What kind of British private schools is "Academic Selective Private Schools"? What are the differences between applying for this kind of private school and applying for other schools?
The school system in Britain is so complicated that students and parents in Britain are deeply confused, especially those who plan to study in Britain later. When choosing schools for private schools in Britain, it was hard to distinguish the differences between Public School and State School. However, when I looked up the information of official website, I found that this private school was labeled as "Academic Selective Private School" ... Now I am really lost in confusion. What kind of British private school is "Academic Selective Private Schools"? What are the differences between applying for this kind of private school and applying for other schools?
一、Characteristics of Selective private schools
"Academically selective private schools" is an academic choice private school. It is not a traditional school type divided by public schools/private schools, boys' schools/girls' schools, boarding schools/day schools, but a unique orientation for British private schools.
This kind of private school is famous for its outstanding academic achievements. In normal examination years, such as the 2019 exam, if the school's A-Level score A*-A ratio reaches more than 35%, it can basically rank among the top 100 private schools in the UK; If the proportion reaches more than 40% on average, it will be a strong academic private school.
The so-called "selectivity" is mainly reflected in the academic aspect. Academic elite schools usually evaluate applicants through interviews and tests, and in some selective sixth forms, they also evaluate students according to their GCSE performance. Even those private schools that seem to have no obvious selectivity want to have a certain degree of control over the enrolled students, so the school will generally arrange to meet with the children and their families to ensure that the students fit in with the school.
"High selectivity" means that the applied private school has set up a rigorous evaluation link in the enrollment process of each grade group, which requires extremely high academic performance and comprehensive quality of students.
Most of the famous academic schools in Britain belong to highly selective academic private schools. One of the reasons why these schools have achieved excellent results in GCSE and A-Level exams, as well as in Niu Jian's admission, is that they strictly control the quality of students from the beginning of enrollment.
Undoubtedly, this kind of academic selective private school is well-known in British education with its excellent educational achievements.
二、It's hard to get an offer from a private school!
In order to get an offer from a well-known private school with high ranking and excellent academic performance in Britain, applicants must go through a series of links such as entrance examination and interview, which can be said to be a five-pass.
Even if you apply for a British primary school, students will be required to take the entrance examination assessment. The entrance assessment of British preparatory schools is usually not difficult, and its purpose is to see whether children are ready for school. The content of the investigation may include speeches, games and social interaction.
When applying for admission to 7+or 8+private schools in the UK, children will be assessed in mathematics and English, and some kind of reasoning test may be conducted. Many private schools in Britain invite children to participate in experience days to observe how students interact with potential classmates.
A few preparatory primary schools (mainly in or near London) are more selective, and parents may have registered their children at birth. For example, Prince George's alma mater, Thomas's Battersea, accepts students' 4+admission. However, due to the limited number of places in the school and fierce competition in application, students need to register for Reception between the ages of one and two. Parents are advised to visit schools in the first year of their children's birth and make wise decisions on school registration.
The examination evaluation of middle school entrance application is more difficult. The entrance examination for middle schools usually covers more subjects, which requires higher breadth and depth of knowledge for students. In addition to traditional mathematics, English and other subjects, it may also involve tests in science, history, geography and other subjects. The interview process is also more rigorous, and the interviewer will ask students more deeply about their learning interests, future plans and views on some social issues, so as to comprehensively evaluate their comprehensive quality and potential. In addition, some middle schools may require students to submit personal statements, letters of recommendation and other materials, further increasing the complexity of the application.
三、What is the entrance examination for private secondary schools in Britain?
11+, 13+and 16+are the mainstream enrollment time points of private schools in Britain, and the enrollment of each age group has higher requirements for the entrance examination results.
There are many kinds of entrance examinations for private schools in Britain, mainly including the following:
1. UKiset (British private school entrance test): for students aged 9.5 to 18. The content of the exam covers nonverbal reasoning, that is, using pictures, charts and patterns to solve problems; Vocabulary, examining the ability to recognize words and their meanings; Mathematics, involving the processing of numbers, values and sequences; And other English skills, including grammar, reading comprehension, listening and creative writing.
2. ISEB (organized by the Examination Committee of Private Schools):
Common Pre-Test is aimed at candidates from 11+and 13+private schools, and usually takes the test in grade 6 or 7. It is divided into English (25 minutes), Mathematics (50 minutes), NVR(32 minutes) and VR(36 minutes).
ISEB includes the well-known 11+exam and 13+exam. Most British girls' schools will accept 11+applications, and some boys' schools will also accept them, but the acceptance level is not as good as that of girls' schools. Some old elite public schools, such as Tonbridge School, Radley College and Winchester College, do not accept 11+admission applications, but Eton College accepts 11+admission applications. Some British private schools may recognize each other's entrance examination results, such as London 11 Plus Consortium, which has developed a unified application process, and students only need to take the 11+entrance examination once to apply for multiple schools in the consortium.
3, CAT4 test (cognitive ability test): directly test students' four basic abilities, namely, linguistic reasoning ability, nonverbal reasoning ability, mathematical reasoning ability and spatial imagination ability.
4. Entrance examinations set by private schools in the UK: representative entrance examinations for old elite public schools such as Eton Entrance examinations of Eaton, Entrance exam of Winchester College and Harrow's The Harrow Test. There are relatively few reference materials for this kind of examination, and the difficulty is not easy to grasp because it is an independent proposition of the school.
5, 16+entrance examination: The 16+entrance examination for private schools in the United Kingdom generally requires students to take specific subjects, usually the A-Level subjects that students choose to study. Some elite private schools with very strong science and engineering will even add 20% to 30% AS stage knowledge to the 16+entrance examination questions, so as to improve the difficulty of the entrance examination, distinguish the learning ability of applicants and better distinguish them. The 16+entrance examination is relatively difficult, and applicants need to prepare for it as early as possible.