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

@PatoPato That's very annoying. The host should have asked them all to mute themselves or muted them all

I would call the school and flag it. There might be an instruction the invigilators can give that will change the settings and if not at least it’s recorded as a concern. x

SPGS - it's appalling. I may as well be in there with her unloading the dishwasher. I can't believe the noise coming out of her speakers whilst she tries to focus!

@PatoPato apologies, my tech knowledge is appalling.. I have to get DD to remove the ‘fake’ backgrounds and expand the screen for me!

Which exam is this? You’d think they’d all be done by now!

DD currently sitting an exam invigilated through Zoom with mics & video on. All I can hear from from the room next door is a cacophony of typing noises from 9 other kids' keyboards coming though the mics
Is there a setting in a group zoom where your mic is only linked to the host? It's very distracting - poor DD and all the others! I can't even go in to tell her turn her volume down

What are these information sessions for LEH? We have only received the invitation to the interview but no further information? Did this come in a separate e-Mail? Not sure what to expect at the LeH interview and how “academic” it will be...any intel from previous years?

Re the WHS assessment - until the weekend, I couldn't envisage how a team activity could work but IPS had sessions of 2 teachers hosting 12 children on Saturday making full use of screen share, the mute button, hands up, private chat and turn taking.

It worked quite well but I would say that if a question was asked of all the children, the child first up would inevitably leave the rest who'd come up with the same answer without anything new to contribute. Equally if the first child comes up with a clever answer it's easy for the subsequent children to say 'I was going to say that'.

I know the schools say they are looking for a mix but I really hope the quieter/reserved child that takes a more considered approach as opposed to the me me me types, of which there were many on Saturday, will not get overlooked on the remote format.

I wish all the Registrars would pile on and give us their insights. All the guesswork is driving me mad & I've just got too much time on my hands!

Yes ours is tomorrow, so maybe that’s why we got it yesterday. Although it sounded like a general email sent to everyone because we got a separate email today with the interview invitation on

@Trialsat11, Have you replied to LEH to confirm date and time of your DD's interview? I received the schedule last night as a reply to my email. I understood, you can attend any session of your choice either on 19, 20 or 21st Jan and there is no need to book.

@flossietea was your interview scheduled for 19th? It says on the postal letter that the details will be sent a day before the interview and Im wondering that ours might not be until 20th in that case.

No-one picks up at Admissions :-(

@Trialsat11 they sent an email yesterday with more info about the interviews and links to the information sessions

@dazedandconfused11plus we haven't got the dates for the LEH information sessions yet . When did they send out the mail ?

I fear you are correct about there being some who will be able to afford a deposit at a few schools while they mull it over Patopato

I’m trying to put all the dynamics out of my head for now and try to stay upbeat. Will let you know if I hear anything about WHS format stircrazymum

Not sure how the random grin appeared in my pp !!!!

@Stircrazyschoolmum - wow, I'm flabbergasted. I assumed that they'd have some kind of 2:1 interview:offer ratio like elsewhere
I agree that wait lists will move a lot but am worried that some might accept more than one place & only release a place (& forfeit the deposit) once they've been able to look round the schools physically. There are plenty who can afford to do that

I have had the same feedback from girls who gave PHS interviews last year that it is not academic at all . I doubt any of the interviews will be academic unless specifically stated as they would have picked the academic potential off ISEB/entrance test .
I presume it will be more scenario based and of a generic nature for which there would be no prep lest it come across as tutored

That is really encouraging stircrazyschoolmum. Thank you for sharing.

That’s supposed to read movement in the first week not year!!

A word of reassurance for the Putney Posse! I spoke to Laura and she reiterated its an informal interview. She also confirmed that EVERY candidate making it to interview would be offered a place or go on the waitlist. She said it was hard to quantify but there is always waitlist movement in the first year and that it was likely to be more so this year due to all the uncertainties. I hope this helps a bit.

If anyone knows how many girls will be in each group for WHS I’d be curious to know. I think it was 9 in previous years but that’s a lot to manage virtually.

@PatoPato yes the IPS workshop sounded good, but the English Mettl sounded harder work !!!!

thank you for feedback @dinosaurinmybelly that's what they say on the website.

@montlieu I've no idea and have stopped combing old threads to find out.
After Friday's disastrous interview I've decided to just let DD get on with it with no more pre-interview discussion other than a quick look at the specific school she's interviewing for that day.
I can now see (from bitter experience) that natural is better than any kind of coached approach, certainly with DD
A lot rests on the interviewers to get the best out of the child which is quite right given we are talking about 10/11 year olds who might be understandably nervous. IPS blew me out of the water with their Saturday workshop - so warm & fun (not what I was expecting). I didn't feel the same about Friday's experience though maybe that was down to the time constraints.

Hello montlieu we have been told by mums who applied to PHS in previous years that their interviews are normally very friendly, getting to know more about DC and what interests her. Of all of the schools, they are the least likely to throw in a curveball question apparently, however this isn't a normal year...

@PatoPato do you know if PHS interviews normally have an academic content ie in normal years ?

Cool. I could not find the email any longer - many thanks.