When is my son eligible to start?
Boys are eligible to join 1st Form (Year 3) the September after they turn seven years of age. At this stage of entry, we fill two classes from scratch.
We welcome applications from older boys, but these places are subject to availability.
1st Form = Year 3 / from 7 years of age
2nd Form = Year 4 / from 8 years of age
3rd Form = Year 5 / from 9 years of age
4th Form = Year 6 / from 10 years of age
5th Form = Year 7 / from 11 years of age
6th Form = Year 8 / from 12 years of age
What is the deadline for registration?
Once you have registered your son, he will automatically be invited to attend an assessment, which will take place the Autumn Term preceding your preferred year of entry. For example, if you are interested in a place from September 2025, the assessments will take place in Autumn 2024. In this way, we ideally like you to register by August, a year in advance. In reality, we will continue to accept later applications throughout the academic year, with assessments by individual appointment, but only where places are available. For all in-year applications, please enquire with the Director of Admissions in the first instance.
International applications, in particular, must be made well in advance of the deadline as there are only a limited number of Child Student Visa (formerly Tier 4 Visa) places available and these go very quickly.
You are welcome to register as early as you like and once you have done so, we will keep in touch with half-termly newsletters.
Do you accept international students?
We warmly invite applications from international students, and pride ourselves on our diverse and inclusive balance of British and non-British pupils and on being a welcoming place of study.
Non-British pupils will generally require a Child Student (formerly Tier 4) Visa and we offer sponsorship to study at Caldicott in the form of a limited numbers of these Visas, which are available for both Day and Boarding pupils. There will be an administration charge of £200, payable after your son has been offered a place. For more information, please click here…
Applications should be made in the usual way and early registration is recommended.
There are now only a limited number of international places available for 2024 entry, so please enquire with the Director of Studies before registering.
Your son will be invited to meet with the Headmaster and undertake an in-person academic assessment with our Director of Studies.
We are looking for boys with the energy, purpose and charisma to add to the culture of the school and the Headmaster expects to meet all prospective pupils in person, therefore we regret we are unable to offer virtual assessments.
If your son is successful in gaining a place, you will be required to pay a full first year’s fees in advance. This is good practice in most schools and will help to support your Visa application that requires you to forward proof of both an unconditional offer of an independent school place and the means to pay for this.
More information about applying to study in the UK can be found on the Government website: https://www.gov.uk/child-study-visa
Boys whose parents live abroad will be required to have a UK-based guardian. We recommend contacting the Association for the Education and Guardianship of International Students (AEGIS) in the first instance, whose carefully selected guardians must follow a highly rigorous accreditation process before being accepted.
Will my son need to board?
Boarding lies at the heart of Caldicott and is a very nurturing introduction to this way of living and learning. The boarding house plays a key role in developing the school’s strong sense of family values.
As prep school specialists, we understand that each boys is different, which is why we offer a range of different options, giving families flexibility and greater control over their son’s experience.
Boys have the opportunity to flexi board from 1st-4th Form (Year 3-Year 6), and in 5th and 6th Form (Years 7 and 8) we encourage all boys to board, either weekly (Monday morning to Saturday afternoon), full-time, or take up a Day Plus place (which includes two nights of non-mandatory boarding, that can be topped up on an ad hoc basis).
Is Saturday School part of the school week?
Saturday School allows us to be the school we want to be, by giving us the freedom to structure the boys’ week in a way that has proven to be highly successful.
We therefore expect all boys to attend school every Saturday morning (with the exception of exeat weekends) from 3rd Form (Year 5).
Do many children travel from London on the school bus?
A significant proportion of boys are based in London, and travel to and from school via the various West London bus routes we offer, so the answer to this question is an emphatic ‘yes’.
Bus drivers are employed by Caldicott and are expected to share the same nurturing and encouraging values as all staff. They become an important and valued home/school link.
Some parents worry that their sons will be tired from travelling, especially when they start in the 1st Form, but we find they very quickly become used to their new routine and look forward to spending time with their friends in this way.
Do you offer scholarships/bursaries?
Scholarships are discounted places offered on talent, while bursaries are intended as financial support for those in need.
In 2020, the Headmaster set up the Caldicott Foundation with the express intention of garnering our parents’ and old boys’ altruism and boosting this bursarial pot that will allow us to extend support to those who would thrive in our purposeful and advantageous preparatory setting.
Our first formalised scholarship, the Hitchin Scholarship, offers all-rounders who excel in a certain area a Caldicott education. Please visit our Scholarships & Bursaries page for more information.
What does the assessment entail?
Our assessment mornings are relaxed affairs, with the aim of seeing the character of the boys shine through, as much as their natural intellect. Through a series of age-appropriate activities, which will include some Maths, some English and some problem-solving, we hope to identify emotionally intelligent pupils, with an appetite for learning, who will thrive in the rigorous, yet balanced, academic environment of the school. They are not formal exam scenarios, and boys are welcome, indeed encouraged, to ask questions and interact with their peers.
The assessments are conducted in small groups or by individual appointment and are led by our Director of Studies, Mrs Sue Macleod. We will ask for parents to forward an up-to-date school report, as well as complete an internal questionnaire, prior to the appointment.
Older boys (10+ and 11+ applicants) will be invited to spend the morning with us and enjoy time in the classroom with their peers before sitting an academic assessment after lunch.
How soon will I find out if my child is to be offered a place?
We will let you know fairly soon afterwards, often within a few days, whether your son has been successful in achieving a place.
Offers are sent by email with a link to our online acceptance form.
There are three tiers: a full offer, an offer of a waiting list place, or we may share that in our professional assessment Caldicott simply isn’t the right setting for your son. In this latter and less frequent scenario, it is likely to be because we have identified that your son would require a degree of one-to-one support that our small Learning Support Department wouldn’t be able to provide.
Our deadline for acceptance will depend upon which stage of the academic year the assessment falls. We recognise that parents may sit their child for a place at a few different schools and we like you to have all offers on the table before you make your decision. The families of boys assessed during the Autumn Term will have until January to make their decision. Later applications will have a much more immediate deadline to help inform our planning for the following academic year.
