We welcome applications throughout the year. To begin your application process please complete our Enquiry Form.
At Rydal Penrhos, our priorities when it comes to the admissions process are two-fold.
On one hand, we want to make sure that getting your child started at school is as quick, easy and straightforward as possible, so that parents can focus less on paperwork and more on their child’s exciting new prospects.
Simultaneously, we feel that it is vitally important to learn as much as we can about you and your child before they join, so that they will feel more at home and better supported based on who they are as an individual.
As such, our admissions process is designed to balance these two interests and remain adaptable to your specific needs. This way we can best support both families that are looking ahead several years down the line and those who are looking to start much more imminently.
The admissions process can broadly be divided into four stages: Enquiry and Visit; Registration and Taster Session; Assessment and Scholarship Consideration; and Offer and Onboarding.
The following offers a sense of each of those stages. Of course, if you have any questions, then we would encourage you to contact the admissions team at any time.
Parents can register their interest using our online enquiry form, which will put you in touch with a member of our admissions team.
Alternatively, parents can contact the team directly by emailing admissions@rydalpenrhos.com or phoning 01492 530 155.
Once an enquiry has been made, prospective parents and pupils are encouraged to visit the school and take a one-to-one tour.
Following your tour, you will be sent a link to complete our online Registration Form and move your application onto the next stage.
To be considered for a place at Rydal Penrhos, parents are asked to complete the school’s online Registration Form.
The form captures not only key information such as contact details, but also other information that help us get a sense of the child as an individual.
As part of the registration process, parents are asked to send in two of the child’s recent school reports and a copy of their birth certificate. Parents will also be invoiced for the £100 non-refundable Registration Fee.
Once a child is registered, they will often complete one or more taster sessions at school.
These sessions not only help pupils acclimatise, but also allow teachers and staff to learn more about a child and determine whether Rydal Penrhos is the right school for them. For this reason, Rydal Penrhos reserves the right to require taster sessions.
Pupils entering the school prior to Year 7 are not formally assessed prior to joining. Instead, teachers informally evaluate a child to determine whether Rydal Penrhos is a good fit and how the school might support them as an individual.
All pupils entering in Year 7 or above are required to participate in a 90-minute Cognitive Ability Test, or ‘CAT test’ as we call it.
The CAT test evaluates a child’s ability across a number of different types of intelligence; from verbal to quantitative, spatial to reasoning. The test is not knowledge-based, meaning it cannot be prepared for.
While we typically invite candidates to sit their CAT test in school, its online format means we can conduct the assessment remotely if necessary. Pupils applying for a Fully Funded Place must attend the school’s Assessment Day in January.
In addition to the interview, pupils may also be required to participate in a fifteen-minute interview with a senior member of staff, especially in cases where the pupil is not known to staff.
Once the CAT test and interview have taken place, results will be shared with parents.
Once the preceding steps are complete, the school may decide to offer a place at the school or reject the application.
In the case of a successful application, parents will receive an offer letter and Acceptance Form that must be digitally signed by all parties with parental responsibility in order to secure the place.
As part of the offer letter, the scholarship awards that the child has secured will be specified, if any.
A welcome pack will be sent prior to the start date of the child. which will include all the essential information that families will need to get started.