Admissions

• Applications are made by completing the Registration Form and paying the non-refundable registration fee, by the published deadline.
• As part of the admissions process, all applicants sit entrance and scholarship examinations, and we will request a report from your child’s current school. Exemplar papers for the entrance examinations are available on request to help students prepare.
• For Sixth Form entry, we will also obtain predicted GCSE grades from the applicant's current school. 
• All candidates are invited to an interview with the Headmaster or a member of the Senior Leadership Team (or the Head of EAL for international students). This forms part of our process to get to know each child before a final decision is made.
• Following this, the Headmaster will confirm the decision and, where a place is offered, parents will be informed directly.
• If you wish to accept the offer, parents are asked to complete and return the Acceptance Form along with the deposit by the stated deadline. While we are unable to hold offers open beyond this date, our admissions team will be happy to support you through the next steps.

• During the admissions process, we ask parents to share any known or suspected information relating to their child’s health, allergies, learning differences or disabilities. This helps us to understand each child fully and ensure the appropriate support is in place from the outset.

  Please note that if this information is not disclosed, the school may need to review or, in some circumstances, withdraw an offer of a place.

Our aim is to welcome students whose academic strengths and personal qualities will enable them to benefit fully from the wide range of opportunities offered at Prior Park Schools. We seek to create a balanced and vibrant school community, with a healthy mix of day and boarding students, and boys and girls.

Should applications exceed the number of places available, offers will be made in line with the following criteria (listed alphabetically):

• academic ability and reference/report from current/previous school
• an informal teaching assessment if applicable
• adherence to the vision and values of Prior Park Schools
• attitudinal interviews
• cognitive anilities assessment
• class size & size of the school roll
• extra-curricular interests & other talents
• other factors – including whether the child has a parent who teaches in one of our schools
• previous attendance at The Paragon (for entry to Prior Park College)
• siblings* at another Prior Park School

* A child is a sibling if they are a full or half-brother or sister, an adoptive brother or sister, or if they are children of the same household – although this does not guarantee entrance.

Entrants into Year 7 will be assessed when they are in Year 6. The decision to make an offer will be taken by our Headmaster considering the outcome of your child’s entrance assessments, an informal interview, and a reference from their current school.

11+ Entrance Exam Day
Our 11+ Entrance Assessment focusses on the whole child and includes three parts: a short on-screen test, a prompted creative writing exercise, and a more practical and fun Leadership and Teamwork Assessment. Details of the day are as follows:

On-screen Test
The on-screen test is around 45 minutes long and covers Maths and non-verbal reasoning skills. The test assumes that students have covered at least the minimum requirements of the UK National Curriculum in Maths. You can access an online familiarisation tool by clicking this link:  Prior Park College 11+ Familiarisation Test

Creative Writing
The prompted creative writing lasts for 50 minutes and gives students the opportunity to show their English skills and grammar, and their creativity and spark. It assumes that students have covered the minimum requirements of the UK National Curriculum in English. 

Lunch
Lunch will be provided. Please let us know in advance if your child has any special dietary requirements.

Leadership and Teamwork Assessment
In the Leadership and Teamwork Assessment, students work in small teams with Prior Park Sixth Form students to solve a series of fun, active challenges in our Sports Centre. We host a parents' reception overlapping with this final session so that you can come and see your child(ren) in action.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Admissions team at admissions.ppc@priorparkschools.com, or 01225 835353, Option 2 for Admissions.

The Governors of the Prior Park Educational Trust are committed to broadening access to its schools by offering to eligible parents or guardians means-tested financial support with payment of school fees.

To apply for a bursary you must be registered with the College and have paid the registration fee. A bursary can, in some circumstances, be added to a scholarship award. Applications for a bursary must be made before the offer of a place at the school.

We reserve the right to refer some bursary applications to an external agency to provide an independent assessment of the appropriate level of support, if thought to be necessary.

All bursaries are kept under review throughout an award holder's time at the College. It is a condition of a bursary award that parents report any significant change in their financial situation.