Upcoming girls’ independent SW London schools 11+ exams

DD had a WT mock today and completely stuffed it up.. missed pages, guessed questions.. I guess they all have good and bad days!

We've got more creative writing stuff coming up, then VR/ NRV to concentrate on for the Wandsworth Test & another state, then a break until early Jan for the ISEB for us (but really need to concentrate on maths then to cover the curriculum that she missed in Year 5).

Thanks @stellagibbons Its going to be a packed afternoon for us on Tues then! DD hates creative writing. I'm hoping the topic will be in some way similar to something she has done before and she can 'reuse' her words. I refuse to help her as its firstly unethical and secondly setting her up to fail if she gets into a school she can't cope with.

Both DH and I really like JAGS. (Most of our state primary prefer Alleyns) my biggest fear is she hates the taster lesson and then refuses to go even if after all this hard work and angst she gets offered a place.. !)

Oh well.. if we don't get an offer then the angst goes away!!

@Oceane11Plus @Stircrazyschoolmum Yes - she'll certainly come across as untutored! I'm not really sure why I took the 'no preparation required' part of the invitation email at face value, when I'd never do that with a written paper ...

Stircrazy the creative writing instructions and task are attached to the email from the day before. It says to complete it before or after the interview or in the evening if that's when your DD has time. You then scan it and upload or post back. It says very clearly that no parental input is allowed and you have to sign when you upload to confirm this.

I think DD's creative writing went better than her interview, but it's one of her strengths so I would hope so!

I have no idea about the ISEB, I guess they'll at least not look until all the girls are interviewed.

I think all the JAGS applicants had the blanket email from Henrietta about ISEB in which she said they were getting inundated with emails about the process. For that reason, I'll ask this here before bothering her further...

Will JAGS (and WHS and any others with a Jan ISEB date) delay looking at ISEB scores until they have every girl's results?

I'm not really sure why I'm asking this, except to manage my expectations I guess!

@stellagibbons

Congratulations.. Its done! That's the only way to think about it! Like Oceane says, it gives you some ammo for the next one. I was practically stuffing my fist in my mouth when DD did Emanuel.. there was a very obvious point she failed to make. That said, she came across as untutored and natural and I bet your DD did too.

Quick question on the creative writing (process not content) I gather the question comes out with the zoom invite, but then what? You manually time them 30 mins or are directed to complete straight after interview? I cant see how this can be fairly moderated.. for example.. do you point out spelling mistakes or leave them?!

Its the taster lesson on the same evening as DD's interview/writing so she will be bushwhacked by the end.. and I will be drinking neat gin...

DD's now done her JAGs interview and creative writing. I was earwigging (tried not to, but it was hard not to stay within earshot without listening) and it didn't go brilliantly to be honest - she was done in 10 mins and not especially forthcoming. The interviewer was excellent though.

We haven't really done any formal interview prep though, and in hindsight I think that was bit of a mistake, especially as it was her first interview.

Yay!! It’s really nice to pop on and see some good news!

Next week is our busiest week - although the one after is pretty busy too. Then it all goes quiet until 15 Jan. I’m keen to get the creative writing pieces out of the way - DD’s least favourite thing. Then I plan to give her (and me!) a decent break in the run up to Christmas and do lots of fun stuff!

@MarshaBradyo, thank you

@Oceane11Plus thank you. We hopefully finish in just under 3 weeks.
I’m hoping an invitation to sports scholarship assessment for JAGS in January, will give us a bit of a clue.
But I’m sure I’ll still be analysing things, even with that

To Warm and Grammar that is

Congratulations to everyone

We have another 2.5 weeks before anything happens! Feels so late

@GrammarHopeful. Thank you. Well done to your DS.

Congratulations to your DD, @WarmAndco3y. Same here for my DS, such a relief after Tiffin massacre :)

Good news for us today. DD passed the first round (eligibility)of the Sutton Grammar exams. This should hopefully boost her self esteem and keep her going.

Our state primary is hosting it at the end of the month and planning to do it all in one day. They have stressed they will allow sufficient comfort breaks between exams. They are used to hosting the Wandsworth test and usually do one before break and one after. I’m guessing they will do two pairs in a similar fashion but given how disorganised they can be I’m not ruling out the possibility of it running into a second day!

Thanks for clarifying. I must have missed it when I was reviewing ISEB's website a while ago.

My DS (I know this is a girls tread ;) is doing his pre-test this Saturday, but his is in one sitting, as he is at state primary, and will be doing his at KCS. Hopefully, there is some sort of recognition by schools that having two sittings vs. one isn't quite the same thing!

Each child will sit the same two exams at the same time, but they will do four exams, split over two days (see attached screenshot from the ISEB website). Probably helps that DD is at an independent primary, so while the current entrance exams are unusual, they're used to accommodating the various whims of the secondaries.

DD's school is also hosting the KGS exam, rather than the girls going in to sit it onsite. Which will clearly make her more comfortable, but I do worry that it won't put her in the right mindset.

ISEB for us is being done over two days, towards the end of November - which is about as late as school can push it, given the various cut offs.

Do you mean there are two different sittings for different groups at your school, @BookShark, or that the content is being split across two days for the same children? If the latter, didn't know that was possible!

ISEB for us is being done over two days, towards the end of November - which is about as late as school can push it, given the various cut offs.

@corblimbea I thought average CAT for KGS was 120+. But also a bit random because of the fact it's mixed, and likes to have a decent proportion of state schools. We've prepared DD for the fact she's unlikely to get in, despite being academically pretty reasonable - I just think there are a few things that will work against her.

Hi @Corblimbea Surbiton is also one of our schools but have no idea, sorry. From anecdotal knowledge maybe average CAT scores for the girls they select are slightly lower than ultra-selective central London schools. But still it's a top choice for lots of local families and I guess also a backup for others, therefore I can imagine overall numbers of applicants will be quite high?

@Tabitha957 I sorry, I missed you off! Well done to DD, it must be nice to have a different exam process to ISEB to balance things out a bit. Not dissecting the exam is very sensible!