Private School News

Youngsters at The Blue Coat School, Birmingham, have continued their run of record-breaking success in this year’s 11+ examinations.
35 places, including 3 scholarships, were awarded by King Edward’s School and King Edward VI High School for Girls – two of the country’s leading independent schools – whilst Edgbaston High School offered 20 places, including a record 5 scholarships, to all of Blue Coat’s candidates.
Elsewhere, in some of the region’s most competitive examinations, 32 children gained places at the city’s maintained grammar schools.
Both a scholarship at KES/KEHS and a grammar school place were offered to top performers Evelyn Henderson (KE VI Camp Hill Girls), Arpan Sharma (King Edward VI Camp Hill Boys) and Matthew Jolley (King Edward VI Five Ways).
Blue Coat’s latest inspection report (2007) describes the school as ‘a pleasant, happy and safe environment’ in which the ‘quality of pastoral care is outstanding’ and ‘the educational experience provided for pupils is of significantly high quality’.
Located in Edgbaston the 500-strong preparatory school attributes much of its success to small class sizes, setting in English and maths, and careful monitoring of each child’s progress. And the teaching of reasoning skills – so essential to 11+ success – forms an integral part of the school’s curriculum. Headmaster Alan Browning explained: “Our favourable class sizes and setting policy enable us to give individual attention to each child’s needs in both of the core subjects. With a talented staff, supportive parents and a good number of able pupils, we’ve managed to produce another crop of good candidates in this year’s exams.”
Despite its success in the classroom, the school offers a broad extra-curricular programme of around 50 weekly activities, in which several children have achieved national recognition over the past two years. Deputy Headmaster Richard Lynn commented: “Delighted as we should be by our 11+ successes, we concentrate on developing the whole child, both in and out of the classroom.”

Photo (right to left): Arpan Sharma, Evelyn Henderson, Matthew Jolley