Just received rejection letter from Broomwood Post Reply

[schoolgatesmum]

@susieq - So does that mean that everyone can go to the upper school? Or is continual assessment used to determine who goes to the upper school?

[susieq]

At Eaton House continual assessment is used to determine entry from the pre-prep to prep school, there is no need to take a 7plus/8plus exam. However, entrants for the prep school from outside the pre-prep would still need to take an entry assessment in year 3. My son was the last year to take the 7plus exam in year 2 , there were a few who failed each year often because they were amongst the very youngest for the year rather than lacking ability. Continual assessment is regarded as fairer and allows the teachers to focus on the curriculum rather than teaching for an exam.

[luckymummy]

We have actually got a place at Eaton House, we put our sons name down at birth, thankfully, so we do have that option (it seems like a good school). My only concern about Eaton House was the distance it is from our home. We live in the Nightingale Triangle and I wanted my son to make friends who live very locally to us. May be I am wrong and many people do travel from Balham and Wandsworth Common to get to Eaton House and it wont be such an issue. Broomwood seem to make quite a thing about wanting people who live close to the school and I liked that idea.

[treep]

We are near Thurleigh Road and our son in starting Eaton House in Sept 2013. I am hoping the walk will get me fit!

x

[susieq]

Eaton House boys come from a reasonable area around the school, we live just off the Westside but other boys in his year live in the Nightingale Triangle, the Toast rack, Wandsworth, Fulham, Abbeville , and of course between the Commons. Limited boys from Balham or Putney . The school mini buses from North of the River do mean that we get a few children from that way who prefer the open spaces. Many children and mothers cycle to and from school and to friends houses etc.

[mamum]

Hi Lucky Mummy

We have also just received our 'rejection letter' from Broomwood hall (we too live in nightingale triangle). To be honest, I am rather annoyed by the whole thing, and think its a bit of a swizzle to get a larger deposit from parents who are choosing schools. We were rather late putting our son down for the schools (we moved to the area december 2010, and only applied for various schools in Feb 2010, for start september 2013). We were told quite honeslty by most schools - thomas', Eaton, various others that either 1) we were too late and list is full or 2) we could chance it and go on a wait list and pay money (£50) but no guarantee. There was no mention of these 'waiting' lists at Broomwood when we applied, and again no metion when we went for the walk around, or sons interview (which I thought went well enough, esp considering we had dragged him out of his sick bed for it, and he was diagnosed with flu 2 days later), or during 'our interview' (which we probably didnt perform well enough ). Anyway, during all of this, I was under the impression it was either a clear case 1) you are in or 2) you fail, and are not offered a place. At no point were we told about a wait list or that they were heavily oversubscribed. Probably naive of me not to ask, but I assumed this information would be forthcoming (like all the other schools). Broomwood happily take £100 off you (double the amount of any other school) and only then afterwards to may be offered a place or put on a wait list?!?!?! Without actually advising this may be the case. Which of course they know may be a possiblty beforehand, because of the number of deposits they have already taken, against the spaces they have available.
OK, we may not have performed well in 'assessment' but not sure whether its the parents or child who is more under assessment, but even so feel like the whole thing is a big con to get double the amount of deposit out of far many more parents, because they dont even mention a wait list (or oversubscription) until long after you've paid money.
Now anyone who is applying to private schools can afford these deposits, but thats not the point, for me the whole thing seems sneaky - maybe they just neglected to tell me about a wait list and others were told, but even so, it all seems underhand to me, and I will not be sending my son there even if he were to progress through the wait list.
Sorry, rant over, I do know how you feel, but as far as I can see the school is oversubscribed like any other around here, and has a very effective method of extracting a hell of a lot more money from parents for the deposit then the other schools, by keeping their wait list close to there chest until after such time the (double) amount of deposit has been paid.
Still its back to the drawing board for us, but I am confident we will get in somewhere we like before september 2013 (probably naively again) but there is so much movement all the time, and feel that, although my son is extremely bright (IMO) maybe the assessment route is not for us.

good luck

[dudette]

My daughter was put on the waiting list at Broomwood but got an offer from Thomas's. Unfortunately we'd already accepted Broomwood so we lost the £2000 deposit as Thomas's was our first choice. Everyone I knew on the waiting list at Broomwood eventually got a place so don't panic. If you call the Broomwood registrar and say how keen you are, how disappointed you were etc then she may well move you up the list.

[dancingqueen]

I was also in the same position as you this time last year with Broomwood. I contacted the registrar and said how disappointed we were not to get a place first off. We did have a place at Eton at that point but i was very much hoping to get in to Broomwood as it is considerably nearer. She said my son had been absolutely fine in his assessment and that it was nothing to do with him but all about the numbers involved. So I expressed how keen we were to get a place etc and wrote the same in an email as well (her suggestion so that she had a record of it). She said that the majority of parents who hold out for a place do get one eventually but that it can involve "nerves of steel" whilst you wait as you might be offered a place in September (as that is the deadline for the the original offers to be accepted/denied and so places open up then) - or any time from then on as further people drop out when they get other places or have a change of plan etc. It may well be that my phone-call/email helped as fortunately i didnt have to wait long and was told in early September that I had a place (phew!).

[dancingqueen]

I meant to add that it is worth putting a back-up plan in place if you can - it's worth giving Eton a call,for example, to find out if you can get a place there (I dont think you have to confirm it until November if so) . Also the ones nearer Balham (Bertrum, Newton, Finton) although I think they are heavily subscribed too - but ask for waiting list numbers before handing over £50 registration fees as I know one Mum who did that and only found out after she was something like 250th on the list! So not a chance of getting in but that school were happy to take the money anyway.
I have also known of at least a couple at my son's nursery who were put on the waiting list at Broomwood but got offers from Thomas's.
It is all very stressful but seems to work out for the best for most eventually!

[SoConfused!]

I just wanted to comment that the very nice registrars and Hornsby House, Finton and Eaton House basically told me not to waste £50 as I am too late and the waiting list is too long ... so not strictly true that they are all trying to make some extra cash !!!

[ready2pop]

I don't think there's anything underhand about the process.

Broomwood tell you from the start that they're selective so you know your deposit doesn't automatically get you a place. The very fact that they operate an assessment process tells you they're oversubscribed - otherwise they wouldn't need to bother.

Hornsby, Finton & Eaton House all operate on a first come first served basis so they can gauge when their lists are so full and tell people it is too late to register.

Conversely, with Thomas, Broomwood, Newton Prep, the schools in Dulwich etc... - it doesn't matter when you put your name down. They assess all applicants and choose who they want. Obviously not everyone takes up their place so they operate a waiting list too - as is the case with all schools.

[MGMidget]

This discussion takes me back to a thread I started some time ago on Broomwood where we had quite a discussion and towards the end there were some enlightening comments about the admissions procedure from someone claiming to be a Broomwood Hall founding Principal (Malcolm Colquoun I think judging by the username?).

The original point of my discussion, concerning the inability to have a tour of the site of the Vicarage/Nightingale Lane without paying the £100 registration fee first has since been resolved as they were offering an open day at this site earlier this year (which they weren't offering at the Vicarage/NL at the time we were considering it).

However, the discussion moved on and towards the end (bottom of page 2 and page 3) there are comments about the admissions procedure from Malc-colq, the purported Broomwood representative, which you may find useful. My conclusion from that, though others might disagree, was the parent's 'chat with the head' is far more important than the child's assessment in determining whether you get a place or not (or are on the 'waiting list'). I thought malc_colq's comments about the parent interview, (ahem, 'chat with the head' ) were a little contradictory. He said first 'This is not an interview (remember you're on the registered list, so you've got a place).' But his later comment suggested to me that there was some assessment of the parents going on!

This link takes you to the original thread: http://www.nappyvalleynet.com/broomwood ... t5270.html

Therefore, I wouldn't draw any conclusion that you have no chance with Thomas's where there is no parent interview, only a child assessment. We were one of those waitlisted for Broomwood but offered a place at Thomas's (not waitlisted).

I would also add that Broomwood Hall's website somewhat downplays the selective nature of the admissions process in my view so it is understandable that some people aren't aware of the situation or don't fully understand it! Also if being on the registered list means, according to the poster 'malc_colq' that 'you've got a place' then I can understand why people are disappointed to be told later they are waitlisted.

[GES77]

Then, and only then, we ask you to decide on the basis of what you have heard whether you think Broomwood is the kind of school you are looking for. If it is, we invite you to place your child on the registered list “a fee of £100“ which guarantees you a place. If it isn't, fine, we'd rather you found out now than later.

The above is taken from the owners reply in the thread detailed above (thank you Midget). Can I just clarify that this is NOT the case. Our £100 did not "guarantee" us a place. We have been put on the waitlist.

Later in the thread the owner also writes that the readiness assessment at 3 years old is a year before they start. RUBBISH. In my son's case, it was 2 years before he would have started. So not sure how they can even begin to assess (and slightly alarming that the owner is not aware of the actual entry procedure!)

From my experience, it boils down to you being the right sort of parentfrom the parent interview and if your child goes to the right nursery that 'feeds' into the school (i.e. the politics of the private nursery and school system around here).

Interestingly, a few mums with children at Broomwood have subsequently told me that not getting a place could be a good thing...there are currently rather a lot of unhappy parents at the school.

[ready2pop]

I'd forgotten about that thread MGMidget - interesting.

I think what someone said on it is worth remembering though - all the schools we are talking about are good and it is just a case of horses for courses.

[MGMidget]

Interesting point on the choice of nursery. I had suspected that too as the head seemed rather taken aback when I told her which nursery my son was at (not one of their usual feeders) and asked why we had picked it. Can't say what influence this had on their decision about our application though as I can think of many potential reasons why we might have 'failed' the test .