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Prospectus
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Information for Applicants Visiting the school We are always pleased to welcome visitors by appointment, but many families make their first visit during our Open Morning, which is held in mid November. Details are advertised in the press or can be obtained by telephoning the school. If you have registered your interest in the school with us, we will send you an invitation. We quite deliberately hold our Open Morning during a normal school day so that you and your children will have the opportunity of seeing classes at work and also of sampling some of the wide range of Co-Curricular activities which are an important feature of Academy life. You will be shown round by senior pupils. If, having visited the school, you decide that you would like to apply for a place for your child, we ask you to complete the application form which is enclosed with the prospectus pack and to return it to us, together with the registration fee. Whilst there is no closing date as such, if your child is contemplating entrance to S1, S2 or S3 it is advisable to return the form well before the entrance tests, which are held each year in January. There are around 100 children in The Academy Senior School year groups. Many pupils progress to the Senior School from Primary 7 of our own Preparatory School, but there are generally between twelve and fifteen vacancies in S1 for pupils from other primary schools. There are sometimes vacancies for three or four children in S2 and S3, but pupils are not admitted to S4 (half way through the Standard Grade course) unless there are very pressing reasons, such as an enforced relocation. Pupils do, however, regularly join The Academy for S5 and S6: at these stages the procedures are rather different and full details are given on the Senior 5/6 link on this site. Provided that there are vacancies, The Academy will always try to make places available for the brothers or sisters of existing pupils, unless it becomes apparent during the entrance procedures that admitting them to the school would clearly not be in their best interest. We would not reach such a conclusion without discussing it openly with parents. Help with Fees: Bursaries Thanks to the generosity of benefactors, The Academy has available substantial sums of money with which to finance the award of bursaries from P7 to S6. Over 10% of the Senior School's pupils receive an award of this kind. Bursaries are awarded on the basis of financial need and they are means tested. Parents who are interested in applying for a bursary are asked to complete a detailed form, in strict confidence, and their application is then assessed by a group of three trustees. Bursaries, which are awarded to pupils who would both benefit from and contribute to the life of the school and not necessarily to academic high-flyers, do make it possible for children to attend The Academy who might not otherwise be able to do so. Bursaries are renewable from time to time, usually on an annual basis. Parents who are interested in applying for a bursary on behalf of their child should just tick the box on the application form. Our selection procedure for S1, S2 and S3 We select pupils for entrance to S1, S2 or S3 at The Academy on the basis of an examination, an interview and a school report. The entrance examination is held at the school in January each year. The school report We shall write to the Head Teacher of your child’s current school, asking for an up-to-date report on his or her progress. Sometimes, the school will prepare a special report for us, though on other occasions we receive a copy of the normal school report which you will already have seen. We are happy with whatever information the school is able to give us. Please do inform your child’s Head Teacher that you are applying to The Academy and that we shall be writing to ask for a report. The interview The Rector’s PA will normally contact you to make an appointment, either in the period immediately before the examination or soon after it, to visit The Academy with your child to meet the Rector. Your child will also meet the Deputy Rector. During these conversations we hope that children will take the opportunity to talk about themselves and to tell us something about their interests and enthusiasms. We will always try to steer the conversation towards topics with which children will feel at home, because we want to get to know as much about them as we possibly can in the course of two 15-minute talks. We recognise that in order to do this we need to make children feel at ease. All that we ask is that children do not answer all our questions ‘Yes’ or ‘No’! Please also see information on The Entrance Examination for S1-3.
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