How to get into Bute House at 7+
July 13th, 2018Last updated: May 20th, 2022
Are you hoping for your child to win one of the places at Bute House at 7+? Read on! This blog tells you everything you need to know about the application process: from registering your child, to pre-tests, exams and the interview.
Before you apply
Bute House has a non-competitive admissions policy, and is a school for girls aged 4-11 years old. They have an intake at 4+ and 7+.
Bute House holds an open day towards the end of the summer term for all girls who have registered by completing the registration form. Invitations are sent out by the end of May for this.
The younger sisters of girls gaining places at 7+ will gain automatic entry in Reception class if the ballot for their year group has not yet been drawn. If it has, the younger sibling goes onto the waiting list. If they remain on the waiting list, they will have to sit the 7+ where no sibling priority is given.
At the time of writing, Bute House’s termly fees were £5,486 per pupil per term, although it does offer a full bursary scheme for those unable to pay the full fees. Details on who is eligible to access the bursary scheme can be found on their website:
https://www.butehouse.co.uk/admissions/7-bursaries.html
Registration
In order for a child to sit the 7+ at Bute House, there are a couple of steps. Firstly, parents will need to register their daughter. The closing date for registering for entry is 31st October of the year preceding entry or when the number of candidates reaches 200.
To register parents of the child need to send in a completed registration form, registration fee of £65 and a copy of the child’s birth certificate to the school’s registrar. This needs to be done by the registration deadline mentioned above. The school’s registration form and details on where to access it can be found here:
https://www.butehouse.co.uk/images/assets/static/publications/admissions/admissions-booklet-2018-v2.pdf
Secondly, parents will need to confirm her as a candidate with the school registrar as well as sending in the examination fee of £75 before the same registration deadline of 31st October. Note that both of these steps have to be completed before your daughter is eligible to sit the exam.
Assessment(s)
There is an assessment morning which takes place in January for 200 girls. The girls are split over 2 mornings in order to enable each girl to be in a small group. Therefore, the activities of each of these mornings will be entirely different, however, of the same standard.
The assessment morning is composed of a series of activities designed to test reading competence, writing ability, mathematical skills, strategies, problem solving and reasoning. As a rough guide, the activities are pitched broadly at Year 2 level with opportunities to extend to explore the potential of each girl. There are no sample papers available for this.
Over the course of the morning, the girls are divided into groups according to the month of their birth.Each girl will work with 3 or 4 members of staff during the morning as they work through the activities. During the morning, there are opportunities for the girls to be taught to assess their learning behaviours and potential. As well as this, there are opportunities for play and more informal conversations to get a fuller picture of the girls’ personal strengths and characters. They will also be given a tour of the school during this time.
Girls successful at the assessment morning will be invited back for an interview. They will be informed of this by a letter shortly after the assessments. This stage also takes place in January. A reference from the girls’ current school is requested at this point. During the interview, the Head or a senior member of staff will ask the girls to read and answer questions on a range of topics. Girls are to bring anything with them for the interview. At this stage, parents will have the opportunity to meet with senior members of staff conducting the interview. This will enable them to share their reasons for applying to the school as well as to ask any questions they might have.
Results
After the interviews, successful girls will be written to with the offer of a firm place or a place on the waiting list.
Destination schools
At 11+ in 2018, Bute House sent 22 girls to St Paul’s Girls School, 9 to Francis Holland with 19 of these being with academic scholarships, and 9 to Godolphin & Latymer.
Hello Hannah:
Thanks for the article. Do children have formal 7+ Maths and English exams at Bute House?
Dear Carolina
Many thanks for reading.
Bute House's website describes their assessment process as being based around a "series of enjoyable activities". They do say that these include assessments of "reading competence, writing ability and mathematical skills", but no further information is given. In this case we would recommend contact the school for further information.
Best of luck to your child!
Owl Tutors