SW London boys, 11+ grammars and independents

@lookhappy - yes I think that’s right. We won’t find out about Tiffin until March.
Good luck to everyone!

Thnaks for setting up the thread, hoping to tag in here to. We are awaiting the first flush of indie interviews and Tiffin/KGS.

Think we only hear about Sutton and not Tiffin eligibility, in Dec, is that right? (Think we only get news on Tiffin eligibility in March?)

@Sterou, here's hoping! (xx)

Separately, got a holding email from KGS earlier today, suggesting they will be letting people know about exam slots allocations on Monday, 7th.

@anonymous Thank you for the confirmation ! early Xmas present perhaps for all of us perhaps !??!

[quote Sterou]@GrammarHopeful - is that so ? We did not realise you get to find out before 1st March? ooohhh what about Tiffin ?[/quote]
Hi, @Sterou. You will only learn whether your DS is 'elegible' or not, without knowing the score and the position on the ranking list.

The allocation process the follows and you will only learn whether he's got a place on the 1st of March, correct.

@GrammarHopeful - is that so ? We did not realise you get to find out before 1st March? ooohhh what about Tiffin ?

For those awaiting Sutton Stage 2 results, I understand they should be made available to us on the 16th.

Yes exactly - I don’t think they need to know.

All the kids.." really means "all the mums"!

If a child is stressed, nervous, obsessed etc it comes from the the parent, At least initially

@Sterou I don’t think we’ve ever told either DS their CAT scores - I’ve always just told them to try their best. I just found that especially at prep schools but all kids especially in London really are a bit to obsessed with schools and league tables and I’m just not keen on that at all.

@montlieu is this for a banding test.
I think the idea is not to practice for a CAT test - I know a lot of state schools do them fro banding. If you look at the GL assessment website there is more info on it. If you do want to practice of some sort Atom might be a good place.

Hi all,
could someone point me in the direction of online mocks for CAT ?
DC has to sit an online cat exam soon and would like to practice or get at least familiarisation.
we have been told it has numerical, VR and NVR questions. no specific mention of spatial or quant but it might just be wording
thank you.

@JustJuice187 >> CATS results are sent to Independent Secondary Schools to be reviewed alongside the ISEB results, for 11+ and 13+, and yes they certainly make a big deal out of them. My DS loves knowing his scores and how he fairs against others, so that was a good mean to find out ( national grid). Not knowing his ISEB results nor how the Tiffin/Sutton score their papers is driving him nuts !! I am sure Christmas will take the edge off :-)

DS 2 did have high CAT scores last time he did them in yr 4 and his old head really used to put a lot of weight on them but personally I don’t think they are that useful - just a gauge really.

@GrammarHopeful- yes that’s right - I mean Atom - sorry talking in short hand!
We haven’t really used atom for maths up to now. I have only subscribed to the ISEB bit of it. We did one mock about a month ago and one again the week after Tiffin stage 2 and saw a big jump in scores - just goes to show that the prep is really worth it. My experience from DS2 is that it also stands them in good stead for yr7 wherever that may be.
Atom and ISEB does get harder the more you get right - so your DS’ experience sounds right

@JustJuice187 I assume you mean Atom scores on ISEB pre-test sub-tests?

My DS regularly scored max marks / 9s on Atom maths after the initial learning phase, but he said some of the problems he got on the actual test towards the end were on par with Merchant Taylor's and Bancroft's maths papers, which are pretty tough.

I don't know his CAT scores (he is in a mainstream school), but he had his IQ tested in the past as part of his assessments, and he is 94-96th percentile.

I meant the top 1-2 who pass round 2 and get offered. They said that the boys this year came from 100 different schools

@Sterou - State schools don’t do CAT - I know about them as both my boys used to be at prep schools/ ISEB scores apparently don’t match CAT scores - apparently there’s a 10point difference 🤷🏽‍♀️

Thanks @Overthisyear - DS 2 has a 10plus offer from Hampton - we are sitting ISEB in order to apply for scholarship there.
Interestingly I found a massive jump on his ISEB scores after Tiffin round 2 - certainly with Maths

As regards to ISEB, no idea what my DS produced on the day but he has very strong CATs tests 2 years running so hope this helps. I take it that ISEB scores won’t be shared either ?!

Are state schools also conducting CATs? This is so confusing

JustJuice187. You never know, sounds as if you both know what you're doing! Hampton you need to be very strong on maths. And don't worry, I don't know of anyone who didn't get a place at any of the schools they applied to. It's very competitive but most apply for up to 5-6 schools, so there are enough to go round.

@Overthisyear thank you that’s really helpful! I think a lot of weight is placed on VR at T as well.
Interesting to hear re Tiffin offers - realistically I’m thinking ours will be a WL offer - the other two boys who are super bright in his class both seem to prefer Wilsons.
Hampton - good to know re scholarships - we are mainly applying for sports - but he’s scoring pretty highly in ISEB practice so who knows!

Oh, goody! I'm happy to help too (gives me a welcome break from work which is full-on but tiresome)

Sat Tiffin, Hampton. Kings and KGS. KGS notoriously tricksy and, as a previous poster has said, can throw weird results. Know many boys not getting offers there, but got offers elsewhere BUT this year will be different as they will not be having the VR paper which (anecdotally) is usually the determinator. Kids before had needed to be very advanced with vocabulary etc., as well as fast!

Liked all the schools for different reasons, but chose Tiffin in the end and is enjoying it so far. Someone asked below, I think, but normally top 1-2 boys in primary class (who sit) to get offers in the 1st round (not sure about waiting list as wouldn't have necessarily heard of boys who had been offered on the WL as they would have accepted private by then).

Don't count on more than 10-20% at Hampton for scholarship unless bursary or exceptional (or coming from their feeder schools so are desperate to keep)