St Olave’s School york

A superb award winning independent school worth every penny

Don’t know where to go awful

I'm not sure why the school insists that children sit several academic assessment tests to apply for a place - from our individual experience the selection process did not appear to be overly meritocratic. The Headteacher's criteria are apparently complex and factor in things such as balancing up classes and personalities - ultimately he makes a personal judgement. It did not appear to us that academic or other abilities really made much difference to your child's chances of acceptance, but maybe I'm missing something. Your child may be encouraged to re-apply, (at cost), the following year if they are not accepted first time, even if they have done well in all the tests. Your child has to re-sit the tests each time they re-apply, but I know of several very bright, fantastic children with great school reports who have applied a few times, to no avail. It seems cruel to put them through a 5 hour assessment day again if the Headteacher won't accept them for some other unknown reason. It is a very negative experience for a child to go through, especially if it happens more than once, and it is easy for them to be left feeling that there is something wrong with them. I would advise thinking very carefully before putting your child through this process, or applying more than once, for this reason. I don't know if it is significant, but on our first meeting with the Head we were asked about our jobs and backgrounds and whether we knew anyone at the school (we didn't). I did not feel that there was a great deal of interest from the school regarding our child's abilities and interests and there is little space on the application form to give details about your child's extracurricular interests and hobbies. Falconer is solely responsible for the final decision of which children the school accepts - other staff members don't appear to have much say even though they are involved in the assessment day. I am not convinced that the system is fair and I have suspicions about some of the criteria for being accepted, but that is just my opinion. Personally I recommend going to a kinder school that appreciates your child as an individual and embraces their talents and interests.

School bad, force feed yorkshire pudding. Headmaster beats kid if don't eat yorkshire pudding. Only 5 minutes to talk to parents per year. Appalled.