UK Independent Schools and pre-entry assessment.

[indieschools]

Has anyone on this site either moved back/ is in the process of moving back to the UK and has had experience with Independent School assessments?

We are currently talking to a few schools and they have said that they would want my child to undergo assessment in English, Maths and verbal reasoning before being offered a place.

I am interested to hear from any parents who have been through this process and if they have any feedback on this? 

[old mum]

Nothing to worry about, although we all do. Will possibly be open-ended to show where your child is academically, and lets the school know areas of strength and weakness. All 3  of our sons did these tests under supervision on Saturday mornings in their schools here. The English involved a reading comprehension and some writing on current affairs topics eg smoking ban (for or against?) , letter of protest about environmental damage where a forested area was to be dug up for a new motorway which would bring in new business, you get the idea. The writing gave them some freedom to take whatever side they wanted and then make an argument to support their views. Maths covered a wide spectrum, some of which they found easy and some which was new and harder. The instructions made clear that they wouldn't  be expected to know how to do all the questions. The reasoning test is fairly standard IQ stuff. Don't worry too much about it. If they are doing OK at school generally, they'll be fine.

[Gulf in standards]

There is such a massive gulf in standards between UK and SG schools that it is laugable.

If your children failed PSLE here, they would ace the GCSEs back home.   

[old mum]

PP, your sour generalisations are not helpful or accurate. One of ours returned to the UK from international school and somehow, in spite of his "inferior" international and UK education, got good GCSEs and a top first from Oxbridge, beating all his Singaporean classmates, including at least one top scholarship holder. I imagine that he and many other UK  international school students would have no problems with the PSLE.

[indieschools]

Old Mum

How old were your children when you did this? My child will be 7 when they take the tests. I am not worried about my child's ability, however I am very concerned that his school doesn't seem to be making much progress on the basics, instead preferring to get the kids to enjoy school at this age. In contrast, the early years program in the UK seems to be academic and vigorous. For example I believe they will want him to know his times tables up to 10X. I am worried that he won't do very well at all and I do not really want to start tutoring him!

Gulf is obviously an expert on all things SP and UK education wise so best not to go there 

[Another Oldie]

Mine are all at university in the UK now, but they went through the international school system here and I do recall things being quite relaxed in Year 3! We had a great tape (Well, it WAS a loong time ago!) by Carol Vorderman (Yes, her!) with sing-along times tables. Fantastic stuff. Our kids all knew their tables in a proverbial flash, thanks to that tape. They even pushed themselves to go further to even higher tables. There must be something like that still out there to play on iPod.

[indieschools]

Thx, your insights and advice are very helpful and reassuring.

I do agree that our international school does seem to be very "relaxed" and I find myself getting a bit frustrated as I would like to see a little bit of work coming home so I can go through it with my child. I did find a CD on the internet last night that has rave reviews about times tables so I think I will buy that. It's interesting to see that whilst parents send their children to good schools, they also take it upon themselves to make sure that their children are learning what they feel is appropriate too. Unfortunately I have been so busy trying to turn my child into a strong reader that I have never given any thought to helping him along with maths  and I do not want to send him to an after school program here 

Thanks again.

[mum 2-2]

Am I being very naive here?

We are seriously thinking about returning back to the UK in the next couple of years, mostly to be closer to aging parents.

I have not looked into schools to be honest but thought we would just look at an area, find a house and the children would go to the school in that area. Is this not the case?

[BS]

PP, your sour generalisations are not helpful or accurate. One of ours returned to the UK from international school and somehow, in spite of his "inferior" international and UK education, got good GCSEs and a top first from Oxbridge, beating all his Singaporean classmates, including at least one top scholarship holder. I imagine that he and many other UK  international school students would have no problems with the PSLE.

you could also say that Singaporean Vietnamese / Malay students went to Harvard and beat the pants off the UK students. You could insert any nationalities into the statement as you wish.

and if you are for real, you would say Cambridge or Oxford. not Oxbridge. i graduated from Said Business School from Oxford (again, not "Oxbridge"), and I am insulted when i get referred to as an Oxbridge graduate (sorry, some snobbery here from being from the BETTER institution)

i didn't know that "Oxbridge" (sorry, could resist that you son went to both of them simultaneously) offered degrees in creative writing...   

[genius]

...our eldest turned down the "Oxbridge" exam as she wanted to go to a "real life" uni - after reading the previous post I can completely see her point!

[FILSP]

Hilarious

BS - And here you are hanging around all day on a tittle tattle gossip board. What are you doing, waiting for your next fix of Coronation Street?

You must have nothing better to do. What a waste of a place at "Oxbridge". You parents must be so proud. Despite your great education, it seems you do not have the social skills to interact with people.

[BS]

How about you, matey? Finished your episode of EastEnders already, innit?