Coombe Girls / Tiffin / Kingston Grammar / Surbiton High / Sutton High / Wimbledon High

I feel your pain!. We are going through the 11+ now and it’s HIDEOUS! I think it depends on your child and possibly your working situation. if you have a studious child who applies themselves, then tutoring for the 11+ would be ideal. However, if like my DC, your child is clever but lazy (my DC will end up ‘winging it’ throughout their life, I’m sure!), then private school may a good option. If SH is local, then your DC may know other children there already? I regret not moving my DC before the 11+, possibly even for the start of Year 5, just as you are thinking. Also, If you work full time, then even with a tutor, you will need do work with them later on down the line - it’s not easy. Mind you, private now doesn’t automatically guarantee entry later on. Saying this, a lot of private schools (I’m not sure about SH), spend much of the last year of junior school prepping for the 11+, which you don’t obviously get in state schools! Good luck!

Ps, also happy to hear about other local ish schools Radnor Hs, Manor Hs etc...

Hi all, completely new to mumsnet but thought, who best to ask but this huge datebade if wise mums, who may or may not be wondering something similar. So here goes (forgive the elongated post): I live in Surbiton and have two DD’s. 5.5 (yr1) and 7 (yr3). Have been very happy with their education so far in good and outstanding state infant and jr schools that are both opposite my house. 7 yr old doing well. Great teacher and he describes her as bright, lovely and conscientious but very middle of the road and still developing academically. 5 yr old struggling. Extremely bright but lazy and poss dyslexic ( testing in new year). My ideal plan is they continue in state education until 11 then sit 11+ for KGS and SHS. BUT I’m worried that pressure and competition of 11+ will be too much. We’re not pushy parents but do hope they go to reasonably academic local private schools. My dilemma is do we keep them in state and risk the 11+ or move them early to say SHS? My 7 yr old was offered a place at SHS for entry to year 3 this Sept but we decide that she was so happy with her friendship groups and all her friends were going to local jnr school that we said no! But I’d really like to hear from others as I hear so much scaremongering about 11+ and the level of competition at this point. Options therefore include pulling her from local state in 2 yrs ( into yr5) to SHS (assuming it’s possible) and her sister to join (into yr 3) at same time OR start tutoring in yr 4 in order to maximise chances? Thoughts and experiences very welcomed. Thanks in advanced!

Coming late to this but throwing in a favourable view on Surbiton. DD is in year 7 and very much enjoying it so far. Yes, it’s big but that hasn’t been an issue - class sizes are decent and she has been able to make new friends.

It’s been super supportive and nurturing for the new girls. My daughter is super sporty so she loves that but there are non-sporty girls who have plenty to do as well.

The homework load has been very light so far. DD has friends at schools such as Ibstock where it seems more overwhelming.

WHS and PHS definitely are harder to get into and probably have on average a higher academic level of pupil but there are plenty of smart girls at Surbiton as well.

Having been through this pain last year I would definitely say it is more about finding the right fit for your DD than whether a school is ranked slightly higher in academic league tables.

Good luck everyone.

I think 4 exams is fine BUT only if the dates are not all bunched together in a week. You really need to look at the exam dates and think carefully.

I've also been told Wimbledon is more difficult than Putney
But that may be one is more popular than the other so more competition for places as opposed to they are looking for a higher standard from entrants

I think 4 exams is fine but not 4 that are considered equally challenging/difficult.

We did four and it was fine, very similar to your selection of schools. It's good that Sutton High is earlier and if you get an offer it's a great confidence boost going into the others. Our 4th choice was a last minute panic application when I worried we might not get anything. Coming from a state primary I really wasn't sure what standard was needed. In the end it was all fine and we got our 1st choice school.

i didn't mean KGS interviewed everyone, i mean they interview everyone they are considering giving a place to, ie those who meet the required level on the exam.

interesting that WHS has moved towards NVR/VR when the other schools are moving away. I know a few this year who got WHS but not PHS. PHS seemed to be almost at LEH standard.

I've been told that order of difficulty is:
WHS
PHS
Sutton High

But I'd be interested to see what others say.

Don't know about Surbiton (have discounted as being a bit too far, and too sporty).

Would agree with nocamping although KGS don't interview everyone anymore- they cut it right down after the exam (according to their latest admissions info).
Also- I think WHS is an odd one now due to the NVR/VR thing. Lots of Prep School dead certs for Putney aren't getting places at WHS these days.
All a lottery!

I think you could/should cut some of those down
my crude analysis/experience says

• if your dd gets surbiton she'll also get sutton
• if she gets putney she'll get wimbledon

• eliminate KGS if you don't like it, it'll be right in the middle of the exams and will just tire her out (don't underestimate the impact of back to back exams on her performance), plus KGS interview all potential candidates which is another day/burden.

in terms of "difficulty to get into" i'd say:
Putney
Wimbledon
Surbiton
Sutton
PHS/WHS have far fewer places on offer than Surbiton
Sutton has to compete with the grammars

Thank you Flume & Hello. I will check the website.

Info on the building works at PHS are on their website.
WHS are planning some building but the plans aren’t approved yet so the head wouldn’t say what they were when someone asked at a recent open morning. Just said ‘very exciting’ etc etc

Artistic Nobody mentioned building work to us at either school.

I've just been trying to get visits for the schools dd hasn't seen, but they all seem to have shut up shop for Y5s now until Easter (which I understand but is a bit frustrating in terms of narrowing down choices).

Has anyone else learnt about the building extension works to be undertaken at WHS & PHS? At WHS the girls who showed us around mentioned additional capacity being added vertically on top of existing buildings. Is it the same with PHS? Won't this cause disruption for a few years for the girls?

WHS juniors has two classes of 24, about 40-44 in total transfer to seniors. Annual intake to seniors varies between 80 and 100, so still more than half of the places are available for new girls.

Yes the girl who showed us round mentioned that the number of classes varied in each year

Just a note re WHS, they have a large number of girls in junior school, nearly all transfer to senior (why wouldn't they). The year we applied there were few places available for 'new' girls as they were very oversubscribed the previous year and had added a bulge type class. I'm sure its similar for PHS.

Flume - totally agree about the WHS head's speech. It was very impressive. I did like WHS a lot more, but not sure of DD's NVR skills for the entrance!

We'll probably try for both, as they're our two closest and the exams are different so presumably looking for slightly different things. SWPS is too far out for us. DD was definitely wowed by the rowing boat and the very nice girls who showed her around. The tumbling demo was also a hit!

Personally, I thought the Head's talk at Wimbledon was much better, and the teachers as we walked round seemed (with some exceptions) more engaged at WHS. But I'm sure they're both very good schools.

We went to the Putney Open Day. DD loved the school, the buzz, the uniform & the rowing boat!

Having a tough time choosing between Wimbledon & Putney. For both we will need to move closer to the school so commute is not swinging it either way. Wondering if we should sit both considering that their exams are completely different and one might be easier for DD than the other.

Anyone have a view on how these compare with SWPS which is another strong choice for us?