UK School Search & Selection | Expert advisory on British schools for families from Select:ed
Securing the right-fit admissions for your child to the most competitive British schools
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“Breadth of expertise and knowledge were very welcomed”
– Chris T, Zurich, happy parent on Google Reviews
Unrivalled expertise in British school admissions for global families
Single sex or co-ed? State or private? Day or boarding? When to make a transition? How to secure places at non-standard entry points? The British school system can seem complex and difficult to navigate. Adam D’Souza and the Select:ed team are sought out as leading education consultants and experts on school admissions, including London and across the UK.
Our School Search & Selection service supports families with children aged 3-18, within the country and relocating to the UK. We guide you through the process of identifying and selecting the right-fit schools for your child. We leverage deep insight and our proven track records in leadership roles in British schools to secure placements for children in leading academic institutions.
Select:ed’s modern, empathetic approach to school placement for the children of global professionals draws together two strands: academic profile + character fit. We call it IQ+EQ. Or the balance between classroom + sports pitch, rehearsal space or art studio.
Our primary aim is to design a pathway for your child that leads to happiness and success. We pride ourselves on recommending the best schools which will cultivate your son or daughter’s talents, and, most importantly, are the right fit for them.
“Adam was highly sensitive to our children's individual needs and even thought strategically about the best way to 'pitch' the various options to them - understanding that their 'buy-in' was all-important. If you're looking for someone who understands the UK independent school system and what it takes to get into certain schools, but who also takes a holistic approach, taking into account the perspective of the child, then look no further
– Polly, San Francisco, happy parent
IQ+EQ
How we help you find the right-fit school for your son or daughter
At the heart of the unique Select:ed approach to educational consultancy is deep care for your child’s and your family’s emotional wellbeing. Our expert school search and selection advice is informed by human insight, and empowered by technology.
Your 5-step school placement strategy
How the proven Select:ed IQ+EQ approach opens doors to the right-fit schools for your child:
1. Character portrait: revealing your child’s true potential
First, and most importantly, is meeting your son or daughter to build up a character/emotional portrait, which includes personal interests, approach in the classroom, relationships with teachers and discovering what motivates them to learn. This session with Adam D’Souza, founder of Select:ed, can be done on video conference with children anywhere in the world. Select:ed offers a tailored service for international families relocating to the UK.
2. Academic assessment: data-driven benchmarking vs schools’ entry requirements
The next step is benchmarking your son or daughter’s current academic levels against the academic entry standards of potential schools using our adaptive cognitive abilities assessment. This online test shows a child’s current potential in comparison to their peers, specifically in terms of the type of skills required to tackle academically selective schools’ entrance exams.
3. Strategic debrief: personalised data analysis and action plan
After the academic assessment, you will receive a personal debrief on a video call with your Select:ed educational consultant to explain the inferences that can be made from the data in your child’s test report: identifying strengths, and flagging up skills which might need a little more work.
4. Right-fit shortlist: school placement aligned with your goals and values
Adam and his Select:ed team of education experts will draw together the data from your child’s academic profile with the insight of the character/emotional portrait. This complete, all-round view of your child will be used to create a list of potential right-fit schools which are aligned with your son or daughter’s individual academic needs, character, interests – and your family values.
5. Entrance preparation: tailored support to maximise assessment and interview performance
Individual Select:ed educators can provide specific, tailored tutoring or coaching support which will help your child to develop skills identified in the academic assessment as needing improvement, so that they can shine at their absolute best when sitting schools’ entrance assessments and interviews.
Results snapshot
Our proven track record: former students have successfully secured admissions to these competitive, academically selective British schools – and many more
The pillars of our admissions success
Why choose us as your expert guides to find the right-fit British schools for your child?
— Empathetic understanding of your child
Your child’s character, talents and academic profile are at the heart of the process. Our single aim is to identify the right-fit schools for your son or daughter.
Our unique IQ+EQ approach is designed to build up a 360-degree view so that we can be sure our recommendations are aligned with your child’s needs, emotionally and socially as well as academically.
— Data-driven insight from robust, detailed assessments
What makes the UK school system unusual is that many of the highest-performing schools (private schools and grammar schools) are academically selective.
Therefore, precise academic benchmarking is vital to secure places at the most exciting, challenging schools for your child. Our robust assessment gives you an accurate, baseline snapshot of how your child might perform in comparison to other applicants.
— Unbiased, expert guidance: consultants, not agents
Some educational “consultants” operate as agents, taking referral commissions from schools. We believe strongly that this is wrong, and a conflict of interest.
We do not accept payments from schools; your Select:ed education experts work for you, helping to craft the best school journey to suit your child and your family.
FAQs
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We have a 100% success rate in securing admissions in at least one of our shortlisted schools.
Our aim is to find the right-fit school for your son or daughter. For some children, who are very academically ambitious, this may well be a ‘Top 10’ school; for others, it may be a school with a different emphasis – academic value-add, sports, music, performing or visual arts.
Select:ed is unbiased and does not take accept referral commissions from schools, which means that we have developed relationships of trust with some of the most in-demand schools in the UK.
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Typically, the whole process takes 2-3 weeks from start to finish.
Once we have completed the age-tailored character profiling and academic benchmarking assessments, it usually takes around a week or two to prepare the detailed school search report, which includes personalised why and why not for your child for each school.
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Select:ed uses a fixed, per-project fee structure, giving you control and confidence over the whole process.
Typical project cost for a full School Search and Selection project would range from £4000-7500 GBP, depending on the exact scope of the project (i.e. mainstream, SEND, categories of schools, managed placement etc.)
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Traditionally, educational consultancy was a ‘legacy’ business, built on the individual relationships between consultants and school admissions departments. This is a vital piece of the puzzle, but cannot be the whole story.
Our IQ+EQ approach combines data-driven academic benchmarking with an empathetic all-round portrait of your child’s interests, motivational style, strengths and weaknesses.
Our in-house dataset now extends to more than 3000 data points, allowing us to determine schools’ real entry requirements and to track patterns in academic performance.
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Our team has in-depth understanding of both markets.
We specialise in supporting families moving to London, helping you navigate the complexity of the school system.
Founder Adam D’Souza taught in academically selective independent schools in London, and held leadership roles in schools groups. Other Select:ed consultants have been headteachers and directors of admissions in London schools.
We offer a tailored service for families relocating to the United Arab Emirates – either to Dubai or Abu Dhabi, with an expert advisor available in both cities. In addition, our UAE-based relocation partner is able to provide a complete range of support.
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Founder of Select:ed Adam D’Souza is a renowned teacher and expert in school entrance. He and his team have experience as teachers, heads and admissions directors in academically selective London schools, and international schools.
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Yes, definitely. Select:ed is a consultancy, not an agent, so our singular aim is finding the right-fit schools for your children. That may be separately or it may be together – we understand that there are lots of factors around that decision.
Our expertise encompasses schools of all different types: state vs private, day vs boarding, single-sex vs co-ed, primary/prep vs secondary/senior.
We are happy to offer a sibling discount.
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After our initial consultation call, which is free of charge, your Select:ed education expert will prepare an individual proposal for you and your child. We will then schedule a follow-up call, usually within 2-3 days, to talk through our planned programme of support.
The whole process, from initial consultation to final delivery of the report and follow-up, typically takes around 2-3 weeks, although this depends on variables such as range of schools, managed application support, SEND needs etc.
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Select:ed is an unbiased consultancy that works for you; we are not agents. Therefore we will only contact schools on your behalf if you give us the go-ahead to do so.
In addition, we have developed strong data security procedures, e.g. around sensitive personal data and assessment scores. Our data protection policy includes AI.