The main entry points for most families are at Primary 1 and Senior 1. However, the nature of the assessments will vary depending on your child's age. Each school has its own admission policy and entrance procedures.
What to Expect - Admissions Tests
Most independent schools in Edinburgh and the Lothians require candidates to take an admission test before a place can be offered. In some cases, the test may serve as a selection tool, while in others, it is simply used to assess the child's starting level upon joining the school.
Most independent schools will invite applicants to attend an assessment morning, during which pupils will participate in a one-to-one interview and/or group assessment. These assessment mornings are mainly held between November to January.
ASSESSMENT FOR ENTRY INTO PRIMARY 1 (4 years - 5 years)
The assessment for entrance into Primary 1 is informal, and the atmosphere is designed to put your child at ease. The best you can do for your child is to make the event an adventure with as little stress and pressure as possible. This way, the school will see your child at their best.
However, it is beneficial to help your child know what to expect. Here are some typical assessment activities you could practise at home with your child to help prepare them.
By incorporating activities at home will develop the type of skills that will be part of the pre-schooler assessment.
Counting to ten, measuring, sorting, knowing common colours and shapes:
Counting steps/stairs
Counting red cars, post boxes etc. on the way to nursery or the shops
Pairing up socks and shoes
Looking at numbers around us – on house doors, registration plates, shop windows
Sorting the washing
Finding shapes in the child’s own environment e.g. road signs, windows and doors, books
Helping with the shopping – we need three oranges and two lemons. How many altogether?
Comparing different lengths (dog’s lead, socks, shoelaces), weights (shopping bags, toys), areas (footprints of child and adult), sizes (teddies, chairs for child and adult) and capacity (child’s beaker and adult's glass, bottles of squash)
Drawing a child’s attention to the clock – e.g. we’ll have tea when the little hand is on the 6.
Describe objects:
Take it in turns to think of something and ask questions to guess what it is:
Is it an animal?
Can you eat it?
Does it smell nice?
Is it big/ small/ heavy/ light?
Is it made from paper/ cardboard/ plastic?
Tell stories about experiences and events using sentences:
Encourage your child to tell a story from beginning to end.
Ask questions about the details of their day. The sequence of events is important.
You might read a book such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
• Read the story to your child.
• Ask your child, “What happened first in the story, next, and last?” OR
• “What did Goldilocks do first - eat the porridge or fall asleep in Baby Bear’s bed?” If your child doesn’t know the answer, help your child find the answer in the story.
Hold a crayon or pencil correctly, draw lines, simple shapes and a few letters:
Help your child practise with pencils, crayons, and chalk. Activities like colouring, drawing, dot to dot, mazes, as well as tracing and copying letters, shapes and numbers.
Draw a person or a house:
Ask your child to draw a person or a house, encourage them to put in details such as eyes, hair, windows and chimney.
These are all activities that will prepare children for the assessment and skills that will help them settle in to starting school in Primary 1.
ASSESSMENT FOR ENTRY INTO SECONDARY SCHOOL (11 years - 12 years)
The entrance exam for independent senior schools usually consists of a written examination, often combined with an interview.
Each independent school has its own admission policy and entrance procedures. Some schools use National Standard Tests, while others have developed their own. The exam typically includes papers in English, Maths, and Verbal Reasoning. It is advisable to inform your child about what to expect.
Here are some examples—provided by George Hawkins (MBE), the Director of Step Ahead Tutoring—of the kind of questions that many independent schools use in their entrance tests.
MATHS
Mental:
1.
a) Write down the next two numbers in each of these sequences:
3, 7, 11, 15, 19, _____, _____
4, 5, 7, 10, 14, 19, _____, _____
b) What will the 12th number in the second sequence be?
2. Fill in the missing numbers:
6 __
-__8
= 2 4
3.What fraction of this shape has been shaded? Give your answer in its simplest form.
4. How many quarters are there in 12?
5. This pictogram shows how many people went to the cinema each evening last week:
The cinema was full on Friday.
a) How many people are in the cinema when it is full?
b) How many more people were there in the cinema on Thursday than on Tuesday?
c) What was the total attendance for last week at the cinema?
MATHS ANSWERS
1 a) 23, 27, 25, 32 b) 70
2. 2 units and 3 tens
3. 3 quarters (3 over 4)
4. 48
5. a)120 b)15 c)385
VERBAL REASONING
1. Jumbled Words
LINAMA Beast =
EERARC Occupation =
LEBKCU Part of belt =
TEAHFER Light as a ..... =
LEDAB Sharp cutting edge =
2. Underline the two words which are the odd ones out in
the following group of words:
black, king, purple, green, house
3. Find a word that can be put in front of each of the
following words to make a new, compound word:
CAST, FALL, WARD, POUR, TURN
4. Find the letter which will complete both words, ending the
first word and starting the second.
1. CAR (_____) RUM
2. MES (_____) AND
3. BOA (_____) UDE
4. HAL (_____) EAK
5. CUR (_____) AR
6. BEL (_____) IP
5. Give the next two numbers in the following sequence
(a) simple sequence 2 4 6 8
(b) complex sequence 5 21 8 17 11 13
6. The Browns live two houses away from the Wests. The Wests are at the end of the road at house number 38.
The Wests are on the side of the road with even numbers. What is the house number of the Browns? _
7. If eight is two more than half of this number, what is this number?
VERBAL REASONING ANSWERS
1. ANIMAL, CAREER , BUCKLE , FEATHER , BLADE
2. king, house
3. DOWN
4. D, H or S, R, L or T, B or E or T, L or T
5. 10 12. 14 9
6. 34
7. 12