Private schools find ‘tutor-proof’ selection test

A government minister called it the “holy grail” of selective education. Now a group of head teachers may have found it — by coming up with a “tutor-proof” test and interview to select girls for top private schools.

Girls applying to the 12 schools that make up the North London Girls’ Schools Consortium are sitting admission tests and interviews this month. The group has agreed to replace 11-plus exams in maths and English with a one-hour “cognitive ability” test and interviews based on “what if”-style questions.

The move by the schools — including Godolphin & Latymer, South Hampstead High and St James Senior Girls’ School — follows concern about an “arms race” and “dreadful prepping” as middle-class families try to get a place at an elite school…

Article first appeared in the The Times, January 2018

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