Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

I am so wound up re: the Feb residential - DsS doing it on 13th and 14th. Can't wait for it to be all over!

How soon do we know what the results are ? Considering other indies are posted on the 18th and National offers day is the 1st or 2nd March, is it reasonable to hope that this will be done within a week ?

I have no nails left and am rapidly going grey.....

(Edited by JR to correct typos in title and post.)

Goodness, I'm not sure because everything's been delay this year.

When my children did their entrance exam in the first week of January, we received the results by the first week of February on both occasions but perhaps because of the delay they will be speedier in getting the acceptance letters out.

We need Mrs C or OneWestGunCopse to come and help answer this one. Have you tried enquiring at the Counting House at CH?

Good Luck to your son - keep us posted.

Yes, good luck to your DS. I think I remember hearing or reading somewhere that the results will be rushed through to be in line with offers. It was unfortunate that the residentials had to change this year due to the snow, but I'm sure the school are doing all they can to try to catch up a bit.

Exams taken - 13th/14th February
Marking takes place/assessments are gone through/interviewer and HSMs comments are scoured/ CATS tests are externally marked (never get a turnaround in less than 9 days)/all information is collated and digested/a few are tested late due to change of circumstances/meetings are held in the first week of March.
In all honesty (and breaking our necks in the process) results should come out in the week beginning Monday 8th March.
It is the most rigorous, exhaustive and honest process that I have ever experienced. We try so hard to do our best for all of the remaining 240 candidates. I am sure that you would agree that it is our duty to consider the case of every child. To select just 112 is a very daunting task.
I am acutely aware of the causes for concern, but nature was against us this year.
Howard Holdsworth
Master i/c Entrance Exams

HowardH wrote: Howard Holdsworth
Master i/c Entrance Exams

Straight from the top, then!

I remember at my entrance exams thinking that the dinner pieces were one or the other, so didn't realise I could have lasagne and garlic bread! Whoops. Fortunately I was the only one on the table who liked the chocolate milk so I had everyone else's

Of course these days it's far more appealing to the prospective student: burgers and wedges for the last few years!

Eruresto wrote:

HowardH wrote: Howard Holdsworth
Master i/c Entrance Exams

Straight from the top, then!

I remember at my entrance exams thinking that the dinner pieces were one or the other, so didn't realise I could have lasagne and garlic bread! Whoops. Fortunately I was the only one on the table who liked the chocolate milk so I had everyone else's

Of course these days it's far more appealing to the prospective student: burgers and wedges for the last few years!

Some things have not changed ---in my day if you didn't like it ---- someone else would !!!

Well my daughter had a great time on the whole this weekend. She said she was a bit tired today as her roommate snored so she only got 2 hours sleep. One of the older girls said to bunk in her spare bed if it didnt get any better but dd couldnt find the room again! She is even more keen to go there now. Being an eternal pessimist, i dont expect her to get through so i was hoping she wouldnt like it!

My daughter loved the residential too. Her roommate wouldn't go to sleep, kept turning the lights on, running up and down the corridoors and knocking on doors - don't think she was accepted somehow

We also attended the residential assessment over the weekend. My daughter enjoyed it. She said they all bonded in the house she was staying. Having fun and no fuss. Was very tired when we got back, played a bit with her sister and went to bed. This was the last of the exams until SATS. She is quite glad for the break in studying. If i must say, I am more exhuasted than her. I am still very tired.

Now, have to sit back and worry until the results comes. Not sure which is worse, preparing and taking the exams or waiting for the results. This is hard.

For the parents, waiting for the results is more difficult, definitely, but the offspring will never believe it.

To all you hopefulls, believe me the anxiety of waiting for entry results is nothing compared to the anxious and heartbreaking first 3 weeks they are at CH. No direct contact except via house staff works great for the kids but is hell on the Mums left at home. Get through that and you can cope with anything. DS of course loved it! Got home sick in second and third years and now doesn't want to leave just at the time when we doubt we can afford it anymore. Our fees have doubled over 5 years when our income has risen only 6%. So if you are offered a place be prepared to spend more than you think initally.

I'd just like to echo the warning from MrsAverage. We too are having to move our son to a new school at the end of this academic year because we can no longer afford the escalating fees. Over the five years of our son’s CH career our income has risen slowly and the cost of living steeply, yet our assessed fees have doubled. As a result of this our residual income (assessed income minus fees) is actually less now than it was in 2005, making it impossible for us to manage even the basic costs of living.

There is a recent thread on the official parents’ forum where someone has demonstrated, using the school’s own published sample assessment data, that an average two parent two child family will be heavily financially disadvantaged by the assessment system; the response from some parents is that the school was not founded for families like this and that they should therefore expect to be penalised. Our own experience (described elsewhere on this forum) would indicate that this sentiment is shared by the Foundation and the Headmaster, but it is never made explicit.

On many levels I do not regret for one moment our decision to send our sons to CH; it is a fine school which has provided them with a very high standard of education, they've been happy and have done well. However I do feel that we had a very imperfect understanding of exactly what we were signing up to, and I believe that prospective parents could be helped to make better informed choices if they were more aware of these potential issues.

One can argue about the definition of need, required academic standards etc, etc prior to admitting children to CH but to my way of thinking it seems contrary to the ethos of a charitable foundation to effectively "move the goalposts" once children are accepted and there.

This phenomenon is not new sadly. I found out many years after leaving that the reason a good friend left abruptly after his deps year was that his family could no longer afford the fees. Needless to say his perplexed and concerned housemates were told nothing of this at the time.

Mid A 15 wrote

One can argue about the definition of need, required academic standards etc, etc prior to admitting children to CH but to my way of thinking it seems contrary to the ethos of a charitable foundation to effectively "move the goalposts" once children are accepted and there.

Hear hear! It is particularly galling to be told, as we have been. that the goalposts are being moved "in fairness to other families", and then to find that no-one from the Foundation is prepared to discuss or justify their policies.

I am totally with Mid A and ailurophile on this one.

I used to be proud of the fact that I had the chances I did through charitable status.

I suppose now, kids boast, "I go to CH - You know, the 'bluecoat-school near Horsham, coz Mummsie and Papa can afford it !"