As the news is filled with A-Level results and images of happy students gleefully clutching their results papers, for those about to start their final year of school this can seem a long way off.

Nevertheless, there is an important step you can take to get ahead of the game and ensure that in 12 months time you too will be bounding happily out of the school gates for the last time with university on the near horizon.

The personal statement

This preparatory step is of course to start work on your personal statement. This 4000-character document might seem daunting but it is one of the main pieces of supporting evidence to help you with your university application. For many this can make the difference between successfully securing a place at a chosen university or missing out.

As soon as you search for tips on writing personal statements online you are faced with a barrage of ideas, tricks and suggestions.

One chance to impress

There is only one main theme that must be adhered to above all others. The personal statement should be a true reflection of YOU. This is the only chance (unless you are invited for interview) to demonstrate why the university you are applying for wants you above any other candidate with the same academic grades.

Here are five further recommendations that we make to ensure that your personal statement stands out.

Personal statement tips

1. Ensure that the majority of the personal statement is about your academic interests and how those relate to not only the course but what you might want to do in the future. Look at the course prospectus and the areas of research that the lead professors study and see what common interests you have.
2. Write about any out of school activities that you have pursued that are in direct relation to your chosen degree subject. If you are looking at medicine have you done any relevant work experience? If you are pursuing archaeology have you been to a dig site?
3. Include a paragraph about your other achievements and interests but keep this brief and make it your penultimate paragraph. Leadership positions, membership of clubs both inside and outside of school and other achievements are all relevant but do not wax lyrical about them. The university just wants to see that you have other interests outside of the purely academic and that you might want to contribute to wider university life.
4. Read the books you put on your personal statement and visit the museum or gallery that might be linked to your future study.
5. Get ahead of the game and start writing. It will take several drafts to get a strong personal statement and inevitably you will receive different direction from whomever you ask for advice. By starting early you will put yourself in the best position to make your application stand out when applications open this September.

When a child from overseas under the age of 18 comes to study in the UK, schools require them to have a guardian that can provide support in lieu of their parents, and to have a safe and welcome home for them at exeat weekends, half terms and in an emergency.

Carefully selected school guardians

At Gabbitas, we’ve been providing a guardianship service for over 100 years and our service has become fine-tuned to the needs of our clients. We carefully select our guardians, using our contacts with former parents and staff at the top UK boarding schools. We recruit from community groups and our networks in specific geographic areas. All guardian families and any dependents over the age of 16 are DBS checked. Each home is visited by a member of the Gabbitas team to ensure that the standards are high and that it is a caring and supportive environment.

Life with our guardianship families

We interview prospective guardians and send families their full profile. We do our best to match each child with the right family, taking their tastes, interests and even sense of humour into account. Of course, a host family will never replace their own, but children have a break from their school’s boarding house and get to stay in a home, eat home-cooked food and, if they enjoy it, help with cooking or baking.Their host family takes them to the cinema, excursions or a picnic in the country. They go back to school having had a different experience, having learnt about the culture of families living in the UK.

Guardians to safeguard your children 24/7

At Gabbitas, we do everything we can to make their experience as vivid and enjoyable as possible, by choosing the right family and providing a range of other services. Whether a student missed their flight, forgot their passport at school and remembered half-way to the airport, had flu with fever and had to be taken out of school – our guardians are there to help 24/7. We have so much experience, we’ve seen it all, we are there to support.

Learn more about our guardianship services

For a discussion about the reassurance, support and home-from home experience we can provide your children while they are studying in the UK, please contact us at any of our offices.

FAQs for Schools, Agents and Parents, as well as further details about UKiset can be found at www.ukiset.com.

UKiset is an assessment designed for entry into British curriculum schools. The UKiset Profile provides schools with all the information they need when considering an overseas applicant. The test includes assessments of academic potential and English language skills, and the results compare candidates against British students of the same age. UKiset provides a level playing field for students from all backgrounds to apply to the best schools in the world.

Who Can Take UKiset?

UKiset is designed for students aged between 9.5 and 18 years old. They can be any nationality, even a native English speaker. We recommend that candidates have at least a basic grasp of English as there are some test instructions they will need to follow. The test results compare the candidate’s academic skills against British students of the same age and specifically against those studying in the independent sector. UKiset also assesses their level of academic English using a Cambridge English test that provides their current CEFR level.

A student may take UKiset because:

• They want to apply to a British independent school
• They want to enter a language school or International study centre in the UK
• For their own knowledge; they want to know how they compare to British students of the same age
• They want to set an objective to see how they progress over the year before entering an educational institution that communicates in English
• Their English teacher would like to set targets to be achieved every six months to ensure the student achieves their very best

UKiset for Schools

If you are a UK school and interested in using UKiset as your pre-selection or school entrance test, please contact us. We welcome all schools to join the UKiset network whether based in the UK or internationally. Over the years, schools using UKiset as part of their admissions process will benefit from the rich bank of data that is being created. We provide, free of charge, regular statistics, trends and information on recruitment patterns from around the world.
Benefits for schools

Principally UKiset has been designed to help identify the most suitable candidates for your school. It provides an accurate indicator of an overseas applicant’s academic abilities and compares them directly against their British peers in the UK and specifically, in the independent sector. It may also:

• dovetail nicely with your own baseline testing
• eliminate unnecessary paperwork and wasted administrative time
• reduce or eliminate the setting and marking of your own papers
• allow decisions to be made much more quickly.

The UKiset profile for schools consists of a complete overview of the candidate’s potential. The aim is to provide enough information for schools to make an informed decision on whether this applicant is a good fit for them and whether they wish to pursue this application further. The School Profile includes:

• A full student profile sheet, including a photo and full contact details Standardised scores for core processing skills, verbal, non-verbal and maths
• Comparisons with the British state and independent sectors Scores include Stanine and National Percentile Ranking Predicted future grades at GCSE and A-Level (where appropriate)
• Current CEFR level and IELTS-equivalent English score
• Their English essay

UKiset for Agents

UKiset is a set of assessments that many British independent schools ask overseas students to take. The results show how the candidate compares to students of the same age in the British school system and more specifically, within independent schools. The evaluation tests the child’s underlying learning skills – through tests of verbal, non-verbal and mathematical reasoning; and their level of English – in reading, listening and writing.

How does it work?

You or the family can register candidates for UKiset online. A test is arranged locally for the student – UKiset has a large network of test centres worldwide, and will endeavour to find an appropriate test centre location for every candidate. The candidate chooses which schools they would like to send their results to. Within 24 hours of the test taking place the UKiset profile report is sent to you, the family and any selected schools. School choices can be made either before the test takes place or after the results have been seen.

How does it benefit your clients?

The enormous benefit is that UKiset is a single assessment that can be used to apply to multiple schools. Before UKiset, students would have to prepare for and sit unique tests for every school they applied for – this could mean hours of preparation and testing over a number of weeks. UKiset can be sent to schools prior to registering with them. This means that applying for competitive places at selective schools becomes much cheaper – as families only pay registration fees at the schools where their child has a chance of gaining a place.

Secondly, by using UKiset to assess your client’s learning potential and English, you the agent/consultant, have an independent, internationally-recognised evaluation upon which to base your advice. You may wish to advise on additional English support and tutoring; or help the family choose more realistic school choices; or help them aim for the very best school. UKiset provides the evidence to back up this advice. You will also get faster responses from schools. With UKiset, schools can make decisions much faster –  allowing you to work with more clients.

Key Facts About UKiset

• UKiset takes approximately 2 hours to complete
• In general results are processed within 3 business days of the test taking place
• UKiset can be taken all over the world at authorised test centres, or in the UK at our head office, and at some selected schools. The UKiset team will help arrange the test date
• Schools request UKiset because it provides credible information on an applicant’s academic potential and suitability for their learning environment. Some schools conduct further testing or will interview the candidate after seeing their UKiset Profile
• UKiset costs £295. This is a one-off fee that includes:
  • Registration
  • Test arrangement
  • All invigilation fees
  • Results to the candidate and your academic agent (if you have one)
  • The full UKiset Profile sent to up to 5 schools of your choice
• Schools can be chosen before or after the test
• Results are valid for one year
• The test can be re-taken after 6 months