SW London boys, 11+ grammars and independents

No news from KGS... I hope it's not delayed!

Has anyone heard from KGS?

Just to say I asked Mumsnet to delete a couple of my messages in case they’re identifying!

Hampton interview over - it was intense. DS nervous-ish but recovered well. Don’t want to frighten anyone ( so please don’t read on) but I thought it was hard - English picture/passage to read and comprehension. They prob and push and being time bound, DS felt the pressure. Maths was a series of questions, my DS was very quick but did get a couple wrong, but there were in excess of 10 for sure. I found my son’s responses ( listening from behind the door) fascinating but he was defo not his chatty comfortable self. I’d like to thank those who shared their experience on this thread because this has helped me and eventually the DS, on the format and type of questions expected. Bring on the state and indies results guys! Best of luck for those still going through the motions.

@NoToMisogyny 5 mins is better an opportunity than none, it does astounds me how much can be achieved. Good luck your DS! 2x 15 min sessions is a huge ask for the boys. Interview is not the same as a zoom chat with mates or I pressured with online school.

DS tried his best but was clearly upset by the process. After each question I felt I heard the countdown clock ⏰

@EnolanotAlone I think a good point. It was positive of them to try and address - though I get it might not be fully equalising - makes me think better of them for even trying. It would be easy to just say it is fine and we will take it into account.

@NoToMisogyny you might have a very different view!

Thank you @GrammarHopeful- I’m trying to go into ‘what will be will be’ mode now! Must admit I read the firms’ thread too - I find all of it fascinating!

That’s interesting @Jumpalicious, we only have the 8 minute St George’s interview to compare with at this point! I did wonder about the maths questions but I guess they want to see how logically they think under pressure? Again 😂

@NoToMisogyny sorry about DS’s interview, that is dreadful - your poor DS.. 1 min is a glitch .. 7mins is horrendous for a 10/11 yr old to endure. I am pleased Hampton called to help mend the equality of the interview process.

@NoToMisogyny, sorry your DS's interview with Hampton had not gone as planned. It's clear they are interviewing a lot of boys, as of course they are very popular, and it's inevitable technical glitches and overlaps between sessions will happen. I am sure they will take that into account in deciding who to make the offers to.

And yes, for some reason, girls' one is more active that boys', and I have posted there on occasion too now, as sometimes you need just get things off your chest, as this process is way too stressful!

@EshSchools, yes, looking forward to learning whether DS will be invited to an interview. It'll be the last one for us, so can't wait to get done with it all!

@NoToMisogyny I agree the girls thread a hive of activity. The boys schools have not enabled the process dragging out the interviews and sports assessments pulled. Nor would I believe, marshmallows and pasta survive for the purposes intended for the interview.

I think it’s interesting how much more active the girls’ thread is!

I don't think that's very surprising-MN is much more middle-class and affluent than most of the population. Also in part it's self-perpetuating: these threads are lively so people post on them even if they're not in SW London or they don't currently have DC going through the process.

While we twiddle our fingers for news from various schools - does anyone else think it is odd how popular/active the SW boys and girls threads are here on Mumsnet? Wonder why that is.

Is anyone else refreshing emails to check for the KGS interview?

Thank you - it was incredibly off putting. It would have turned my head inside out if it were me! They’ve just phoned and asked for DS to do another 5 mins with the maths teacher because there were problems with ‘screen sharing’ (don’t know what that means in this context!).

After that, that’s pretty much it. Just waiting to hear from KGS today but for some reason I have a bad feeling about that. We were in the first batch of those doing the tests and the tech issues were incredibly stressful!

@NoToMisogyny glad it is done, and tbh you never really know do you.

The wait is an odd thing to do to anyone in an interview - it would be off putting for an adult never mind a 10/11 year old.

Is that it now? Or more left?

Thanks @Growupsofast. Not too long a wait then!

Really impressed how many of the DS’s here have done so well at securing interviews etc for the schools they are interested in. Gives me hope for our own journey this year.

Good luck to all of you waiting to hear. Fingers crossed for you x

flyingpandas Unfortunately St Paul’s is likely to linger on for months for some people. We’ve been told we have an interview but not given a date. Could be any time between now and June!

We're finally done! Not sure DS's last interview went very well. It sounds like the intended icebreaker questions didn't really work for him (e.g. he doesn't have any siblings) and he didn't really get into his full chatty self until time was almost up.

I guess all we can do now is wait for the post/emails from the various admissions offices. In the meantime, DS wants to celebrate finishing by putting his NVR revision book through the shredder!

Good luck for KCS, @Growupsofast, hope all goes well!

All ok this end, DS is finished as we only applied to 2 indies, so trying not to obsess too much. What will be will be etc etc. (Although I will admit to lurking on the girls’ thread as there are some very interesting posts on there about atom, ISEB, interview to offer radios and so on...)

Good luck to anyone whose DS still has interviews to come. I’m presuming by the end of January everyone should be done?

How is everyone holding up? It feels like for us the home straight is approaching for us.

We have KCS interview coming up this Friday, we have no idea what to expect! Anyone know what kind of thing Kings are going to throw at us in the English section?

Looking forward to some clear months without the schools process always sitting in the back of our minds.

@SophieDahling: can't contribute, I am afraid, as DS didn't get KCS interview, but our experience of Hampton is up the thread, if you haven't seen it. Sounds like a very solid set of schools there, well done to your DS!

@Banners75, not on our list, I am afraid. Re your co-ed comment, have you considered any of Latymer Upper, Ibstock Place and Emanuel, which should all be reachable from Barnes?