The Sutton Trust, a leading national education charity, has revealed that Personal Statements from independent 
school pupils are more thoroughly prepared and often have better content than those from other sources. Personal Statements are a critical part of the UCAS application for university places.
The Sutton Trust says pupils from independent schools are more likely to shine in their "personal statements". It says their applications are generally better written and list more prestigious, relevant activities than those of state-school pupils.
And to back up the findings of the Sutton Trust, we are delighted with the excellent progress this year from Bearwood College's Upper Sixth Form UCAS applications.
At Bearwood College, our aim is to help the scholars to complete their UCAS application as far in advance of the official deadline in January as possible.
Nationally, the majority of applications are sent in December. Thus, we aim to send our scholars’ applications before December, with the vast majority sent by the end of October.
As a result, over 25% of applicants have already received all of their offers, over a month before the application deadline.
These are for some of the most competitive degrees, such as Law, Business, Philosophy and Sports Science and many of our scholars have received offers from some of the most sought after universities in the country, such as the University of Bristol, the University of Warwick, the University of Exeter, UCL, the University of Leeds and the University of Birmingham.
A number of the scholars have also received offers which are lower than the standard grades required. Such achievements are the result of a range of measures which support our scholars during the application process.
A dedicated 'UCAS Day' is run at the beginning of the first term for the Upper Sixth Form scholars to support them with their applications to university.
The scholars are able to access specialist and individually tailored support from their tutors, heads of Sixth Form and the Academic Deputy so that they are able to write effective Personal Statements.
This is a highly successful day and it allows the process to be completed quickly and efficiently. Furthermore, dedicated time is scheduled in tutor time and during enrichment, in order to support scholars with their course choices and the completion of the Personal Statements.
About seven to eight drafts are completed for each scholar in order to achieve perfection and special packs are provided for each scholar to support them during the application process.
Our scholars’ references are written by an experienced and dedicated team of tutors. The high quality of these references has been commented upon and praised by universities.
Each reference and application is carefully checked by the Heads of Sixth Form and the Academic Deputy before these are sent to UCAS.
Only when we are confident that the application is ready will we then send this to UCAS.
We also encourage our scholars to actively seek work experience in the field within which they wish to apply for at degree level and we support their applications for these.
Our current Upper Sixth scholars have secured experience in a range of different sectors, such as at Transport for London and work experience as a lab technician experience at the University of Oxford.
Furthermore, scholars who are called for interviews are supported through special group sessions, as well as one-to-one mock interviews. Within these, they are able to gain individualised guidance and specific feedback so that they can secure a place at their chosen university.