Lockers Park Senior Schools Guide 2025 by Datum Creative Media

Continuing to help boys find the best senior school

For the past 150 years Lockers Park has prided itself on helping parents to find the right senior school for their son. This can seem a daunting and challenging process, which is why the Lockers Park team work closely with you to help identify and prepare your son.

We are enormously proud of our successful record in senior school examinations and interviews; our boys move on to a strong and varied selection of senior schools, as we carefully find the right school for each pupil.

This is borne out by the number of senior schools which Lockers boys go onto. Last year 31 boys went to 20 different schools. Consistently our process is completely centred around your child and what is best for him

Our deep knowledge of each boy, together with our understanding of the landscape and our longstanding relationships with senior schools mean that we are able to facilitate dialogue each step of the way.

This booklet provides an introductory guide to the options, and is supported by our Year 6-8 Senior School Preparation Programme. The benefits of this approach include:

Extensive exam and interview practice

Visits to and from leading senior schools

Tailored scholarship coaching

Preparation for senior school entry tests (if required)

Access to our annual Senior Schools Presentation Evening, giving Lockers Park pupils and parents the opportunity to meet a selection of leading senior schools

Tailored advice from myself, our Director of Studies and senior staff.

Choosing the right senior school is an important part of the educational journey and we look forward to working with you to make the right choice for your son.

Gavin Taylor H d t

Destination Senior Schools based on

standardised scores

(This should only be used as a guide)

Independent Schools Examinations Board’s (ISEB) pre-tests and entrance exams

There is a two-stage selection process for most schools:

Year 6 ISEB pre-test consisting of maths, English, non-verbal and verbal reasoning. This is taken online taken at Lockers Park, often in November.

Year 7 & 8 assessments e.g. Harrow and Bedford tests. Typically English, Maths, reasoning and an interview.

In addition, all boys at Lockers Park will take either a Scholarship exam or Common Entrance exam at the end of Year 8.

The ISEB pre-test

Many senior schools use the ISEB’s pre-test as an initial gauge on whether a candidate is suitable for their school. This is an online test that consists of English, maths, non–verbal and verbal reasoning assessments. Most schools ask us to administer the test in November in Year 6, although there is some flexibility with timings, and some schools may ask us to do it in Year 7 (e.g. Bedford School).

The test is taken at Lockers Park and a pupil can only take the test once in an academic year. Once the pupil has taken the test, the senior schools that he has registered for can all access the result A pupil will only be able to do the pre-test if they have registered for a school. It is the parent’s responsibility to register their son for the pre-test. At Lockers Park, we will do some preparation for the pre-test via Learning Science lessons in Year 5 and through workshops at Saturday School. More information on the Common Pre-test can be found on the ISEB's own website: https://www.iseb.co.uk/familieshub/pre-tests-admissions-toolkit/

Senior school entrance tests

For many schools the ISEB pre-test represents the first round. If your son has met the standard then in many cases the senior school will run their own entrance test in Year 7 or early in Year 8. This will consist of English, maths and reasoning, and on occasions include Science and French. Preparation for these tests will happen in lessons, although for those that might benefit from some extra support, we will run workshops at Saturday School.

In addition to this, some schools (St Albans and Aldenham) are offering a 12+ exam during Year 7. If a candidate is successful then they can hold a place and join in Year 9

The Common Entrance exam

All of our Year 8 pupils, including scholarship candidates, are expected to take the Common Entrance exam at the end of Year 8 in June. This exam is organised by the ISEB. Candidates are tested in the three core subjects with the addition of French, Latin, History and Geography. It helps senior schools with setting and provides a good focus for the boys to work towards in their final year. Again, content will be covered in lessons with some extra support available at Saturday School.

Scholarship exams

Boys who have shown either academic ability or talent in music, sport, drama, art or technology may be put forward by Lockers Park for a scholarship attempt. Not all schools offer scholarships across the board and the assessments vary in their nature depending on the senior school For most senior schools these assessments

Interview tips

As a general rule, senior school interviews can be divided up into questions that are, essentially:

A. fact-finding:

What is your favourite subject?

Do you have any hobbies?

Music/drama/sport achievements

What books have you enjoyed?

Why do you want to come to this school?

B. those questions which require some out-of-the-box thinking:

If you could go back in time which era would you go to?

If you could change one law, what would it be?

What news stories interest you?

How would you describe yourself in five words?

Your son might also be asked to discuss a picture or piece of writing.

What he must remember is that the interviewer is only trying to get to know himthey don't really want to catch him out As such, there are a few things to remember: First impressions count—think about appearance, smile, be polite, make eye contact.

Consider good body language—hold a good posture, don't fiddle.

2. It’s a conversation. Don't regurgitate learnt information; it should be a two-way process.

3. Some questions can be prepared for (e.g. the fact-finding questions).

4. Don't undersell yourself try to remember all the elements of your life at Lockers Park. What positions of responsibility have you had? What are your passions? What prizes have you won?

5. For the more challenging questions, remember that all they are looking for is a smile and a response. There is no correct answer, so think and talk it through. "That’s a difficult question, let me think," can relax you and get you into gear.

6. If you don't understand a question don't be afraid to ask for clarification. 7.

Most importantly, smile, relax and try to enjoy it

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