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Most boys and girls join
Downside School in the Third Form (Year 9) at 13+, either
as boarders or day pupils.
If space is available, it
may occasionally be possible to join the School at 14+
into the Fourth Form (Year 10) for the start of GCSE/IGCSE
courses.
Admission at 13+ is normally
via the Downside Assessment Test and/or the Common Entrance
examinations (the average mark in recent Common Entrance
candidates is 65% but 50% is the minimum requirement
across all subjects) or the Common Scholarship Examinations.
Pupils whose schools cannot prepare them for the Common
Entrance Examination will sit Downside’s own examinations
in English, Mathematics, Science and a modern language.
Details
of the Common Entrance or Common Scholarship Examinations
are available from the Independent Schools Examination
Board at www.iseb.co.uk
The Downside
Assessment Test,
which comprises a computerised aptitude test (for which
there is no preparation possible), interviews and reports
from the pupil’s current school, is designed to reduce
the pressure of the Common Entrance examinations and
to allow the School to confirm places to pupils 18 months
prior to entry. The Admissions Department is in regular
contact with all prospective pupils’ current schools
to monitor their progress during the final year before
entry to Downside. Late applicants will also normally
be offered the opportunity to sit the Downside Assessment
Test where appropriate.
Guaranteed
Places are offered
to those who have performed well in the Downside Assessment
Test. The places are not dependent on Common Entrance
examination results. However, all pupils are required
to sit Common Entrance and are expected to pass the
threshold; the results are also used for setting purposes
in the Third Form.
Conditional
Places are offered
to those who fare less confidently in the Downside Assessment
Test but who Downside feels, after close consultation
with the pupil’s current school, will make good progress
in the remaining year and so secure entry to the School.
The pupil is required to pass the Common Entrance examination
threshold. Progress reports are requested from the
pupil’s current school and Conditional Places may become
Guaranteed during the months prior to admission.
Step
1
Visit Downside at an Open Day or arrange a private visit
with the Registrar.
Step 2
Complete a Registration Form (online or
from the Prospectus) and send it to the Registrar.
Step 3
18 months prior to entry (or sometimes later depending
on time of application): Downside obtains reports and
references from the applicant’s current school and conducts
interviews and its own assessment tests (see above) here
at the School.
Step 4
Applicants are offered a Guaranteed Place or Conditional
Place or their application is rejected.
Step 5
12 months prior to entry applicants are invited to an
Introduction Day for a chance to familiarise themselves
further with the School by attending some classes, activities
and sports.
Step 6
Following the Introduction Day parents are asked to pay
a £900 deposit to confirm the acceptance of their child’s
place. £450 is returned against the first term’s fees,
the remainder against the final bill on leaving Downside.
Parents
are invited to apply for individual boarding-houses
although choices cannot of course be guaranteed.
Step
7
Applicants take the Common Scholarship examinations in
February or the Common Entrance examinations or Downside’s
own examination in May/June.
Step 8
The pupil starts at Downside in September in the Michaelmas
Term.
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