UNITED KINGDOM
...Applying for a school place in England
Some grammar schools have a particular catchment area (the geographical area from which pupils are drawn), and some are what are known as ‘super-selectives’, which means that they take applications from pupils with the highest scores in the 11-plus test, regardless of location. Faith schools are permitted to use faith-based criteria in order to give higher priority in admissions to children who are members of, or who practise, their faith or denomination. This only applies if a school is oversubscribed. When applying for state primary schools for the first time for entry into a reception class at the age of four-plus, the deadline is early in the January before the September in which the child is due to start school. Applications for entry into secondary school have a deadline of the end of October of the year before entry. Applications received after these primary and secondary deadlines will still be processed, but only after all the ‘on-time’ applications, and there may be fewer places available, especially at the most popular and successful schools. For entry into all other year groups, parents can apply at any point in the school year, usually through their local authority. The application will be processed within a few weeks, taking into account parental preferences and available spaces in the schools at the time. If the relevant year group is full in all the preferred schools, the local authority will allocate a place at the nearest school that has a space. The National Curriculum is taught in state schools in
England, Wales and Northern Ireland until pupils reach the age of 16. Pupils are required to study core subjects, and are divided by age groups into ‘key stages’. Free schools and academies (schools which are independent of local-authority control) are not required to teach the National Curriculum, but most choose to do so.
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS
International schools charge fees and offer a wide and varied curriculum, ranging from the American and French system to the full International Baccalaureate (IB) programme. Most international schools do not select by ability, but make their admissions decisions based on access to previous school records and teachers’ recommendations. Some require a certain level of ability in the English language, but extra tuition is often available. It will be important to determine the level of English that the school expects and what additional support is available.
International schools will ask for prospective pupils to be registered in advance of application. This does not guarantee a place, but a non-refundable fee is paid, to indicate that parents wish their child to be considered. It is not necessary to live in the immediate area of the school, but consideration will need to be given to the distance between school and home.
Fees are often higher for international schools than for independent schools, so parents are advised to look closely at the fee structure before making an application. Rudianne Soltis, dean of admissions at ACS Hillingdon International School, says, “The most important thing to do when relocating with children is to contact schools as soon as you become aware that you might be relocating. With this in mind, families should prepare an educational portfolio as soon as possible, including three years’ worth of report cards, work samples and teacher recommendations. This saves stress further down the line, when they are dealing with other elements of the relocation.”
INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS
Independent schools are fee-charging schools outside government control. They are self-governing and free to devise their own curriculum.
The admissions criteria for independent schools are as varied as the number of such schools in the UK (currently more than 2,500), so it’s important to check individual requirements. Some schools will require pupils to take an entrance exam or may invite the family for interview, but others operate a first-come, first-served system and may have a long waiting list. Some independent schools will ask parents to register their child before an application is made. This does not secure a place, but indicates to the school that the parents wish their child to be considered for one. There is usually a non-refundable fee (which can range from under £100 to several hundred pounds) to cover administration costs. Some schools require prospective pupils to sit entrance exams. The requirements for these vary enormously and can take the form of standardised tests or tests devised by the schools themselves. It may be possible for these to be taken remotely in the family’s current country of residence. “An increasing number of senior schools are now happy to courier papers abroad and conduct Skype interviews,” says Debbie Bowker. “Where children of pre-
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