LD: Thank you for inviting me to Wetherby Prep school today. Wetherby Prep obviously is world famous, with a great reputation with you as its head. Can you tell explain the entry exam process please?
NB: Well, we have 2 entry points, one at 7+ and another at 8+, (that’s the end of Yr 2 & Yr 3) when the boys would transition to this school. They would sit an assessment in early January before entrance in September, usually half an hour of English and half an hour maths, after which we speak to them together in a group activity. Typically, we would see about 100 children for the 7+ for around 20 places, and about 200 children for the 8+ entry for approximately 60 places.
Do you have any verbal reasoning for any of those entries?
No, it’s just English and maths assessments.
If successful in the exams, does an interview follow?
No, we don’t interview the children, we don’t believe you learn much from a 7/8 year old child by asking them lots of direct questions, so we put them into a big group activity and see how they interact with other children.
And what are you looking for during that interaction?
We’re not looking for a particular child, we’re looking for a good balance, so, someone who can interact well with others, is willing to participate but also those who bring a bit of calm and measure to the classroom, you need a good balance of both.
Is there an automatic entry for the pre prep boys?
Well, we prioritise their entry; it’s always great continuity to have boys from the pre prep because they know the brand, they know the culture, the ethos, and we also have lots of historical data on those children, but the school is set up to transition boys to senior school, so it’s quiet competitive and ambitious. It’s very academically rigorous, and this is not the right environment for everybody, so whilst we love to have our pre prep children and they do have priority on automatic entry, it’s not an absolute guarantee.
I notice you finally have planning permission for next door. Will you be increasing the size of the school?
Yes, we’ll grow by an extra class per year group; we’ve been 3 classes per year group for some time and will become 4 class per year group. The pre prep is currently a 4 class year group, so we’re just mirroring that all the way through.
What are your aspirations for a Wetherby boy?
We want them to be themselves and comfortable in their own skin. Lots of people will observe that our children are quite confident, they are very easy company, they converse very readily with parents and their peer groups, older, and younger children.
I don’t think there is anything in particular we do to encourage that, but we give the boys plenty of opportunity and encouragement to be themselves, lots of opportunity for public speaking, lots of opportunity to have responsibility for certain areas, and they enjoy school. It’s a very calm and orderly environment here. It’s not a military academy, and I think the boys feel comfortable here; we nurture their characters and allow the boys to be themselves.
And academically, if you see a boy stronger at something, do you push them in that area?
We always encourage the boys to be excellent in whatever their particular interest is, but I think what any prep school will do is throw the children loads and loads of balls, because this is the time to get into things, like drama, art, music, sport clubs and activities.
By the time they get to senior school they might turn into rather apathetic teenagers, so prep school is the time to get them engaged in a particular activity. We would probably encourage them to do everything.
I agree, I do believe prep schools are the unsung heroes, particularly for boys, I know a lot of vital nurturing and support has been given by you guys. Therefore, I applaud you.
That’s kind of you, thank you.
The next round of tests are the 11+ pre tests, and I notice more and more schools are entering into the ISEB online tests. Could you tell us how you prepare the boys for that? I know you try to leave it to the end of November, as long as possible, which is the deadline.
Yes, we did do that, although the last couple of years we’ve actually done it the week following half term because the longer you leave it, the more the hysteria builds. I know colleagues from other preps have actually done it before half term but we feel that the week after half term has worked well for us the last 2 years.
The ISEB is written by GL Assessments, so we do CATs, which is written by the same company, at the start of Yrs 3-8, so by the time the children do the ISEB in the autumn of Yr 6, they will have done that assessment at least 3 times. If they’ve been here since Yr 3, they will have done it 4 times, so they will have had good practice and exposure and we will be able to manage the expectations of the parents as to how the boys are going to score, as we have such strong historical data.
We also subscribe to a website called Bofa, which has around 30 tests that the children can do in their own time, and all the boys have a password and login.
We also subscribe to the new Galore Park reasoning scheme, which is tailored towards the ISEB, and we also teach reasoning in Yrs 3-5 and teach the language of question. Some say you can’t teach reasoning, but we believe you can expose them to the right questions and teach them how to apply the methodology. Although the results can be marginal, it can be the difference between being offered a place or put on the waiting list.
We are aware of the huge success boys at Wetherby achieve in their written tests for entry into either day or boarding school, how do you practise for them?
Yes, that’s the old school way of assessment that we’ve always prepared the boys for. We have always done source analysis, we’ve always subjected the children to pre-20th century literature and applied mathematics, and problem solving, so the boys are quite used to that form of testing. We find generally if they can get in the first sieve of ISEB, even if they’re rejected at the next stage, they’re in the game, so we say it’s a 3 year process. Many schools these days will have a late applicant/late developer mechanism, and will re-asses their wait list boys, which I think is very fair because you don’t always see the best of a child at Yr 6; sometimes you see it in Yr 8.
The girls' exam for the 11+ has had an overhaul, do you feel the boys need this or do you think it’s actually OK?
The problem is the timing. I don’t actually have a problem with the test itself; I think the test is quiet reflective, and tends to track our own data well, in that the strongest boys are getting into the most academic & selective schools, so it’s very fair.
The problem is the timing of the tests, because you are sitting a test in Yr 6, the same boys are being offered to all the most competitive schools so it just creates a log jam with the same boys holding places for sometimes half a dozen schools.
Therefore, until they make a firm decision and reject a place in Yr 8, the waiting list boys face over a year of uncertainty not knowing where they are going to school. That’s the problem with the system.
Like your pre prep, are boys given direct entry into your senior school from here?
It’s the same sort of process as the pre prep to the prep. We like the continuity but they need to understand what sort of a school the senior school is; the senior school is an academically rigorous school trying to get the boys the best GCSEs or A levels they possibly can, and then transition them off to the best university.
Therefore if they want to do more vocational subjects, it might be better if they go elsewhere. It’s got to be the right school for the right child.
Ultimately, would you agree irrespective of the senior school your child attends, inevitably they all end up trying for the same universities?
Exactly, it’s just a different pace. There’s not a wide variety of GCSEs or A levels you can do; you’re doing the same syllabus and exams, so you’re right, it doesn’t make a difference which independent school or state school you go to, you’re still essentially following the same path.
Some schools will have a broader academic demographic, so if you went to St Paul's, the expectation is that everybody gets A*. Other schools will have that aspiration but possibly not the expectation, so you might feel as a pupil that it’s more of an achievement to get straight A* s in one school than it is in another.
In terms of your satisfaction at school, you can get the same results and get a better feeling of success in different settings.
Would you say a lot of this is really down to the parent really understanding who their child is along with the prep school and senior school communicating to say, "this is where we believe your child should go"?
Absolutely, and trust in their experience and knowledge. There’s no academic fairy dust that gets sprinkled on children at certain schools; they are going to be pretty similar in terms of what they offer and what impact they can have on a child.
We’re very blessed with the institutions in London and the South East, so it’s very difficult to make a bad decision.
Thank you very much for your time today.
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