Admissions Process: Year 12

Candidates will be invited for assessment at the school or at a venue in their region: please contact us and we will do our best to help with the test location.

The School assesses candidates for entry to ensure that the curriculum and pace of learning are appropriate for them and that they have the potential to be happy and thrive in the School, contributing co-operatively towards its community. The ability to understand and communicate effectively in English is fundamental to this.

Assessment for the Sixth Form
Total Assessment time, including breaks: 2 hours 40 minutes (or 2 hours 10 minutes if the interview has been done previously).

1. Written Entrance Examinations in
   English (1 hour): In effect, this will be a general paper set in English. As well as testing language skills it will test powers of comprehension, analysis, expression and reasoning. It will assume no knowledge of specific literature but candidates will be expected to have a reasonable level of general knowledge and awareness of current affairs. The questions will be set in straightforward English.
   Mathematics (1 hour): The questions will assume a reasonable, but not total, coverage of GCSE, IGCSE or SPM syllabuses, excluding topics in Additional Maths. The first section will consist of graded questions on basic arithmetic, algebra and geometry. The second section will have a choice of questions testing mathematical reasoning and deduction through problem solving, depending less on previous experience and technique.
   


2. Previous school reports, including achieved examination grades and predicted grades. When possible, a confidential report from the candidate's current school will be used, otherwise parents will be asked to provide a copy of the most recent school report. Candidates are also invited to provide a CV detailing their achievements, interests, responsibilities and ambitions. The preparation of this document should be their own work.


3. An informal interview (20 minutes), ), conducted in English. It is intended that this should be a friendly, two-way experience, enabling the School to get to know the candidate and allowing the candidate to ask questions about the School. It is often easier for candidates if their parents are not involved in this conversation. Topics can be widespread but are largely based on the CV or recent school work or activities. To some extent the candidates have scope to determine the direction of the conversation themselves. A level subject choices will be discussed, as well as possible university ambitions.

The assessment is designed to need no special preparation and it is much preferred that candidates do not receive coaching or tuition in advance. It is intended to be a positive experience of benefit in itself and it should certainly not disrupt ordinary school work. It is understood that candidates will have different school backgrounds and different levels of English; the assessment attempts to measure a candidate's potential to learn and develop.

Out of courtesy, parents should inform the candidate's current school before assessment for the Prince of Wales Island International School. It is particularly important that a current school is aware of intentions before we ask for a confidential report. Ideally current schools, teachers and headteachers should be involved in the discussions so that they can offer advice about future schooling. They will know their pupils well and so their advice is to be valued.

All candidates will be assessed in a similar way so that decisions about class groupings and setting can be made. Some schools, particularly British curriculum schools, are able to provide fuller and more focused information on candidates. This is important and useful to us, but no candidate will be at either an advantage or disadvantage because of the school from which they apply. Similarly, the admissions process will be devoid of other forms of discrimination and the application of quotas, except that, by law, international schools may not admit more than 40% local students. Parents are asked to let us know in advance of any special needs so that arrangements can be made.