Year 9 Entry - Harrow School

1. Registration

STANDARD APPLICANTS (NOT APPLYING FOR A SCHOLARSHIP)

A standard applicant who will not be applying for a scholarship or bursary to come to Harrow should, ideally by the end of Year 5, but definitely by 1 May of Year 6:

complete the Year 9 online registration process. You will first be asked to create an account, then to complete the registration form and finally to make an online payment of the non-refundable Registration Fee of £350.

APPLICANTS AT SCHOOL IN HONG KONG AND CHINA

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICANTS (NOT REQUIRING A BURSARY)

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICANTS (REQUIRING A BURSARY)

An applicant who would only accept a place at Harrow on receipt of a means-tested bursary can either:

complete the Scholarship and Bursary Application Form below and return it, together with the £50 Scholarship and Bursary Application Fee, by early December of Year 8, or
complete the Scholarship and Bursary Application Form below and return it, together with the Year 9 Registration Form and the Registration Fee of £350. An applicant will then go through our standard academic process. We will be able to inform parents in advance of the scholarship assessments what bursarial assistance they are likely to be entitled to and if their son is academically strong enough for Harrow. These applicants will have £200 of the £350 Registration Fee returned if they are not offered a place at the School.

SCHOLARSHIP AND BURSARY APPLICATION FORM

Year 9 Registration Form

LATE APPLICANTS (REGISTERING BETWEEN 1 MAY OF YEAR 6 AND 1 MAY OF YEAR 7)

An applicant who is registered between 1 May of Year 6 and 1 May of Year 7 is referred to as a ‘Late Applicant’.

Late applicants should:

Complete and return the Year 9 Registration Form below and submit it by email to admissions@harrowschool.org.uk attaching a copy of the ID page from the applicant's passport. Please pay the non-refundable Registration Fee of £350 by bank transfer using the details on the form.

A late applicant will be invited to sit the ISEB Pre-Test (if he has already sat this for another school, we will access his results). If the applicant's ISEB Pre-Test results meet the required standard, we will invite him to sit the Harrow Test. As there are fewer places available at this stage, the competition among late applicants is intense and they must be particularly promising to secure an offer.

Year 9 Registration Form

2. Reference

We request a confidential reference from an applicant’s current school at the end of Year 5. If he registers after this point, we will request a reference for him immediately.

3. ISEB Common Pre-Test

Ideally, an applicant should sit the ISEB Common Pre-Test between 1 October and the end of the autumn term of Year 6. The ISEB Common Pre-Test is a standardised, age-adaptive measure of ability and attainment, meaning that an applicant is not disadvantaged by sitting it early in Year 6 or by being young for his year. The Pre-Test is an online assessment consisting of multiple-choice questions in verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, English and Mathematics. It takes approximately two and a half hours to complete and its components can be taken together or at separate times.

We deselect a small number of applicants who do not perform well in the test and invite the strongest applicants to meet House Masters during Year 6. All applicants are interviewed by a House Master when they sit the Harrow Test in Year 7, whether they have met a House Master in Year 6 or not.

APPLICANTS AT PREP SCHOOLS IN THE UK

APPLICANTS AT OTHER SCHOOLS IN THE UK

An applicant who attends a school that does not routinely administer the ISEB Pre-Test asks his current school to supply a suitable testing room with a computer and internet access, along with an administrator to set up and supervise the Pre-Test. Once the administrator's name and email address have been supplied to us, we will provide them with the information needed to administer the test.

APPLICANTS AT SCHOOLS OVERSEAS

An applicant who attends a school overseas asks his current school to supply a suitable testing room with a computer and internet access, along with an administrator to set up and supervise the Pre-Test. If the applicant's current school is unable to provide this, his local British Council office or another educational establishment may provide an alternative venue. Once the administrator's name and email address have been supplied to us, we will provide them with the information needed to administer the test.

APPLICANTS WHO HAVE SAT THE ISEB PRE-TEST FOR ANOTHER SCHOOL

4. The Harrow Test

If an applicant has been successful in the ISEB Common Pre-Test, we invite him to sit the Harrow Test at the School in the autumn term of Year 7. The Harrow Test comprises two 15-minute interviews (one with a House Master and another with a Senior Beak), a computerised English and Maths assessment (one hour in total) and a short written essay (20 minutes).

5. Results

In the first week of December of Year 7, having completed the Harrow Test, an applicant receives one of the following results:

A1 List - the offer of a place at the School in a specific House;
A2 List - the offer of a place at the School with a House to be confirmed at a later date;
B List - the offer of a place on our Waiting List; or
C List - no offer.

Offers are subject to a satisfactory performance in either the Common Entrance (CE) or our Academic Scholarship examinations.

6. Common Entrance (CE) or Academic Scholarship

STANDARD APPLICANTS AT CE SCHOOLS

An applicant at a CE school, who has been offered a place at the School, sits the full set of CE examinations in June of Year 8. A boy who performs well in the Academic Scholarship examinations is unlikely to be required to sit the CE examinations.

An applicant is required to sit Level 2 or 3 papers in Mathematics and Latin, and Level 2 papers in English, Science and French. If he does not study French, he should sit a Level 2 paper in another language. We encourage applicants to stretch themselves and we weight the CE results to reward those who attempt the more challenging papers.

We would expect an applicant to achieve a minimum average of 65% across all subjects and to achieve a minimum of 60% in both English and Mathematics.

STANDARD APPLICANTS AT NON-CE SCHOOLS (EXCLUDING THOSE IN HONG KONG)

An applicant at a non-CE school (excluding those in Hong Kong) who has been offered a place at Harrow, sits CE examinations in four subjects in June of Year 8. A boy who performs well in the Academic Scholarship examinations is unlikely to be required to sit these CE examinations.

We would expect an applicant to pass English (Level 2) and Mathematics (Level 2 or 3) with a minimum of 60% in each subject. He must sit the Maths Calculator and Non-Calculator papers; if he is at school in the UK, he must sit the Mental Maths paper. He will also be required to sit papers in Science (Level 2) and French (Level 2, if studied), for setting purposes only. He need not take the speaking and listening examinations in Languages.

We encourage applicants to stretch themselves and we weight the CE results to reward those who attempt the more challenging papers.

APPLICANTS AT SCHOOL IN HONG KONG

An applicant at school in Hong Kong, who has been offered a place at Harrow, sits CE examinations in four subjects in June of Year 8. A boy who performs well in the Academic Scholarship examinations is unlikely to be required to sit these CE examinations.

To secure his place, an applicant is required to sit papers in English (Level 2), Mathematics (Level 3), Science (Level 2) and French (Level 2, if studied) for setting purposes only. He need not take the speaking and listening examinations in Languages, nor the Mental Maths paper.