Upcoming girls’ independent SW London schools 11+ exams

We're having next week off (although, to be honest, enthusiasm for home schooling has dropped off a cliff here this last week as well).

I'm going to spend the week getting my ducks in a row with the schools' requirements and deadlines, plus the same for the state schools we're interested in. I also need to make a decision whether we're going to do the Wandsworth Test (we're out of borough) and have a punt at Graveney or not. The fact that it's later than normal is actually putting me off as it complicates things more I feel.

Hello - I also have a Year 5 DD in state school and will be looking at WHS, SPGS, G&L, PHS so appreciate the support thread and any guidance to get us through to the other side without too much stress.

We don't have a tutor, but have been working through bond books and DD is pretty good at getting stuck into the reasoning and the English. I'm hoping to identify the gaps in Maths and work on them myself.

I've only been through this process with a DS so far and he was difficult to motivate, but really needed 30 mins each day of the summer to get things cranked up. The Wandsworth Test was a really useful way of gauging where they were at and giving them some experience of exam conditions, so I too am disappointed that has been postponed.

I thought the virtual open days for PHS and WHS last week were really good. We're booked in for an open day at G&L in September which might also be virtual. Given the current situation, we are all a bit tired here so I don't think we'll be starting on any proper prep until mid-August at the earliest.

I agree we will have to keep ourselves updated on any changes to the process this year so as not to be caught unawares. Good to be with others in the same boat...

Just to add an update, but we are looking at KGS and they have announced that they are dropping the VR/NVR for this year and going with an English and maths paper only

Hi, if I can be if any help here, I’ll try my best! I don’t have one going through 11 plus this year, but have had 4 go through the process in SW London. Recent experience of applications to SPGS, LU, G&L, PHS, FHSS. No experience of WHS or any of the SE London schools, I’m afraid. Less recent experience of applications to KGS and Ibstock.

All I would say, at this stage, is there’s not much you can do for the new Consortium exam as it’s multi-choice yes, but nothing like the VR papers in the Bond books, etc. By all means, do a few of those, but no need to be going crazy. The Consortium test is more like the CAT tests they did in school which assess “underlying ability,” not “learned ability,” so more like an IQ style test than anything you can improve on, as such.

The initial tests for SPGS is very similar, but it’s in a computer and I think it’s an adaptive test.

Lots of schools don’t do NVR / VR anymore, so do check the formats of the particular schools your DCs are going for!

@Oceane11plus watching this post with interest as we live in SW London and are applying to state and indie schools. I started a thread a few months back but appreciate with summer approaching , prepping and shortlisting the shortlist is becoming an actual thing.

We looked at JAGS and SCHS last year. Over the last few weeks/months, of GDST schools, we've seen Wimbledon and Sydenham. As others have said, Wimbledon have taken into account the impact of Covid and have given more time by moving the assessment date. Others haven't followed suit yet but I'm keeping my ear to the ground.

I'm torn with summer prep - the last four months have been trying. Good days and not so good days in terms of my DD's motivation. She is at a state school with limited resources so I'm conscious the once a day Twitter activity posts coupled with my (I assume) jarring attempts to step in as teacher whilst working from home hasn't been the best.

With her tutor's support, I plan to identify the gaps we need to plug and will see how she goes with 10 mins of some general practice and a test paper once a week. we do however plan to have a proper staycation during the hols - we need it!

mdh2020 you are right that a tutor is very valuable in teaching exam technique. My DD’s primary is very relaxed and she’s not sat an assessment since Christmas. Some of the schools - Putney for example - state they won’t go above the y6 curriculum but I think others might and a tutors knowledge here is very useful.

I can’t think of any girls schools I’ve looked at that do NVR.. Alleyn’s do spacial reasoning which we’ve not looked at yet!

stella DD went back for 2 weeks but the focus was very much on social/pastoral things. The only other change I’m aware of is the Wandsworth test has moved from Sept to early Dec which is a bit frustrating as it would’ve given a sense of how DD responded to timed/exam conditions and where her VR is at!

oceane I’ve visited PHS several times as my friend’s daughter went there and loved it. I really like the head and found it busy and buzzy. The site is quite crammed (like WHS) and I’m not sure if their building work has been delayed by Co-vid.

PHS and WHS would be train rides for us so I’m still dithering on whether we’d apply!

We have been given a huge folder to work through over the summer holidays. Lots of maths papers and English comprehensive and VR/NVR. From September when we go back they only do homework in the core subjects and it’s really all about exam prep. The school were very good over lockdown and managed to get all year 5 back on half days for 4 weeks

I think this can probably become the support thread!

Has anyone's DD been back at school at all? DD was fine with the home learning initially, but just sitting at home working on her own with little to no academic interaction has really taken it's toll and I'm loathe to push her too much over the summer as I don't think it'll be that beneficial. As I said above, I think we'll keep it pretty low-key over the summer and then start really focusing in September.

Has anyone heard anything else about the usual arrangements being changed?

I don’t live in your area but have been through this with our children and grandchildren. If your child is at a prep that specifically prepares them for 11+ you are lucky. Otherwise, your child needs a tutor and the sooner, the better. They won’t be used to sitting exams and probably won’t have even seen some of the Maths questions. They probably won’t have been taught to time their work. To give them a fair chance , you need to employ a tutor

Last year there was a very useful SW girls indies thread that I lurked on.. there’ll be a lot of useful Current info around the schools you mention there. (Pre-Covid and head changes)

If you guys want to start a support thread for this years process then I’d love to join you as I’m in a similar situation - DD headed into y6 of state.

I know WHS has combined its pre-test with its main exam in Jan, I’m wondering if Jags will also. S&C and Emmanuel have historically interviewed in the fall.. these may also get pushed back.. therefore I’m probably going to let DD have a more restful summer than initially anticipated as it’s going to be a hard slog till Jan.

The most full on schools (think Kew College in west London for example) will make you apply to six schools and expect full on work through the summer. They get good results though. Average number of offer varies between 3 and 4 depending on the year. But just you know what you are up against. In the long term, I am convinced it is not the best for the child, but cramming through the summer does help you with results at this particular point in time.

Last summer our london prep gave a rather large folder of work for the summer hols.State schools won't understandably....but I'm very surprised a prep school hasn't.
We had something every day ,each week apart from a couple of weeks off. It seemed alot, but it worked ;-)
Good luck!

Waves - we are. We looked at the main schools we were interested in last year thank goodness and took DD as well, which as I can't see open days happening in the same way this autumn is a bit of a relief. We're slightly more SW/ SE London but I'm going to tag onto this thread as a few of the schools do overlap. We're looking at JAGs, Streatham & Clapham and possibly Alleyns.

DD is currently at a state school and has basically been teaching herself with little/ no active teaching from her school so we're all a bit stressed by the whole experience to be honest and I need to contact the admissions departments of the schools to find out if the massive disparity in teaching is going to be taken into account for the exams or not. Plans for the summer are to have a week off, then look through past papers/ exam requirements and target any gaps, especially in maths. Bond 10 min practice for VR/ NVR (although I don't think these are major parts for any of the schools we're going for). And reading of course.