Junior choir during assembly

E-Prospectus

How to register your child

Children enter the school in the Autumn Term unless a place becomes available at other times. They may come either into the Den at the age of three or into Lower 1 at the age of four. Places occasionally become available for older children.

Children below the age of six are not assessed for entry but the final decision whether or not to offer a place always rests with the headmistress.

Parents are asked to make an appointment to visit the school as soon as is convenient after the birth of their child and the headmistress usually shows around the school in small groups.

At this appointment parents are invited to take away and complete a registration form. All parents who wish their child to go on the school's admission lists must first complete a registration form. Once the completed registration form has been returned to the school, parents will be informed whether they will be offered a place for their preferred year of entry or whether for the time being their child's name can only be placed on a waiting list.

Admission

Parents who have been told that their child is likely to be offered a place will be asked to confirm, approximately one year before their child is due to start at Orchard House, that they definitely wish to accept the offer of a place.

Places are offered in strict registration order with priority being given to younger brothers and sisters of children already at the school provided such younger siblings were registered within one month of birth.

The acceptance of the school's offer has to be accompanied by a payment on account of half the first term's fees at the rate for the academic year then current. This is followed by a further payment, six months before the child's admission, of the same amount. On admission of their child, parents pay the small balance of the fees at the increased rate then likely to be prevailing and a deposit of £1,000. This deposit is returned when the child leaves the school, subject to the school having been given a full term's written notice of the child's withdrawal.