Admissions and Fees

Everything you need to know about joining us

Welcome!

Choosing a school for your child, no matter how old they are, can be daunting and overwhelming. With COVID-19, we recognise it’s even more challenging. Schools themselves are looking a bit different and many in-person chats and visits are needing to be virtual.

We are doing everything we can to give you a really good sense of who we are and what makes us different so that you can be sure we are the right school for your family. We hope our website, and our video in particular, have given you a good window into Frensham Heights, but if you would like to find out more please call our Admissions team on 01252 792561 or email [email protected]

We are pleased to be able to welcome visitors back on to site for personal tours (albeit in a more restricted fashion – please see below). We can also offer video calls with our Head and relevant teaching staff. To get a really good idea of who we are, we suggest you:

Watch the films and panels from our virtual Open Morning on Saturday 19 September.
Have a chat with our Admissions team on 01252 792561 or email [email protected] to book a time.
Come in for a pre-booked tour of the site (please see restrictions below). Book a tour with our Reception team on 01252 792561 or email [email protected]
Have a video call with Rick, our Head, or Katherine, our Head of Junior School. Please speak to Admissions to book a time.

We look forward to chatting with you or seeing you soon.

Our Admissions Process

We want every parent to be sure that Frensham is the right place for their child to grow. By chatting with our Registrar and joining us for our virtual open morning or a one to one conversation with Rick, we hope you’ll start to get a strong understanding of who we are. It’s important to us that we choose our students based not only on exam results, but also on who we believe will thrive and benefit from everything the school has to offer and who, in turn, will fully contribute to the life of the school.

Most children join the school during the following year groups: Nursery, Reception, Years 3, 7, 9 and 12. If places are available, children are very welcome register to join other year groups. We do we fill quickly from Year 2 upwards so if you are interested in joining the Junior School in September 2021, it is worth registering your interest for 2021 entry as soon as possible. Please be aware that there is a non-refundable registration fee for all prospective students of £150.

Registrations for entry into Years 7, 9 and 12 in 2021 have now closed.

Visitor Information

Visits during COVID-19

We are very happy to be able to offer prebooked personal tours of our site again. We hope you will understand that in the current climate, we have to do these a bit differently for your safety and our own. Most importantly, we will only be able to offer tours during certain times and we will not be able to show you inside any of the buildings. Although we will only be outdoors, we will still need to ask you to wear a mask. Our staff taking you around, and any you may meet on your tour, will have to keep their distance, so please don’t take this personally!

We will be offering single family tours at the following times:

Monday to Friday: 9:30 – 10:20, 11:00 – 11:50, 2:15 – 3:10

It is very important that we keep within these times to avoid breaks between classes so if you are running very late, we may need to postpone your tour.

Please read our visitor guidance here and contact Reception on 01252 792561 or [email protected] to book a place.

Individual Needs

Frensham Heights is proud to welcome students with Individual Needs, but with a small Support for Learning team, we can only support a small number of children with mild learning difficulties in each year.

If your child has Individual Needs we will ask you for additional information about any known or suspected difficulties or diagnoses relating to your child’s health, wellbeing or learning abilities – such as a formal Educational Psychologist, Medical or Specialist Teacher’s report and an informal conversation with your child’s current school. This information will help us see if we could reasonably meet your child’s needs. Importantly, it will also help us see if your child could thrive and benefit from everything the school has to offer and be able to contribute in full to the life of the school.

To find out more about Support for Learning at Frensham Heights, please follow this link.

Our Assessment Process

Our assessment process is slightly different for each area of the school. We are currently assessing all those children looking at remaining places for the current school year through online interactive and written assessments taking place at home. Please get in touch with us as we would be delighted to explain how this works.

From September we hope we will be able to re-introduce elements of our face to face assessment held here at school. You’ll find more details below of what this will likely involve although of course we will adapt our plans to ensure we keep everyone safe.

Junior School: Nursery - Yr 6

Nursery
Once you have registered, we’ll invite you to bring your child in for a short informal visit to meet the teachers and other children properly and to explore our wonderful Early Years facilities. Children need to be three years old at the time of entry or in the first half term they join and they really must be fully toilet trained.

Reception – Year 6

Children looking to join the Junior School either in September 2021 or before will be invited, along with their parents to meet with Katherine, our Head of Junior School via Zoom. Katherine would love the children to share with her on the call something special or something that they are particularly proud. This could be a picture or piece of craft or perhaps a book that they love or a favourite toy or game. We have even been joined by family pets!

Before the call, we will send you a short maths worksheet for your child to work through at home (years 1-6 only) and will ask you to share with us some examples of their writing and their two most recent school reports. We will also ask for a written reference from your child’s current school and aim to give feedback within a few days.

Middle & Senior School: Yrs 7 - 11

Our Year 7-9 assessments will take place on the weekend of 16-17 January 2021. We will be inviting children into school in small groups to take some short tests in Maths, Spelling, English Reading Comprehension, Non-Verbal and Verbal Reasoning and also Creative Writing. Those applying for Years 9 or 10 will also complete an assessment in Science. Rick, our Head and the Head of the Middle or Senior School, will also meet the children for an informal small group interview. Rest assured that during their time with us, we will ensure all the children and staff follow current social distancing guidelines.

In addition, we will request a reference from your child’s current school along with copies of their most recent reports.

It is our aim to assess the whole child. Academic tests help us determine if your child will be able to access the curriculum but places go to those who we feel will contribute to and thrive at Frensham.

As it stands, we sadly can’t invite the children to stay with us for our usual team building activities and end of day tea. We will however do our very best to welcome your children to Frensham and ensure they really enjoy their time with us.

We aim to have all papers marked and offers made within one-two weeks of the assessment weekend.

If you are interested in a place in Year 10 please contact the Admissions team to find out more.

Deferred Entry and Pre-testing

Deferred Entry and Pre-testing

Pretesting offers an opportunity for children to be assessed in the Spring Term of Year 6 for a place in Year 9. By completing assessment at this stage, families can be offered peace of mind and security with regards to their children’s education and the children themselves are free to enjoy their last years at prep school. Note that we will still welcome applications from families of children in Year 8 who would prefer to leave assessment until this stage.

Assessment

Our assessment process is the same for both pretesting candidates and those currently in Year 8. We use standardised tests that are age adaptive so that younger children are not at a disadvantage.

Sixth Form

As a result of the restrictions placed on us by COVID, we sadly can’t invite students into school for the Year 12 entrance assessments. Instead papers will be sent in early November for completion at home or their current school.

We ask those looking to join us in Year 12 to sit a 45-minute general paper and a 15 minute critical thinking paper alongside an online standardised test . Students looking to study Maths or Science at A Level may be asked to complete an assessment in either Maths or Science as well. There will also be an interview with Rick, our Head via Zoom and we will ask for a reference from their current school as well as a copy of their most recent school report.

Students must have achieved, or be likely to achieve, at least six GCSE passes at grades 9 – 4, with, where relevant, a grade 6 in the subjects they want to study at A Level.

Students who want to study Mathematics at A Level should preferably have achieved, or be likely to achieve a grade 7 in Mathematics GCSE. Students who want to pursue the subject at A Level with a grade 6 will be considered and will have a short interview with the Head of Mathematics to determine their suitability for the course.

Sixth Form: Scholarship Students

We will invite prospective scholarship candidates to further assessment upon successful completion of the entrance assessment tests.

Academic Scholarship candidates will be invited for a further interview and a 60-minute scholarship paper in a subject of the student’s choice.

Sports, Drama, Dance, Art or Music Scholarship candidates will be invited to an audition and interview with the Head of Department relevant to their chosen scholarship.

Scholarships

As with most things, we do scholarships a bit differently. They are non-monetary and are not applied for in a traditional manner. Our scholars are expected to contribute and participate fully in the life of the school and beyond, involving themselves in all activities related to their scholarship as well as supporting other students. As such, scholarships are awarded on the basis of aptitude, attitude, participation and leadership potential. It isn’t possible to fairly judge for a scholarship when a student first enters the Middle School. We wait until the end of Years 7 and 9, when students have had a chance to settle and find their real passions, before awarding scholarships. Scholarships are awarded by Heads of Departments for Academic, Performing Arts, Creative Arts and Sport and confirmed by the Head.

Offers

Offers are normally sent out within one-two weeks and you would normally receive one of four potential responses.

Guaranteed offer: successful candidates will be offered a guaranteed place to start the following September (or the start of Year 9 for pre-test candidates). Places must be accepted by the first Monday in March
Waiting list offer:these candidates we be offered a guaranteed place as soon as a place becomes available
Offer to retest (pre-test candidates only):if we feel your child has not quite reached the level required in the pretest, but we think they would really benefit from a Frensham education, we may invite them to come back for assessments in Year 8
Regret:if we unfortunately feel that Frensham is not quite the right fit for your child.

Deposits

If you wish to accept an offer of a place at Frensham for your child, we would ask you to pay a deposit as follows:

Nursery: £300

Junior, Middle & Senior School: £500 (day) or £1000 (boarders)

Parents of overseas boarders are asked to pay a full term’s boarding fees in advance to secure a place for your child.

Should you accept a deferred place at Frensham, we would request a deposit of £1000 per child for day places and £1500 per child for a boarding place.