyone is registered for Radley because it is first come first served but these pupils will probably be registered for Eton and Winchester too as they are academically selective and probably their first choices. Harrow actively encourages registration at other schools because it is so oversubscribed. Independent schools are probably more concerned if DC's are registered for a Grammar School rather than another independent school.

Waiting_For_Godot wrote:Harrow actively encourages registration at other schools because it is so oversubscribed.

Do you know how heavily oversubscribed Harrow is? I would have thought Eton would be more oversubscribed but perhaps its self selective academically while Harrow is looking for something more than acadenics. Do you really need to register your child at birth for Radley?

We didnt get asked on the form if we had considered other school nor did they ask her which other school she had applied to during the interview but as with all things indie its all very diff. I dont see how colluding would work in any of the school's favour unless all the schools one applies to are part of the pact which doesnt seem the case considering some children get offers from nearly all the schools they go for. I am sure the ones nosey enough ask you to fill that on the forms or ask the child at the interview but getting the truth is another matter.

Harrow is more oversubscribed than Eton for a variety of reasons including many parent's thinking they are not Eton parents (?) and it is less academically selective. In saying that a Harrovian cannot just be an academic to gain entry but generally has to have other talents and as such I think it is harder to get into Harrow. DS1 may not have got into Harrow eventhough he got into more academically selective schools.

As for Radley, we registered DS2 seven years prior to entry date and he is on the waiting list!

We never applied to the 'top schools' but one of the indies to which we did apply, certainly asked DD during interview whether she'd sat any other entry exams. Sent me into a bit of a panic at the time I seem to remember