The Intentional Parent: Understanding Independent & Grammar Selective Admissions in the UK (Ages 4-13)
The Extended Edition
A Guide to Navigating a Competitive System & Maximising your Child’s Chances of Success with Confidence
The most comprehensive, consultancy-led resource for parents navigating grammar and independent school admissions across 4+, 7+, 8+, 9+, 10+, 11+ and 13+.
A consultancy-led book giving parents clear, structured insight into grammar and independent school admissions – so you can make informed decisions early, avoid common missteps like burnout and over-tutoring, and maximise your child’s chances of success.
This Extended Edition includes everything in the Essential Edition plus significantly expanded content, deeper frameworks, comprehensive pre-vetted school lists, and long-term strategy tools that give you a much stronger vantage point across the entire selective school journey.
Available for £55 for a limited time only
Purchase via Sendowl.
Delivered within 24 Hours of Purchase. Watermarked for your security
For less than the cost of a single tutoring session, you will get clarity most parents spend years trying to piece together.
Who this book is for?
This book is for any parent who wants to understand the UK school system and is considering a selective school path at any stage – whether grammar or independent, through fees, bursaries or scholarships. It’s written for families in nursery, preparatory, state or international contexts who may be thinking ahead to 4+, 7+, 8+, 9/10+, 11+ or 13+ entry to day or boarding schools.
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Want complete clarity on the UK system, whether considering grammar or independent schools.
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Prefer having proper depth, not just high-level guidance.
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Are choosing between multiple entry points (4+, 7+, 8+, 9+, 10+, 11+ or 13+).
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Want to understand what actually drives offers: how schools assess, who they select, and why.
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Want vetted tiered school lists for London and nearby counties.
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Are thinking ahead and want to maximise their child’s chances of success early.
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Prefer a structured roadmap, longer-term strategy, and access to tools you won’t find publicly.
If selective schools may feature in your child’s journey now or later, this edition gives you the fullest clarity to position your child for the strongest possible outcome.
Why Parents Buy this Book
The UK’s selective school landscape is fragmented, competitive, and rarely explained early enough. Even highly motivated parents struggle to piece together the real structure behind it.
The Extended Edition exists because most families don’t fail admissions due to lack of effort — they fail due to lack of clarity:
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Not knowing what schools actually assess.
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Misreading readiness and pacing preparation incorrectly.
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Relying on outdated advice, myths, or tutors who only focus on worksheets.
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Missing deadlines or choosing unsuitable entry points.
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Investing time and money in ways that produce burnout rather than progress.
This book gives you the clarity, depth, and strategy that parents wish they’d had earlier — so your child starts on the right path, not the stressful one.
The Hidden Landscape Behind Selective Schools
Selective admissions are not difficult because parents lack ambition, they’re difficult because so much of the process is hidden, gatekept, or misunderstood.
The Extended Edition unpacks the invisible forces that shape outcomes:
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Information that arrives too late
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Readiness patterns schools value
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Common decision traps
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Over-scheduling vs under-preparation
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How early choices quietly shape future entry routes
These visuals reveal those hidden dynamics so you can make smarter decisions earlier.
This book gives you the insight most parents require, including:
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How selective schools really work. What admissions teams look for, how they prioritise children, and the behavioural and academic markers that quietly shape decisions.
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What schools look for when they select children. The academic, behavioural, and personal qualities that lead to offers (and the ones that don't).
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Entry routes explained clearly. 4+, 7+, 8+, 9+, 10+, 11+ and 13+ for both independent and grammar schools, and how to choose the stage that offers your child the strongest advantage.
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What schools expect to see at different ages. How to read your child's readiness, & support them without over-tutoring.
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Critical timings and decision points. When to start, how to pace preparation, and how early decisions shape later opportunities.
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The parent roadmap. What to consider each term, what to consider long-term, and how to make confident decisions when everyone else is panicking.
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Supporting progress without burnout. What actually strengthens your child's progress, what drains or undermines it, so you can create the right conditions for success.
PLUS:
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Vetted, tiered school lists (independent + grammar), organised by academic profile, competitiveness, and fit.
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Extended frameworks with deeper readiness indicators, full parent mindset tools, additional checklists and long-term planning models.
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Expanded entry-route strategy including how to pivot between stages, use route advantages, and plan far ahead.
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In-depth assessment and interview insights including group tasks, 11+ and 13+ distinctions, and real behavioural markers schools use.
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More FAQs and examples covering late applications, SEN considerations, prep-school differences and scenario-based guidance.
What's Inside the Book
Purchase via Sendowl.
Delivered within 24 Hours of Purchase. Watermarked for your security
For less than the cost of a single tutoring session, you will get clarity most parents spend years trying to piece together.
What Makes Intentional Studio™ Different
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Consultancy-level insights made accessible. Built from the combined knowledge of leading preparatory schools, specialist tutors, educational consultants and successful families - without the expensive consulting fees.
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A clarity you won't find elsewhere. We explain the hidden landscape behind selective admissions - critical timings and readiness windows, criteria for admissions, behavioural markers and real competitive dynamics that quietly influence success outcomes.
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Strategy without burnout and wasted effort. We show you how to strengthen your child's chances of success with precision - avoiding avoidable time and investment, over-tutoring, panic preparation, and rushed decisions that exhaust families and weaken performance.
The Intentional Parent:
Understanding Independent & Grammar Selective Admissions in the UK (Ages 4-13)
The Essential Edition
A Guide to Navigating a Competitive System & Maximising your Child’s Chances of Success with Confidence
A consultancy-led framework for parents who want to maximise their child's chances of success in grammar and independent school admissions, whether you're at a state school aiming for entry, in the midst of the process feeling lost, or in an independent school unsure of what lies ahead.
Selective school admissions are challenging, not because parents lack ambition, but because the real landscape behind it is rarely explained. Many families begin without understanding how entry routes differ, what schools actually select for, or how early decisions shape later opportunities.
This book brings clarity to what's hidden, explaining how selective admissions really work: the entry routes, what schools expect and select for, readiness markers that matter, and the common ways families unintentionally weaken their chance os success.
More importantly, it gives parents a calm, strategic way to prepare with precision rather than pressure, replacing fragmented advice structure & confidence, while avoiding the burnout or over-tutoring that undermine performance.
Available for immediate download for £22 for a limited time only
Instant download. Watermarked for your security. Purchase via SendOwl
For less than the cost of a single tutoring session, you will get clarity most parents spend years trying to piece together.
Intentional Education™
Where intellect, behavioural science, and emotional intelligence converge.
Intentional Education™ is our research-led framework where cognitive development, behavioural science and emotional intelligence overlap. It supports three areas of learning - Selective Admissions, Academic Excellence and Mindful Learning Habits - offering families and schools a clearer, more informed way to understand how children grow, learn and thrive in a rapidly AI-shaped world.