Bonas MacFarlane's approach to school placement has been described by the London Evening Standard as "breathtakingly comprehensive". Meet them on stand 513.
Lucy Hart, Director of Bonas MacFarlane, put together this list for the Show. She told us, "Each family will have their own priorities, but over the years we have built up a list of the basic questions that parents usually ask. It’s now quite a long list, but parents can use these questions as a checklist to help them focus their search. Many of these questions you will be able to answer by reading the school’s prospectus and website. Others you will need to ask the schools directly."
- Choosing a Nursery
- Pre-Prep School (ages 4-7)
- Prep School (ages 8-13)
- Senior School (ages 11-16)
- Sixth Form
- Choosing a Nursery
- Pre-Prep School (ages 4-7)
- Prep School (ages 8-13)
- Senior School (ages 11-16)
- Sixth Form
Choosing a Nursery
Basic Information
- Where are you located? How far is this from home? How will we get there?
- What is the size of the nursery?
- What is the staff to child ratio?
- What are the hours? How does the day work?
- What are the fees?
Facilities
- Do you have outdoor space?
- Are the interior spaces warm and inviting?
- Is there a good mixture of traditional and contemporary equipment?
- Please tell me about the food. Do you provide lunch?
Academic Questions
- What curriculum do you follow and how do you make the days varied?
- How do you monitor each child’s progress?
- How do you provide parents with information about progress?
- Which schools do you feed?
- Who runs the nursery? What are their qualifications?
- What are the staff qualifications? How long do they remain at the nursery?
Pastoral Questions
- What is the settling-in process?
- How do you promote well-being and happiness?
- What happens if my child is unwell or injured?
Pre-Prep School (ages 4-7)
Basic Information
- Where is the school located? How far is this from home? How will we get there?
- Is the school in a city, town, the heart of the country, UK or overseas?
- Does the school offer transport to and from school?
- Is this a standalone Pre-Prep school or is it part of a larger Prep or Prep and Senior school?
- Which schools do you feed (ie where do children go next)?
- What is the catchment area of the school? (where will you child’s friends live?)
- What is the size of the Pre-Prep department?
- What are the hours? How does the day work? Do you offer after and before school care?
- What are the fees?
- When was the school founded?
- Who owns the school?Is it a family business? A trust? Part of a larger group?
- How long has the Head been at the school? Do they plan to retire?
Facilities
- What outdoor space does the school have?
- Are the interior spaces warm and inviting?
- Is there a good mixture of traditional and contemporary equipment?
- Please tell me about the food and lunch?
Academic Questions
- What are the class sizes?
- What is the staff to pupil ratio?
- How do you monitor each child’s progress?
- How do you provide parents with information about progress?
- As well as National Curriculum what else do you teach?
- What languages do you teach?
- What are the staff qualifications? How long have they been at the school?
- What additional support do you offer? What is your SEN support? What assessments do you do?
- What learning difficulties can you cope with?
Beyond Academics
- What extra-curricular activities and clubs do you offer?
- Do you offer individual music lessons? Which instruments?
- What sports do you play?
Pastoral Questions
- How do you handle the transition from nursery?
- How do you promote well-being and happiness?
- What happens if my child is unwell or injured?
Ethos
- Does the school have a particular religious or other particular ethos? How do you cater for children who do not share that ethos?
- How are you preparing children for the future?
Prep School (ages 8-13)
Basic Information
- Where is the school located? How far is this from home? How will we get there?
- Is the school in a city, town, the heart of the country, UK or overseas?
- Does the school offer transport to and from school?
- Is this a standalone Prep school or is it connected with a Senior school?
- What is the size of the school? Is the school small (10-20 in a year group)? Or large (perhaps 60 plus in a year group)?
- What are the hours? How does the day work? Do you offer after and before school care?
- What are the fees?
- When was the school founded?
- Who owns the school? Is it a family business? A trust? Part of a larger group?
- How long has the Head been at the school? Do they plan to retire?
Facilities
- What outdoor space and facilities does the school have?
- Do you have a school hall, sports hall, library, theatre, swimming pool?
- Is there a good mixture of traditional and contemporary equipment?
- Do you have dedicated science laboratories?
- Please tell me about the food and lunch?
Academic Questions
- What are the class sizes?
- What is the staff to pupil ratio?
- Is the teaching mixed ability?
- How do you monitor each child’s progress?
- How do you provide parents with information about progress?
- As well as National Curriculum, what else do you teach?
- What languages do you teach? Do you teach Latin? Greek?
- Which schools do you feed? How many scholarships did you get in the last three years?
- What advice do you give parents when choosing a senior school?
- What are the staff qualifications? How many are subject specialists?
- What additional support do you offer? What is your SEN support? Who does your SEN assessments?
- What learning difficulties can you cope with?
Beyond Academics
- What extra-curricular activities and clubs do you offer?
- Do you offer individual music lessons? Which instruments?
- Will my child take part in drama and musical productions?
- What sports do you play?
- Which other schools do you compete against?
- What trips and expeditions do you run?
Pastoral Questions
- How do you promote well-being and happiness?
- What happens if my child is unwell or injured?
- What happens when things go wrong?
Ethos
- Does the school have a particular religious or other particular ethos? How do you cater for children who do not share that ethos?
- How are you preparing children for the future?
Boarding
- How many full and part time boarders do you have?
- How many children are in school at weekends?
- How does the boarding setup work? Are boarders grouped in houses? Which members of staff are responsible for boarding?
- How many pupils are in each dormitory?
- What do you do about home sickness?
- How do we stay in touch with our child? Can my child have a mobile phone?
- What happens on my child’s birthday?
- How do you manage safeguarding?
Admissions Process
- What are the main entry points (ages when children join)? If my child is a different age can they join, and how will they be integrated?
- When should I register?
- Are there assessments and entry tests? If so, when and how are they conducted?
- When would I find out if my child has a place?
Senior School (ages 11-16)
Basic Information
- Where is the school located? How far is this from home? How will my son or daughter get there?
- Is the school in a city, town, the heart of the country, UK or overseas?
- Is this a standalone school or is it connected with a prep school?
- What is the size of the school? Is it a small school (50-60 in a year group)? Or large (perhaps 200 or more in a year group)?
- What are the hours? How does the day work?
- What are the fees?
- When was the school founded?
- Who owns the school?Is it a charitable trust? Part of a larger group?
- How long has the Head been at the school? When do they plan to retire?
Facilities
- What outdoor space and facilities does the school have?
- Do you have a school hall, sports hall, library, theatre, swimming pool?
- Is there a good mixture of traditional and contemporary equipment?
- Do you have dedicated science laboratories?
- Please tell me about the food and lunch.
Academic Questions
- What are the class sizes?
- What is the staff to pupil ratio?
- Is the teaching mixed ability, set or streamed?
- How do you monitor each child’s progress?
- How do you provide parents with information about progress?
- What subjects do your offer up to 16 (and sixth form?)
- What languages do you offer? Do you teach Latin? Greek?
- Does the school teach A Levels, IB or a combination of both?
- Which universities do you feed?
- How do you support university applications? Do you have a US university advisor?
- What are your GCSE and A-level/IB results?
- How many pupils stay on in the Sixth Form? How many join the school at 16+, do many come from overseas?
- What are the staff qualifications? How many are subject specialists?
- What additional support do you offer? What is your SEN support? What assessments do you do?
- What learning difficulties can you cope with?
- If my child has a particular talent do you have programmes to enrich and stretch?
- How does the school embrace technology and innovation?
Beyond Academics
- What extra-curricular activities and clubs do you offer?
- Do you offer individual music lessons? Which instruments?
- Will my child take part in drama and musical productions?
- What sports do you offer? Does everyone have to do the same sports?
- Will my child be likely to be in a team?
- What other schools do you compete against?
- What trips and expeditions do you run?
- What careers advice do you offer?
Pastoral Questions
- How do you promote well-being and happiness?
- What happens if my child is unwell or injured?
- What happens when things go wrong?
- What are your drug policies? How do you manage teenage stress and mental health? How do you deal with bullying?
Ethos
- Does the school have a religious ethos, or any other particular ethos? How do you cater for children who do not share that ethos?
- How are you preparing children for the future?
- How international and diverse is your school?
Boarding
- How do you manage the transition to boarding for children who were not prep school boarders?
- What do you do about home-sickness?
- Can my child weekly board? Or part-time board? What are your attitudes to children coming home at the weekend?
- Are there lessons and matches on Saturdays?
- How many full and part time boarders do you have?
- How many children are in school at weekends?
- How does the boarding setup work? Are boarders grouped in houses? Which members of staff are responsible for boarding?
- How many pupils are in each dormitory?
- How do we stay in touch with our child? Can my child have a mobile phone?
- What happens on my child’s birthday?
- How do you manage safeguarding?
Admissions Process
- What are the main entry points (ages when children join)? If my child is a different age can they join, and how will they be integrated?
- When should I register?
- What are the entrance criteria?
- Do you have screening tests and if so how should we prepare my child?
- Do you use Common Entrance for the main entry examination?
- Do you interview each child?
- What scholarships do you offer and how do we apply for them?
- What bursaries do you have available?
- I have more than one child, do you give discounts for multi-child families?
Sixth Form
Basic Information
- Where is the school located? How far is this from home? How will my son or daughter get there?
- Is the school in a city, town, the heart of the country, UK or overseas?
- Is this a standalone sixth form or is it connected with a senior school?
- What is the size of the sixth form? Is it a small sixth form (60 or less in a year group)? Or large (perhaps 300 or more in a year group)?
- What are the hours? How does the day work?
- What are the fees?
- When was the school or college founded?
- Who owns the school? Is it a charitable trust? Part of a larger group?
- How long has the Head been at the school? When do they plan to retire?
Facilities
- What outdoor space and facilities does the school have?
- Do you have a school hall, sports hall, library, theatre, swimming pool?
- Is there a good mixture of traditional and contemporary equipment?
- Do you have dedicated science laboratories?
- Please tell me about the food and lunch.
Academic Questions
- What are the class sizes?
- What is the staff to pupil ratio?
- How do you monitor each child’s progress?
- How do you provide parents and students with information about progress?
- What subjects do your offer?
- Does the school follow A-levels, IB or a combination of both?
- How many A-levels do you encourage students to take?
- Which universities do you feed?
- How do you support university applications? Do you have a US university advisor?
- What are the A-level/IB results? (ask about A* and numbers of A*-C - three to five years of data gives a reliable picture)
- Do you offer the EPQ (the extended project qualification)?
- How many students join the school at 16+, do many come from overseas?
- What are the staff qualifications? How many are subject specialists?
- What additional support do you offer? What is your SEN support? What assessments do you do?
- What learning difficulties can you cope with?
- If my child has a particular talent do you have programmes to enrich and stretch?
- How does the school embrace technology and innovation?
Beyond Academics
- What extra-curricular activities and clubs do you offer?
- Do you offer individual music lessons? Which instruments?
- Can my child take part in drama and musical productions?
- What sports do you offer? Does everyone have to do sports?
- What trips and expeditions do you run?
- What careers advice do you offer?
- What opportunities do you offer for leadership?
Pastoral Questions
- How do you promote well-being and happiness?
- What happens when things go wrong?
- What are your drug policies? How do you manage teenage stress and mental health? How do you deal with bullying?
- Do you have a tutor system?
Ethos
- Does the school have a religious ethos, or any other particular ethos? How do you cater for children who do not come from your religious background?
- How are you preparing children for the future?
- How international and diverse is your school?
Boarding
- How do you manage the transition to boarding for sixth formers new to boarding?
- How do you deal with homesickness?
- Can my child weekly board? Or part-time board? What are your attitudes to sixth formers coming home at the weekend?
- Are there lessons and matches on Saturdays?
- How many full and part time boarders do you have?
- How many students are in school at weekends?
- How does the boarding setup work? Are boarders grouped in houses? Which members of staff are responsible for boarding?
- Do sixth formers have their own bedroom?
- How do you manage safeguarding?
Admissions Process
- When should I register?
- What are the entrance criteria?
- Do you assess sixth form applicants and how should we prepare my child?
- When do you conduct interviews and assessments?
- What GCSE grades will my child be expected to get?
- What scholarships do you offer and how do we apply for them?
- What bursaries do you have available?
- I have more than one child, do you give discounts for multi-child families?