In a sign of the intense competition between schools,Brighton Grammar,Ivanhoe Grammar and Oakleigh Grammar have shifted their scholarship exams to October this year.
The move follows Tintern Grammar,Korowa Anglican Girls’ School,Yarra Valley Grammar,St Leonard’s College and Haileybury scheduling their scholarship exams six months earlier in recent years.
In the past,these exams were held in February or March the year before students were due to start secondary school.
Ten-year-old Saumya Bansal and her mum Geetika. Saumya is sitting the Haileybury scholarship examJustin McManus
Oakleigh Grammar principal Mark Robertson said his school had switched to an earlier exam date to give prospective families more opportunities to consider his school.
“Education in the independent sector is a very competitive market,” he said.
“If we wish to be in among that competition we need to think about strategies that will attract families and prospective students to our school.”
Mr Robertson said scholarships helped students who would otherwise not be able to afford an independent school education,and boosted the academic culture of a school.
“Scholarships do assist to promote academic excellence in schools because students are usually of a higher calibre,” he said. “It helps to raise the bar.”
Ivanhoe Grammar director of admissions Paul Walsh said the school had brought forward its academic scholarship exams to spread the workload.
“We believe that the very high percentage of students who sit for our scholarship tests are interested in an Ivanhoe education,"he said.
"Many who sit have already committed to the school,while for some others,a scholarship is their only path of entry due to our extensive wait lists.”
Some private schools that have shifted to earlier scholarship exams are also running scholarship tests in February and March.
It’s a busy time of the year for coaching company,Hendersons Educational Services,which has also shifted its workshops and mock exams forward to accommodate the new testing season.
The company’s chief executive officer Peter McOrist said he suspected more schools would hold their scholarship exams earlier.
“It may be that they access students and get the first bite of the cherry,” he said.
“The competition between schools for students seem to be increasing. These students help their overall results,and people look at these.”
Students who attend Hendersons Educational Services pay between $200 and $3000 for a range of courses and practice exams to help them prepare for selective-entry state schools and private school scholarships exams.
Mr McOrist said students were taught how to work to time limits and answer multiple choice questions in demanding conditions. He said the courses made students confident when they walked into their exams.
Ten-year-old Saumya Bansal is busy preparing for the almost three-hour Haileybury scholarship exam,which will be held next weekend.
She has already sat one practice exam at Hendersons,visits a private tutor once a week and has been studying maths at the dining room table with her mum.
She juggles all this study with piano lessons,karate,chess tournaments and Bollywood dancing. The bubbly Grade 5 student also loves to paint.
“I’m feeling good but a little bit nervous about the exam,” she said.
Saumya said she fell in love with Haileybury after going on a tour of the school's city campus and striking up a conversation with some older students.
“They told me they really liked it,” she said.