Harrow School Entrance Guide

My son got admission into Harrow. I would like to say a big thank you to Sobia and Owl tutors. Sobia was patient with him and also shared some tips with us about how to practice for the assessment and prepare for interview. Thank you so much.

My son had lesson with Jay for his ISEB test. It was just for last 2 months. But, my son was happy to have his lesson with Jay. My son would look forward to his lessons with Jay. He really enjoyed and specially Jay would challenge him with the harder problem of maths and my son enjoyed that. As a parent, I thought, if I would contact Jay earlier! Jay was always very co-operative and will be sending HW and he had a continuous communication with me. Me and my son appreciate this excellent support from Jay. My son has now crossed ISEB stage and has got his interview from Winchester and Eton now.

Due to the pandemic year, UK boarding school exams were delayed and in lieu of a spring exam, a September date was ascribed in the middle of the summer holidays so it was a bit of a scramble. As such, and as we reside in Switzerland, I reached out to Owl Tutors UK and the team was incredibly responsive and swift, and sourced my son a math tutor so he had three intensive weeks of online tutoring with Michael. As my son is schooled in a bilingual French-British School, the English subject was taught as a second language and my son lacked some key notions, notably in reading comprehension and writing composition as well as vocabulary. Michael reviewed texts with him and forced him to think critically and creatively and my son experienced an a-ha moment and to use his words, "Michael gave me the key which unlocked the necessary door.” My son's ideas flowed and he was able to organise his thoughts and his writing compositions more carefully. Michael would send poems and excerpts from passages for my son to analyse ahead of their online meetings and my son really grasped the general meaning as well as the more subtle nuances, even in old English! Given that he had limited time to prepare for the big test day, Michael encouraged him and gave him the confidence needed for my son to give his best. Michael lent my son as much time as he needed in those critical three weeks and was a testament to how positive reinforcement and great teaching can inspire a young mind. My son performed phenomenally well on his exams and his online interviews and received two offers to his top two choices, so he is elated. Thank you ever so much, Michael!

Due to the pandemic year, UK boarding school exams were delayed and in lieu of a spring exam, a September date was ascribed in the middle of the summer holidays so it was a bit of a scramble. As such, and as we reside in Switzerland, I reached out to Owl Tutors UK and the team was incredibly responsive and swift, and sourced my son a math tutor so he had three intensive weeks of online tutoring with Phil. Phil is an incredibly talented teacher and uses whiteboard techniques to cover math problem solving and techniques so all notions were clear to my son. Moreover, he is full of energy and great ideas and my son loved meeting him for bi-weekly lessons. He was also incredibly flexible and amenable to my son’s school schedule as they met during the week and over the weekend. Phil would assign prep homework so my son was able to carry on learning autonomously and Phil would then review the work prior to the lessons. Phil is a rare gem of a teacher as he holds the superb qualities of breaking down complicated math concepts into digestible bites. He is patient, kind, and encouraging. He positively reinforces a pupil under immense pressure as these entry-exams are not for the faint-hearted and my son is still a pre-teen so a fairly young age to work under such duress. Moreover, my son was not familiar with the British system as he is schooled in the French National Curriculum so Phil made the test preparation very enjoyable. My son still asks whether he can continue learning math with Phil, a testament to how much he enjoyed his time with math tutoring.

Our son has gained an unconditional offer at his first school interview with Holly’s help. Although her time with him was short, we found Holly to be incredibly efficient. She was able to help draw out and refine salient points which helped to ease our sons nerves and increase his confidence. We would highly recommend Holly to anyone.

Finnian has been an amazing help to my son and his elder brother before. He is enthusiastic, positive and encouraging. As well as providing exercises and feedback for my son, he has also given him the confidence and tool kit to approach his English scholarship papers with vigour. He achieved an A in his paper and this is a boy who hated English. I put this down to Finnian and would thoroughly recommend him to anyone who needs help and support in this subject.

Sobia is a great teacher and is very supportive. She will encourage you to do your best and gentle nudge you in the right direction. We had 2 children tutored by her who are very different and she adapted her style to suit each child and brought out the best in them. With a last minute decision for the children to seat 11+ and 13+ scholarship (for Harrow), Sobia’s teaching technique was effect as both children passed and got into schools of their choice. Thanks Sobia we will be coming back with our 3rd child at the appropriate time.

(My son) was tutored by Sobia over the past six months in preparation for the Scholarship exams in Harrow. Before the classes, he had a more technical bias and focused his reading on documentaries and non-fictional literature. Sobia certainly encouraged my son to understand and analyse different types of poetry and prose. She taught him how to analyse any piece of literature in depth, giving enough details and paying attention to the specificity of language devices and techniques. (My son) practiced these skills by doing past papers and Sobia provided very helpful, very detailed and specific feedback that allowed to really zero on the areas of improvement. (My son) now has much more confidence to form a clear view on the meaning and hence can comment more effectively. He has become more enthusiastic about reading and now can provide very compelling interpretations.

Finnian was very warm and easy to get on with. My son being very quiet, Finnian helped him to develop his communication skills and knowledge base so that he would have the confidence to have a successful interview. There was lots of encouraging feedback at the end of the sessions, and we could see a big difference in our son’s ability over the course of a few weeks.

Gary is very easy to get on with. My son being very quiet, Gary helped him to extend his communication skills and knowledge base so that he would have the confidence to have a successful interview. There was lots of encouraging feedback at the end of the sessions, and we could see a big difference in our son’s ability over the few short weeks we had.