Any idea.

Independent Schools as an alternative to Grammar

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aa

Any idea.

Post by aa »

Any ideas on the ehs test.
Guest

Re: Any idea.

Post by Guest »

aa wrote:Any ideas on the ehs test.
Very easy, I would imagine. It is not designed to reject many applicants -only the ones who would be certain to drag them down the league tables. :wink:
KenR
Posts: 1506
Joined: Fri Mar 17, 2006 6:12 pm
Location: Birmingham

Post by KenR »

Hi aa and Guest,

My daughter did the EHS exam a few years ago.

It true that the EHS is easier than the KEHS test (which is 5 papers over 2 days) but it's still not trivial. The main issue is that there are only 78 places available at KEHS so competition for that school is tough.
aa

Post by aa »

ok thanks, how about scholarships, any idea what marks are required. Thanks in advance.
KenR
Posts: 1506
Joined: Fri Mar 17, 2006 6:12 pm
Location: Birmingham

Post by KenR »

Hi aa

Some limited knowledge about Scholarships in the Birmingham Independent sector but not too much about EHS specifically.

Most Birmingham Independents seem to follow a similar approach:-

1. Typically schools would look at the top 10% of candidates as potential scholarship candidates, however
2. Within this band the top performing candidates do not necessarily get offered scholarship. Schools offer scholarships to candidates using other criteria. (e.g if they felt a girl was unlikely to accept the scholarship then they won't offer one - however well they did in the exam)
3. Most Independent schools (including EHS) now tend to spead the Scholarship pot around - so most are significantly less than 50%. I think EHS does offer a few higher scholarship awards for girls coming from public sector primary schools.
4. They also offer a music scholarship at about 70% of fees.
5. Some school (notably KEHS and KES) are now moving towards less non-means tested academic scholarship and more means tested bursaries. Not sure if EHS are moving in this direction - worth asking the question.

Hope this helps.

Regards
jessy
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri May 04, 2007 7:12 pm

Post by jessy »

KenR wrote:2. Within this band the top performing candidates do not necessarily get offered scholarship. Schools offer scholarships to candidates using other criteria. (e.g if they felt a girl was unlikely to accept the scholarship then they won't offer one - however well they did in the exam)
Dear Ken

What reason would someone have for not acepting a scholarship that was offered if they had applied to the school? Do you mean if they knew the girl had already accepted a place at another school? Would they know something like that? I am asking because I would accept a scholarship like a shot if it was offered (dream on :cry: )
KenR
Posts: 1506
Joined: Fri Mar 17, 2006 6:12 pm
Location: Birmingham

Post by KenR »

Hi Jessy

I think I perhaps better explain further.

Within the West Midlands area there is a perceived league tables of Independent Secondary Schools. We have even seen this quoted by some prep school heads in 11+ advice and literature to parents.

Within the Birmingham Edgbaston area KEHS is viewed as being in a slightly higher league than EHS, although in practice they are both excellent schools. KEHS is actually quite tough to get into as there are only 78 places per year and it's a tough 11+ exam over 2 days.

The result is that many parents hedge their bets by applying to both KEH and EHS (as well as the state sector KE Grammars). So it follows that EHS may not necessarily offer a scholarship if they feel that this won't be accepted.

If a scholarship is offered then, as I said previously, this is often only a relatively low percentage of the fees. In the case of EHS, some parents sometime prefer to pay 100% at KEHS rather than say 75% of the fees at EHS.

We actually had a similar similar situation with my son a couple of years ago. He was offered academic scholarships worth about 25% at both Solihull School and KES but in the end we decided on KEFW. You might argue that 75% of £8,200/annum for 7 years is still greater than zero!! although in our case we did feel that it was the right school for our son.

Hope this helps
fm

Post by fm »

I believe EHS have separate academic scholarships on offer to internal and external candidates. One of my pupils who attended EHS won 30% English scholarship but still went to Camp Hill.
I don't believe EHS is currently offering the generous bursaries available at KEHS but they seem to use some discretion if they feel a child has some talent to offer (e.g. music, drama) outside academia.
I believe they have stopped using non-verbal in their entrance tests but please check.
Their exam is definitely much less stringent than KE state and grammar, and they will accept candidates who are weak at maths.
Surfwidow

Post by Surfwidow »

Hi Jessy,

Your comment re scholarship and not accepting one, well let me tell you that in our area there are 23 full scholarships for boys and 23 full scholarships for girls (equating to £8,000 per year) until the child finishes A levels and believe you me so many children do not accept them because its a single sex education in the private sector. Many of my daughter's friends have rejected their scholarships and opted for a grammar place, which therefore frees up the scholarship to the next child in the order of ranking!
jessy
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri May 04, 2007 7:12 pm

Post by jessy »

Surfwidow wrote:Hi Jessy,

Your comment re scholarship and not accepting one, well let me tell you that in our area there are 23 full scholarships for boys and 23 full scholarships for girls (equating to £8,000 per year) until the child finishes A levels and believe you me so many children do not accept them because its a single gender education in the private sector. Many of my daughter's friends have rejected their scholarships and opted for a grammar place, which therefore frees up the scholarship to the next child in the order of ranking!
I am gobsmacked (not sure if I'm allowed to say that, but I will try). Are they means tested? I thought everyone wanted a single gender education in the private sector. I am paying over £8k a year for my son to have that. :roll: Where is your area? Jessy
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