Harris Westminster

i'm a year 12 at hwsf, do you have any specific questions? talking about the school in general would take quite a while lol

What is a normal school day?
What are the teachers like?
What is Lab and Cultural Perspectives and what do you do in them
How hard are the entrance exams?

Sorry for so many questions but i'm really interested in the school thanks!

we normally have seven periods a day, each 40 minutes. you'll be in school from 9 to around 4 ish, apart from saturdays which end at 1 and sport can end at 3 if you choose the right one. i've heard that some teachers suggest you stay as late as 6 but that's not really feasible, especially when so many of us live quite far from the school. you'll have four frees a week and lunch is quite long, ranging from an hour to an hour twenty i believe.

teachers are generally good, i don't have any bad ones fortunately. they're all willing to help you if you have a problem, even if they don't teach you. most are strict but firm, like if you're constantly not giving in homework you will be reprimanded but you're also praised for good work.

lab is a time after lunch for about an hour and a half where we have private study. it's different to a free in the sense that you're supposed to be 'scholarly' (if you come here you'll hear the word a lot), by getting help from a teacher, doing wider reading or group work. it's not meant for doing homework, but most people use it for that lol. cultural perspectives are like a type of enrichment, they're extra classes that you choose at the start of each term and range from debating ethical dilemmas to learning an extra language (mandarin, italian and french were options this time around). it's a good opportunity to learn about things you find interesting but didn't want to do a whole a level in (i do two philosophy based cultural perspectives) and you have three a week. the downside (for me anyway) is that you have to do a response at the end, meaning you have to take what you've learned throughout and respond to that, usually in some sort of extended writing

entrance exams were a bit meh, i was worried for them going into it but the time flies by (for better or for worse). i did mine in maths and french. maths was fairly standard, nothing you won't have seen in gcse (algebra, probability, shape stuff). french was a lot harder, we had to translate a couple of sentences, do a reading comprehension and a mini essay. i remember feeling glad that the maths had gone so well because that's definitely what got me an interview haha

what subjects are you thinking of taking? and it's fine, ask more questions if you want
apologies for the long reply also

Thanks for the reply, really helpful !
I'm not completely sure on what i want to take but i'm sure i'd like to do Maths and possibly Chemistry and Economics.
What subjects are you currently doing?

i do maths, further maths , physics and french. maths is good so far but the sheets we get for homework can be really hard - hopefully it'll get easier within time
it's okay if you don't know exactly what you want to do for certain, you can change up to a couple weeks after term starts and get lots of chances to before the school year even starts (as long as you meet the entry requirements for that subject)

How does the interviews process work and is it difficult?

Entrance exams be difficult so make sure you prepare! I remember everyone on tsr complaining about how hard they were and how they allow failed last year. I found both the interview and entrance exam challenging, though the interview was pretty fun! (Mine wasn't physics). If you've got any questions about the entrance process you can ask me, I got an offer , which I ended up declining (nothing at all against hwsf! I can explain why if you ask).

while you're applying, you have to select a subject to take for interview if you do well enough in the exams. i think you can change it by emailing admissions as long as it's not too close to the actual day.

you get assigned a time and a day, and they separate the group into those who are doing sciences for interview and then everything else (a LOT of people were going for maths). then you get a bit of time with current students walking around and you can ask them questions and stuff i actually talked to someone doing exactly the same subjects as me which was nice.

i can only speak for maths, but the general format of the interview is that the teacher starts by asking what your particularly like about your subject, and this allows you to guide the interview in a direction you're comfortable with. then you'll have to solve a problem (or discuss a problem, in the case of the natural sciences) with guidance. it's not something you can prepare for, but it's really fun being able to talk about a subject you're passionate about it isn't too difficult imo, just enjoy it

What did you do your entrance exams on and type of questions were they?
Why'd you decline the offer?

Hi, i have also applied for Harris Westminster and the entrance exams are really stressing me out. I chose biology and french for the exams and biology for the interview. Do you have any tips on how to prepare for either and how to prepare for the interview (if i even get to that stage). Thanks

Hey I'm In year 12 at HWSF and I remember finding the interview much harder than the entrance exams. If you really want to stand out, do some reading around your subject and just be generally relaxed. For biology, I don't think you have to prepare that much because they're likely to ask you an essay type question and make you write an evaluation.

Do you like it at Harris? did you find the transition from secondary school to Harris which i think is a very demanding 6th form hard??
Thanks for your reply

No problem That's a very hard question actually, I'm not sure wether I like it or not - and yes, it is very demanding. In fact, during the first half term, around 35 students left because they just couldn't cope, what with Saturdays and the generally long weekdays. Personally, I find it quite good in terms of teaching, but my only problem is the fact that they choose to do the hardest exam board for every subject, which creates more pressure and means you have to perform better than the average students in order to do well.

In terms of transition from secondary school, I found it very easy because everyone is new and friendly because none of us went to the same school. And the work starts of easy at first to help you settle but it definitely gets harder.

Feel free to ask me anymore questions

No problem That's a very hard question actually, I'm not sure wether I like it or not - and yes, it is very demanding. In fact, during the first half term, around 35 students left because they just couldn't cope, what with Saturdays and the generally long weekdays. Personally, I find it quite good in terms of teaching, but my only problem is the fact that they choose to do the hardest exam board for every subject, which creates more pressure and means you have to perform better than the average students in order to do well.

In terms of transition from secondary school, I found it very easy because everyone is new and friendly because none of us went to the same school. And the work starts of easy at first to help you settle but it definitely gets harder.

Feel free to ask me anymore questions

Hey, what subjects do you study?