Academic Scholarships
Top Year, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Form Entry in 2025
General Information
1. Eligibility
Each year scholarships are awarded to children of exceptional talent joining the School into the Top Year (Year 6), First Form (Year 7), Second Form (Year 8) or Third Form (Year 9). In due course, scholarships will be awarded to children joining the School at Sixth Form level (Year 12). Candidates are assessed through test, examination or observation, interview and reference. Scholarship awards may be made either for evidence of a high level of attainment and promise or exceptional specialist aptitude. Uppingham Cairo awards scholarships to candidates who show excellence in the following fields: Academic, Music, Art, Sport, Textiles (Fashion Design), Design & Technology, Drama and The Thring Award.
2. Limitations
Successful candidates should not expect to hold awards in more than one discipline. Candidates are not permitted to sit scholarships in more than two disciplines.
3. Awards
Uppingham Cairo is proud of its moral commitment to widening participation in the School, and applies Scholarship Awards in line with the policies of Uppingham School in the UK. To do so, we use as much of our funding as we can to enable as many young people as possible to benefit from an Uppingham Cairo education. For that reason, scholarship awards would not ordinarily exceed 25% of the fees.
At Uppingham Cairo a candidate may only hold one scholarship award at any one time so that they can specialise in their area of talent. This does not preclude them from participating in other areas of school life, however, the rich additional provision of each of our scholarship programmes requires pupils to manage their time judiciously within their field of expertise.
All candidates must have passed the standard academic entrance assessment and have been offered a place at the School prior to entering the scholarship process.
4. Age Limit
Candidates will normally be under 14 on or close to 1 September in the year of entry. In assessing merit, the ages of candidates is taken into consideration.
Academic Scholarships Summary
What does Uppingham Cairo look for in a potential Scholar?
What is involved in the selection process?
Above all, we are looking for a sense of true undirected intellectual curiosity, flexibility of thought and a determination to attain academic excellence. Candidates should demonstrate an ability to probe and interrogate, debate and engage with what they have in front of them.
Candidates should be able to demonstrate high levels of aptitude and potential across a range of subjects. Our Scholars will also show a high level of resilience when faced with the unknown in the academic field.
Candidates take formal Scholarship exams in Mathematics, English and Science
They also sit a language paper, much like an Olympiad. There is no requirement to have studied a specific modern language for this.
Candidates then attend a short series of collaborative workshop - style sessions across several subject areas Candidates attend all workshops and do not make a choice of subject. The workshops culminate in a team activity where they can implement the skills learned across the different workshops.
Candidates then have a one-to-one interview with a senior member of the academic staff to discuss their interests, achievements and aspirations.
What are the expectations of a Scholar?
Academic Scholars are expected to engage actively with their academic studies in the classroom (and in their private study time as they progress through the School), as well as participating in the wider intellectual life of the School.
They aim to achieve the very highest grade in at least eight of their IGCSE subjects, the highest grades in A level, and are likely to be applicants for the most challenging university courses in the UK and globally.
From the Third Form, Academic Scholars are members of the Leighton Group alongside other invited members of the School who have demonstrated sufficient aptitude and motivation.
Pupils in the Leighton Group meet regularly with their academic mentors to pursue independent, stretching academic work; working across year groups fosters a sense of academic aspiration and allows for interaction between the most able pupils of all ages.
Examinations:
Thursday 27 January 2025
Closing date for Applications: 13 January 2025
1. Dates and Arrangements
The Academic Scholars Assessment Day will take place on Thursday 27 February at Uppingham Cairo. Candidates will arrive at 8.30am and will be free to depart at 4.30pm. All candidates will be provided with a morning snack, lunch and afternoon tea.
2. Application Procedure
The application form should be completed and returned to the Master of the Scholars no later than 13 January 2025
3. The Assessment
Candidates will be assessed at three stages:
1. Formal English, Mathematics, Science and Language assessments
2. Throughout the workshops and via the assessment given at the end of these
3. Interview (see below)
In all interviews, candidates are given a stimulus to which they will need to react, comment on and engage with. The material is not designed to test prior knowledge or cultural capital – it is designed to test their critical thinking skills as well as resilience when faced with the unknown.
Candidates should demonstrate an ability to probe and interrogate, debate, and engage with what they have in front of them. We are not looking for a specific or particular answer, but a scholarly and intellectual curiosity, alongside the skills mentioned on page 3.
When selecting an interview subject, we advise candidates to select their strongest subject (in terms of academic level as well as undirected love of learning.)
The following interview subjects are possible:
• English
• Mathematics
• Science (no need for candidates/parents to specify further)
• French
• Spanish
• History
• Geography
In an interview with a modern language, alongside the stimulus, a spoken element in the language will also play a part. If the candidate’s academic background or circumstances make any of the compulsory papers inappropriate, the candidate’s parents should consult with the Master of the Scholars, Dr Arthur Firkins (afirkins@uppinghamcairo.com)
Compulsory
English (60 - 90 minutes)
The English paper will be in two halves: comprehension and composition. Good standards of written English will be important throughout the responses to the comprehension questions. For the composition, candidates will write one essay from a choice of three questions, offering a range of kinds and styles of writing: e.g. a diary entry, a more transactional style, and creative writing.
Mathematics (60 - 90 minutes)
A combination of strong subject knowledge, and the ability to problem solve, will be challenged by the Scholarship paper’s content The ability to think logically in unseen problems is crucial and being able to simplify complex questions will be tested at an age appropriate level. A large emphasis will be placed on how candidates negotiate a question, and sound Mathematical reasoning is rewarded.
Languages
All candidates will sit a language learning aptitude test (60 minutes) in which they complete tasks based on an artificially fabricated or extremely rare language. This looks to assess pupils on their ability to ‘reverse-engineer’ the rules behind the language’s syntax by spotting patterns in vocabulary and grammar, given a selection of contextualised examples. They then manipulate these rules and patters to create new sentences or solve puzzles. This will require critical thinking skills, as opposed to rote-learning elements of a specific language, and knowledge of a specific modern language is not required. No knowledge specific to any modern language studied at school is needed. Furthermore, there is no set oral component to the language assessment, though if a candidate is called to interview, a brief exchange in the target language might form part of the discussion, if this is their specialist academic area. To prepare for this part of the day, we would advise candidates to look at the UK Linguistics Olympiad (UKLO) website, which contains several very similar challenges.
Workshops
Candidates will attend two workshops during their time with us. The workshops will last 45 minutes to 1 hour, ending with a short assessment no longer than 30 minutes. The school will use its discretion to create these workshops, which will likely be cross-departmental, and will likely use material that candidates have not seen before.
STEM: the emphasis will be on applying logic and their understanding of scientific principles to novel, challenging situations, rather than recall of facts. All candidates will take part in a practical exercise, either individually or in pairs during the workshop. The candidates are not expected to have encountered the practical context, and full instructions will be given.
Humanities: candidates should expect an element of interdisciplinarity between History and Geography. The emphasis will be on applying critical thinking and their understanding of geographical, and historical principles and themes to novel, challenging situations, rather than recall of facts or content. All candidates will take part in a practical exercise, either individually, in pairs or small groups during the workshop. The candidates are not expected to have encountered the practical context, and full instructions will be given.