Part 2: SW London Girl's Indies 11+ Pandemic Panic!

@yellowspanner thank you so much. It’s really useful to get firsthand perspectives.

Stircrazy,
DD was offered places at 5 schools including Jags and Wellington. We all choose Alleyn's for several reasons.
It gave a warm, welcoming and friendly feeling at the open day....which we were able to attend. I feel so sorry for you all, not only can you not visit the schools but the selection process seems chaotic in some cases and just difficult in others.
The co curricular offering is amazing. They have hour and half for lunch and lots of clubs.
DD is sporty and they have an amazing site with lots of pitches.
I asked her yesterday what she liked about Alleyn's and she said that other schools taught you what to think whereas Alleyn's teaches us how to think.
She loves it there.
She was at a non selective prep.
We almost went for WHS because of Jane Lunnon but decided Alleyn's was a better fit only to find she had been appointed as new head. She started in January and introduced herself to parents on line. She sounds great.
During lockdown DD has on line lessons 8.30 til about 3.30. But the teachers seem nice.
My friends DS has applied to Emanuel and they are demented.
If anyone has an Alleyn's interview and wants to PM me I can tell you what she was asked. But of course it may have changed.

Does anyone know when the LEH offer letters go out? GHS want us to get back to them by the 12th February to help them sort out the waitlist although in reality I think they will hold it until 1st March. We want to make a prompt decision but also want to have all the information...the website says mid February?

@Abetes I was too frazzled to say thank you yesterday for your kind and supportive comments around the 11+ process. I wish I could say I’d lost a stone but unfortunately my waistline has gone in the opposite direction.. this is what biscuits were invented for right?!

@PatoPato and @dazedandconfused11plus I’m glad your daughters had positive experiences, our interviewer was also ‘kind’ which does make an impression. @JavaTeak for you to get mixed up with someone else twice is very disconcerting!

@yellowspanner it sounds like you had a very positive 11 plus experience last year. Was there something particular that drew you to Alleyns? How is your DD finding it and what do you make of Jane Lunnon? She seems a bit nervous in her heads video.. perhaps understandably as she is filling big shoes!!

@GrammarHopeful we are not applying to any grammars due to distance so the only comparison I can offer is Graveney. It’s size and leadership team seem to put some people off and (whilst much better this time) they’ve not been as technically agile swapping to online learning.

[quote Trialsat11]@grammarhopeful we haven't yet started looking into the mechanics of a superselective state v/s selective independent but some points to consider would be lockdown provision , turnover of teachers (have heard it being high in the Sutton grammar schools) , funding available to grammar schools with the government spending this year and for us the opportunity or the time available for co-curricular activity is also important ![/quote]
@Trialsat11, would you mind elaborating on your comment regarding high turnover of teachers at the Sutton grammars? Which ones in particular and where is this information from? Thank you in advance.

Just updating to say that it seems the admissions teams are starting to fray around the edges... today is the second time a "top" West London school has erroneously emailed us about an interview. The first was a school we did not apply to, saying 'thanks so much for getting in touch to reschedule interview and here is your new time'??? And second one, this evening, was an 'apologies for the technical glitches but so lovely to have interviewed your daughter today.' (She was not invited to interview!) Both times we politely clarified our position and both times schools replied to apologise for error.

I completely get administrative mistakes. It's just that it doesn't exactly bolster confidence in the system, to be honest. Seems pretty messy.

Anyway!! Congrats to those who have offers in hand-- and speaking from experience with two other DC, the children do tend to land at schools which suit them! As earlier poster and also a friend of mine with older uni aged DC mentioned recently, they all wind up in very similar universities and courses in general years later. Deep breaths!

We used Mentor tutors for our DD and she got 5 offers last year and is in Alleyn's. They were brilliant. I have started following them on twitter and they've just posted some of the interview questions.
I'm sure there are other tutors but they are who we used.

Hello there, would someone be able to recommend a tutor for my Y5 daughter? We are looking at Sutton grammars and possibly Dulwich school. Sorry Mumsnet if that's not allowed! Best of luck for everyone still doing exams and interviews.

@grammarhopeful we haven't yet started looking into the mechanics of a superselective state v/s selective independent but some points to consider would be lockdown provision , turnover of teachers (have heard it being high in the Sutton grammar schools) , funding available to grammar schools with the government spending this year and for us the opportunity or the time available for co-curricular activity is also important !

Congratulations everyone who did Putney today. Funny as DD liked the Putney interview the most as said the teacher was the most "kind" Who knows though what they're all looking for though...

But not going to rehash it any more as we're done here, woohoo!!!

Well done to your DD @Yossahughes on the GHS offer - what wonderful news! You can really relax now, and maybe the other offer will roll in and you're have the luxury of a 'choice'!

Does anyone have interviews left to go? I believe it's Alleyn's, SPGS, KGS still?

@Abetes Thank you for your words of wisdom, especially as like you say they will all end up where they should be in the long haul. Sometimes it's hard to keep perspective but I'm sure one day DD and I will look back and laugh at the crazy journey with all its unexpected road bumps - nets, the back button, marshmallows, deciles, cabbage, Zoom invigilation, thick and thin envelopes...!

Also wanted to say hear hear @Stircrazyschoolmum to your earlier post about not sitting on waiting lists unnecessarily! It's possible that waiting lists may be longer than usual this year so freeing them up will cascade movement down for everyone - creating some much needed certainty for our DDs and also limiting the wasted deposits (especially when it's a whole term's school fees that's on the line by April!)

Another thing I think is overlooked is how offers in the state and private sectors are interlinked, as releasing offers and wait list places doesn't just free up other independent school offers but also those for state schools, especially grammars which in turn impact offers for comprehensives. So yes we should be kind on ourselves and all the DCs, this year of all years!

We do loads of dinner table chat (in November DD talked the ear off anyone willing to listen about the US election), but DD’s interview at Latymer Upper was pure academic stuff, so it didn’t make any difference! Maybe I should have put her in for PHS, but it’s a difficult journey from us.

@Tr0ubled you are in good company as @Stircrazyschoolmum, @WarmAndco3y and I were put on that naughty step on the last thread. For what it's worth there was NOTHING that gave anyone interviewing at PHS today an unfair advantage. I think MNHQ needs to understand that we are not stupid & are not going to put our own DC at a disadvantage! We are just being supportive (big eye roll emoji)

I'm struggling to keep up with everyone's news now (need a cheat sheet!) but congrats on all the good news. One more interview for us on Wednesday then in for the long wait

DD interviewed at PHS this morning. She was so nervous & started crying 30 seconds before I was due to click join meeting! It was awful - I couldn't comfort her or she'd have lost it in a puddle of tears so I had to be tough & told her very firmly to just stop then felt like a bitch for the next 15 minutes. Did the trick though - she had a super gentle interview which was 15 minutes of conversation and chatting. I wouldn't say she got anything in that showcased her particular interests or passions which was a shame and the teacher must have thought her current reading books had been chosen for discussion at interview (they hadn't) because she asked if DD read anything a little 'lighter'!
She had one topical discussion where she was asked her opinion on whether something specific (not wishing to get my post deleted ) was an effective policy for change - all said in language a 10 year old would understand. She wasn't very familiar with that policy being pretty unworldly whereas I expect many would be, certainly if they were tutored or prepped, but she did a pretty good counter argument as to why she didn't think it was that effective or fair (actually it is effective!) Did that discussion topic match anyone else's?

We don't do a lot of around the dinner table discussion in the Pato household but I can see why this is invaluable. My DC would be far more informed if we'd done more chat over the years. Regretful sigh

@Trialsat11 (hopping over from the boys' thread) It would be interesting / helpful to hear your (and others!) current thoughts on that old chestnut of super selective grammar vs. selective independent (without a bursary). Thinking that's a choice we'd be needing to make soon. Thanks :)

@Stircrazyschoolmum sorry about your experience but I'm sure they would take into account that your DD's interview was moved because of technical glitches .
Ur right about the 'counted' though ... It seemed there was a list and everyone was asked the same questions as DD's friend had pretty much the same queries . Felt very much like testing the resilience and I wouldn't worry about the perfect answers!
We have a clear favourite but waiting for the offers to come through (if they do ).
The conflict in our house might be only with Tiffin as it is a big decision to give up a non fee paying exceptional school .

@Tr0ubled you are on the naughty step!
@Yossahughes that’s fab news.. I’ve heard only good things.. interesting to hear we are not the only household where ‘discussions’ might take place. (Let’s face it, there’s not much else to talk about!)

Our PHS experience was a bit ragged.. we heard nothing until 11.30 then were told we would have an interview in the afternoon and would be sent a new link. I spent the next few hours hovering by the phone refreshing every 3 mins waiting for the link. Link finally arrived at 3.25 for interview at 3.40! DD promptly burst into tears as she’d spent all day overthinking what questions she might have and was pretty tired and stressed by the whole thing.

As a result I’m not sure she showed the best version of herself which is a shame as she’s decided it’s her favourite but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.. @Trialsat11 I agree the questions were on the tougher side and felt as if they ‘counted’.. argh!!

Yes - congrats to @warmandco3y too!

@stellagibbons - if we get one of our other top choices DH and I will also be in disagreement...this is when having a chance to look round again would have helped....

Congratulations @WarmAndco3y and @Yossahughes on the offers - that is good news!

@Stircrazyschoolmum - hopefully your DD has sat PHS by now, or you have an alternative date!

DH and I are currently not in agreement as to our preferred school.

@Trialsat11

Couldn’t agree more. Tough!

Congrats @yossahughes to you and your DD .
GHS is a lovely school - academic as well as sporty !

I thought today Putney was one of the tougher interviews compared to the previous ones and quite unlike the informal I thought it to b :-)

Hopefully Feb will bring in some good news !

I hope that Putney High School sorted out the technical difficulties today and that all you DDs went on to have a great interview....what a stressful time it has been!

On a bright note, DD got an offer from Guildford High School at the weekend which was an exam she sat back in November! It’s one of our top choices and she was absolutely thrilled to bits. She thought she had messed up the interview so we had almost written of off. I am so relieved and it will make the wait to hear about LEH and WHS much easier. Guildford used the CEM select test and there were girls in DDs class who didn’t make it through the ISEB first round for WHS but for offers from GHS so it goes to show how different tests can bring about different results. Perhaps another argument for why having ISEB for all schools might not be the beat idea?

Good luck to everyone and may all our DDs journeys end in success!

I have just returned from a (socially distanced) walk with a friend who commented that the only time that she has ever seen me stressed was when my dd was doing the 11+ and (maybe rather stupidly) my other dc was doing the 7+ in the same year. I spent most of January high on caffeine and lost abt a stone in weight - and that was a normal year so I can imagine that this year must be even more stressful.
My dd went to a completely non-selective prep and the children applied for the whole range of schools across South West and South East London. Some got multiple offers and scholarships, some received one offer from their least favoured school, and every scenario in between. But this is now 9 years ago. But all the children enjoyed the secondary school that they went to. They all made friends and enjoyed not only the academic side of school but also developed their existing co-curricular interests and found new ones. They are now at broadly the same universities/art courses/drama schools despite their different paths to get there and the parents that I am still in contact with all agree that all the schools that you are mentioning on this thread are so good that we would/should have been happy with any of them and each would have nurtured our children and enabled them to thrive.
Also a number of the dc also moved for sixth form. Not because they were unhappy with their current school but to do the IB instead of A levels, to go for the boarding option, to move from all-girls to mixed etc. One dc who was rejected by a couple of schools at 11+ went on to receive academic scholarship offers from the same schools at 16+. The 11+ process can be a bit of a lottery in a few cases.
Anyway, I just wanted to wish you all good luck and assure you that, whilst it might now seem like an extraordinarily difficult choice, your dc will all find their path whichever school they go to.

Sorry looks like that was me
Didn’t realise what I’d written offered any insight but apologise if it did as certainly wasn’t intended.

@Stircrazyschoolmum Putney definitely had some technical issues as we received a direct link from the interviewer after the mixup .
They will surely rearrange . We completed ours and have officially ended the 11+ all we can do from our end ! DD was beaming ear to ear while I mull over the results

@dinosaurinmybelly we are in limbo now.. someone from school eventually came on and asked us to all log out whilst they tried to fix it.. nearly 50 girls on the call by then!

I think they are trying to reschedule for later and have asked us to bear with them..

@WarmAndco3y that’s fab news and fits with what others have said that the ISEB didn’t suit all candidates. 11th feels like a way off!

@Tr0ubled I’m glad I’m not the only one.. you are right.. the whole thing is exhausting!