The High School of Dundee ("The School") offers a selective, academic education to prospective pupils. The School welcomes applications from pupils at all stages of the primary and secondary school. We will select for entry those children who have the potential to benefit from the education the School offers, and who meet the “Criteria for entry”, outlined below.
Details of the assessment process, and deadlines for application, are available from the Admissions Office. They are also published in the local press at appropriate times throughout the year. An Open Morning is held once a year, usually on the first Saturday in November. Prospective parents and their children are encouraged to attend the Open Morning, or may contact the Admissions Office to arrange a tour of the School at other times during the year.
The purpose of the Admissions Policy is to ensure that the admissions process is consistent and fair to all applicants. The Rector of the School has overall responsibility for admissions and the operation of this policy. The selection criteria and interview procedure are reviewed from time to time, and adjusted as appropriate. The Admissions Policy is regularly monitored and reviewed, and may be subject to change.
1) An application for entry may be made on behalf of any person of school or pre school age.
2) Every application for entry to the School will be given the same and equal consideration, regardless of the circumstances of the applicant or the applicant's family.
3) Applications are accepted for entry to every year of the High School of Dundee, from L1 (Primary 1) to F6 (Secondary 6).
4) Criteria for entry
Admission to the High School of Dundee will be granted when the following criteria can be met:
a) The applicant achieves a result in the entrance assessment which, in the professional judgement of the Rector, indicates that they possess aptitude and ability that are consistent with the academic requirements of the School.
b) The High School is fully able to meet the educational and other relevant needs of the applicant.
c) Admission to the High School of Dundee is in the best interests of both the applicant, and of the School community as a whole.
d) A satisfactory reference, including a report on the applicant’s social and behavioural conduct, has been supplied by the applicant’s current school or nursery.
e) The cost of school fees and other expenses can be met on the applicant’s behalf, including any portion of the fees not covered by any bursary award.
f) There is a place for the applicant.
5) Application for entry
a) To make an application for entry to the High School of Dundee, an application form must be completed and submitted to the Admissions Office. An application will be considered to have been made only when the full registration fee is received. If the registration fee is sent separately or late, the date of receipt of the registration fee will be treated as the date of receipt of the full application.
b) The deadline for application for entry in August is noon on the day before the assessment. Entrance assessments for L2-F1 are normally held on the last Friday in January and assessments for other year groups arranged as required. If sufficient spaces remain, additional assessments will be held later in the year.
c) No entrance assessment may be undertaken before a completed application form and the appropriate fee have been received.
d) Applicants who wish to apply for financial support (a means-tested bursary) must submit their application at the same time as, or after, submitting their application for a place. Bursary applications may not be submitted before an application for a place has been received.
e) Information on the application form is used (i) to assist in processing the application as smoothly as possible; (ii) to provide the School with information to help inform its decision; (iii) to alert the School to any circumstance on which it may need to offer additional advice to the applicant; and (iv) to allow the School to gather broad statistical data, which is used to track trends and inform the marketing strategy. Individual details are never released to any third party, and all details of every application are kept entirely confidential.
6) Assessment
a) For entry in August, assessments are held in the preceding January. In certain circumstances alternative arrangements for assessment will be considered.
b) From L2 - F2, the entrance assessment will generally require candidates to complete papers in English and Maths, and may include testing in Reasoning and a Foreign Language. For candidates for L1, each child will undergo an individual assessment, and for F3-F6, the assessment will take the form of an interview and submission of previous exam results. In addition, the School reserves the right to carry out any and all additional testing it may think necessary in order to make the correct decision regarding an applicant.
c) Past or example assessment papers are not published, but general advice on the format of the assessment can be offered.
d) The School reserves the right to contact the applicant's current school and ask for a report on the applicant. Information given in this report will be taken into account by the School in assessing whether the applicant is to be admitted.
e) If the applicant has any specific learning difficulties, or any medical condition or disability, parents must notify the School in writing prior to the assessment day and provide a copy of all reports prepared by an Educational Psychologist or other where available. The School will determine whether special conditions will apply to the applicant in the assessments, based on the information provided.
f) The School will make reasonable adjustments on the day of assessment to accommodate any special needs or disabilities, so that the applicant is not disadvantaged during the assessment process.
g) Applicants will be notified of the decision, or of the need for further testing, as soon as possible, and within no more than four weeks of the assessment date. If, through exceptional circumstances, this deadline cannot be met, the School will inform applicants within four weeks of the assessment date of when a decision is likely to be made.
h) All applications receive full consideration prior to reaching a decision. Once a decision has been reached, it should be regarded as final.
i) Where a place is not offered, the School will endeavour to explain the reasons for the decision
7) The Selection Process
a) Applicants who satisfy the conditions outlined above (Section 4) will be offered a place at the High School of Dundee. However, there are some circumstances in which a place may not be immediately available: (i) where the number of successful applicants exceeds the number of places available; and (ii) where an application is made late in the year, and all available places have been allocated.
b) If the number of successful applicants exceeds the number of places available, performance in the entrance assessment and information supplied in the form of reports and references from the applicant's current school or nursery will be the prime criteria considered in allocating places. Other factors which may be taken into account in cases where candidates perform to an equal academic standard are:
i. Whether or not the applicant has a sibling already at the School.
ii. Whether or not the School is able to offer a place to a sibling in a different year, during the same admissions cycle.
iii. The date of application.
c) If there are no places immediately available, a successful applicant will be offered a place on a waiting list.
d) The results of the entrance assessment will be valid for twelve months. If a vacancy does not arise during this period, the applicant will be required to resit the assessment before entry to the School can be granted.
e) Acceptance of a place on a waiting list does not commit the applicant to acceptance of a place once one becomes available.
8) Transition from the Junior School to the Senior School
Whilst nearly all pupils transfer smoothly from L7 in the Junior School to F1 in the Senior School this is not necessarily automatic or guaranteed. In addition to meeting the academic entry criteria pupils must also have a satisfactory behaviour record in L7.
9) Acceptance of a place
a) A place is deemed to have been accepted only when all required paperwork is received by the Admissions Office. Verbal confirmation is not sufficient.
b) If a place is not accepted within two weeks of the date of the offer, or by the deadline otherwise agreed with the School, the School may deem the offer of a place to have been declined, and withdraw the offer without further notification.
c) Once a place has been accepted, the applicant and the person responsible for paying the tuition fees have entered into a legal contract with the School, and will be required to follow the usual processes for withdrawal, even if such withdrawal occurs before the applicant commences their education with the School.
Policy date: 25 May 2010
Review: Annual
Next review date: 25 May 2011