Upcoming girls’ independent SW London schools 11+ exams

@Stircrazyschoolmum thanks so much for letting me know. OMG 😳 what a nightmare. How awful for those. So did they not do the maths? And how much longer did it take for the English and VR. No invigilator too! Totally flummoxed. Doesn’t bode well. Such a long test to run smooth for a late switch to online. What are your thoughts?

@Corblimbea , having been through this with a ds and dd over the past few years I would say until you have the offer letters in front of you it's hard to make a decision but then often it's a gut decision that you all agree on. My dd got into her "stretch" school and we never thought she would get a straight offer (not Waiting list) so the feeling of joy was overwhelming.
When you have lots of offers if often comes down to journey times, cost of school coach and sports, ie no hockey at LEH, no rugby at KGS, no swimming at SHS etc.

So this might be a controversial question, but here goes....To what extent with the school your DD ends up in be based on her choice, versus your choice? I’m talking about those who will luckily hold more than one offer. I’m asking because DD has her heart set on a school, but mainly due to facilities, where her friends have said they want to go etc. in the end I’m thinking it will be my choice (single parent) and I just hope we agree. Girls seem to make choices based on superficial things - where their friends are going I’d think is the main one, but we all know you make new friends quickly at secondary school. Just after done opinions really as I think i will know what’s best for her, but wondered how much ‘say’ you will give DD. For example, the school Dd loved is not one of the ‘top’ schools. If she got an offer at one of those, I think we might disagree!

@Blessex that’s really good to hear. PHS is one of our favourites and I’ll be so sad if we don’t get to interview.

@MumsRule20 I think you are the only one on this thread that it impacts but apparently Emanuel have completely messed up the exam today.. the maths crashed and they were given an extension to 15.00 to do the English and VR without an invigilator!

DD went to PHS. She is also quite an introverted girl @PatoPato I saw you mention this up thread. I was also super nervous PHS would be full of lots of confident extroverts. She absolutely loves it. Couldn’t be happier. She has found a lovely group
of quieter friends. Good luck all. It is horribly stressful but it tends to settle and work out in the end

Thank you for your support @Blessex where did your DD end up and how is she finding it?

Oooo best of luck to all of you. We went through all this 2 years ago (DD) and 3 years ago (DS). This year looks even more stressful with this awful virus. Virtual hugs to all the kids.

the dreaded exploding offers
I'm wondering if those might feature this year or whether the wait lists will come into play much more heavily than before

@Stircrazyschoolmum I just remembered that year City made press - if I recall correctly was something like offer holders not accepting quickly enough and was in their T&C due to oversubscription. Something as such.

How did you get on with CLSG today @Pantomine? Hope you had some good news

Sorry, I namechanged and didn't change back to post on this thread! Sadly DD missed out on CLSG, but I'm not too despondent; she didn't think it had gone well, and in one way it's nice to know that she's able to assess her own performance. She was much more positive about the ISEB and got the interview at LU.

@ProfessorRadcliffeEmerson just realised you may have changed your username? Are you now @DrRamsesEmerson?? In which case it all clicks with your earlier post under latter username ties up with former! In which case sorry, ignore last msg

@ProfessorRadcliffeEmerson Been thinking of you today. Did DD make it through first round for interview / next stage at CLSG? I know you said she didn’t feel she did so well in the first test...so have had fingers crossed.

I feel for all of us on this site - all these chops and changes is so unsettling for the girls. One of my DDs schools cancelled their exam at the start of the week and have now replaced it with a 30 minute writing exercise....so all practice that DD has done with comprehensions and maths papers will not be shown which is heartbreaking, especially as math is her strength. They have told us that they will take into consideration all the reports from our schools but DD is at a state school and I am not sure how much information they will provide to support her. To make matter worse I think the piece of writing (invigilates remotely) is supposed to be done on a computer so typed up - I have no idea if DD can type properly beyond the abbreviations she uses on her chats with friends!! I am not sure a pre test should be the time to test a 10 year olds typing ability? Have any other schools required DCs to type (stories as opposed to one word or multiple choice answers)? Not sure whether to laugh or cry!!!

@Iateallthesmarties894 (I'm eating the kids' Christmas tube of smarties as I type!) I echo exactly what has been said already - there is no way the interviewers would have picked up on the mix up. They would have simply been looking out for and heard genuine passion - you can't fake that.
I'm very nervous about interviews now we are reaching that stage and mentioned this to someone who recounted a conversation they'd had with the headmaster of a selective secondary who'd said all 11+ interviews go badly and there is no such thing as a successful interview at that age. They are not expected to behave and answer like grown ups and it is a little bit telling (not in a positive way) if they do.
I found this immensely reassuring to hear

@warmandco3y thank-you! She was definitely enthusiastic so I hope that will go in her favour. They are still so young so it seems quite cruel to put them through all this stress.

@Iateallthesmarties894
Big hugs you your DD, I was just thinking the same, I doubt the interviewers know the details of every single book. I suspect they are looking at more how she comes across, her passion and ability to articulate herself properly. From your post, it seems like she has that covered. Wishing her the best. Lots of TLC for her today, I think

@mumsrule20 thank-you for your kind words. This process is really putting us all through the mill!

@Iateallthesmarties894 sorry to hear she is so upset. I doubt very much the interviewer will know which book is which in the series and so long as she reeled it off in good fashion, that is what counts. If she is a bookwork as you say, then am certain she enthused her recollection of plot and characters, what she enjoyed, general conviction and love of reading and is what will earn her kudos and what they are looking for. Don’t worry at all! Sounds like she did a great job!

@Stircrazyschoolmum most of the schools over offer and said so in virtual open days.
They have to bearing in mine many don’t accept places. I remember Highgate talking about why and how they do this.

However from what I recall City got some bad press when they adopted the system a few years ago and from what I understand - it was - in fair recognition to them, because they hadn’t anticipated so many would accept their places that year. I don’t think it was recognised this was the standard system for many of the 11+ selective schools.

DD is now bereft as she thinks she messed up the interview to one of her first choice schools - she’s in floods of tears. Apparently the “details” she gave about a book she was talking about were wrong and from another book in the series....I was listening at the door and she seemed to know what she was talking about but she has just told me she was winging it as she couldn’t quite remember as it’s been over a year since she had read the first book in the series....she had told the interviewer that it was her favourite book in the series which was true but it was also the one she remembered the least about. Feel so bad for her as she’s a real bookworm and reads so many books - why of why did she choose to talk about one she barely remembers!! Oh the stress of this process is really getting to me...I feel like crying too...

@MumsRule20 E is next Friday for us.. I’m hoping they iron out any tech teething problems with the first cohort!

General question.. was CIty one of the schools that used to have exploding offers? (How to add more stress to an already stressful process!!)

@Mumsrule20
Well done to you too. I am not looking forward to the next assessment either; English is her weakness so I am looking at their past papers now to work on those.

@Stircrazyschool mum
Thank you. There is an assessment on the 19th, followed by an interview on the 21st or 22nd. Homeschooling will definitely allow more time to work on the assessment. DD doesn't get too much work and is strong in Maths so will focus on English.

@Brot64
Well done, that's great news.

@stellagibbons
Thank you