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

@HappyNY - email states 15 minutes & as no-one has sat one this year anyone's comment on content can only be speculation

Hi all, does anyone know how long the PHS interview will last (eg 15 mins) and what their interview approach might be?

I do think the decision to defer the Sports Scholarship at JAGS will be a big factor for many parents. We aren't sporty, but I can imagine if you were, that an offer in hand with a sports scholarship will appeal more than an offer where you won't know for another year. It's also a significant amount of money if memory serves me correctly.

I can see why they are doing it - this year, the DC who look better on paper will have a better shot at the co-curricular scholarships. It's always better to assess them live to do it properly.

Hope everyone is having a relaxing weekend and that all goes well with those doing assessments next week. The sun coming out has certainly helped here. That and a ceremonial gathering of 11+ materials to be burned or passed on to poor unfortunates who have this all to come next year.

With respect, I beg you to consider what we are talking about in terms of ‘advantage.’ Independent primary schools tend to be well-resourced with specialist staff for various subjects, which allows for greater expertise in teaching particular subjects and enable form or core subject teachers to have enough time to tailor the lessons to the needs of their Individual pupils. Even in state schools largely populated by the children of middle-class parents, teachers may have 30 (and sometimes, illegally, more) pupils in their classes and I more than 2 hours of prep time per week within school hours, while they run homework clubs and attend meetings after school, and buy their own glue sticks on the way home. Private school children are at an advantage in entrance exams regardless of the timing, because they tend to have smaller classes, a wider range of extra-curricular or specialist activities taught by actual specialists (violin, foreign languages, orchestra etc.) They are more likely to have a quiet place & the appropriate resources with which to study at home, and more likely to have parents who motivate them to learn.

Absolutely. You may not be able to make a silk purse from a sow’s ear, but you can definitely train and teach children ‘how to do’ VR and non-VR, and prepare them for the tests, both by familiarising them with the question types and teaching them how to take a paper test, a computer test, etc. I expect you can probably train to get better marks in many IQ tests as well. The idea of a tutor-proof or school-preparation-proof test is nonsense.

@NoToMisogyny thanks!

@WarmAndco3y thanks. Got it. It was in my junk mail. What a shame though it does make sense as was wondering how they would conduct them via zoom.

@Brot64 it came at 16:40, from Mrs Kiezun
It was specifically for sports, I assume the other scholarship assessments will go on as per email, a few days ago.
Check your Spam/junk in box.

Erm sorry just re-read your post and it says this evening. No email here yet.

@WarmAndco3y when did you receive the email from Jags? I haven't received anything and was really banking on the sports and music scholarships or either. Last email I got was a few days ago saying they would be in touch re: scholarships and academic scholarship assessment/interviews or something like that.

Here you go @Thisonesfortheroad www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/4093125-SW-London-boys-11-grammars-and-independents

There is usually a whitgift/ Trinity/Dulwich one and usually includes other fairly local schools

Anyone know if there is an equivalent group chat like this for boys?

@MumsRule20 I agree with a lot of your points, unfortunately, I think the high scorers will also tend to have very solid references and reports to back up their scores.. and because they find the academics easy (easier?) they take on sports/music/drama commitments and tend to do well in those too.. their aptitude and resilience can be very annoying to their peer group which is where DD has struggled with friendships as she can sometimes be overwhelming.

I’m wondering if the uncertainty this year has raised the bar higher as schools fret about take up and over offering. Therefore girls aren’t getting interviews that would usually. I wonder if there is some kind of reserves list if they don’t fill all their spaces, I’m pretty certain there will be more occasional spots arising in Y7 as there is so much guess work happening.

My turn to waffle.. time for wine and curry!

Glad to read about good news, with interviews and Emmanuel exam today.
Hopefully for those who felt DDs’ interviews didn’t go well, I imagine the interviewees will consider this to be an exceptional year, not everyone comes across okay on zoom etc
It’s not over until it’s over, lots of stories from the past where people have thought interviews didn’t go well and ended up being fine.
I feel in a bit of a limbo. Email came from JAGS this evening, they’ve postponed their sports scholarship assessment until January 2022. And will backdate any adjustments fees as necessary.
That could be the basis of acceptance for some people, and will now not be an option if done later.
I do understand why they’ve done it though.
So now we wait until 11th of February to know if DD has a place. I was hoping an invitation to the assessment will give me an early insight into the likelihood of her getting a place.
Wishing everyone all the best as we wait in this looong & drawn out process

Our PHS timing email arrived at 5pm and we are a middle of the day slot which is nice. All the rest are first sodding thing. DD takes a while to come round in the mornings
@Oceane11Plus - lovely to see you back!

@Flossietea it landed at 15.23! Have you checked your junk mail? It’s first thing so perhaps you are later in the day and they decided to mess with some different minds after leaving me hanging till nearly 20.00 for the invite! 😁😁😁

Thanks @MumsRule20 for starting a new thread. So sorry to have disappeared and not given any news but I have been snowed under with work due to an unexpected project. With the logistics of having all the kids at home, all the meals to think about and prepare, the timing could not be worse. At least there is a silver lining, it has allowed me to detach myself from this 11+ saga and time is flying!

I didn't listen to DD's interview this am as she didn't want me to which suited me anyway. I also didn't listen to her JAGS interview. She was happy when she came out (same as after the JAGS' one) however I have NO idea if it went well. she could well have miss-judged her performance in both occasions and totally bombed her interviews, like what some of you have described. That's why I'm not particularly keen to listen to her interviews, it would stress me more than anything else and I can't face it. You are all much braver than me She would also be less natural if she knew I was listening. As I probably wrote before, she is not super eloquent but at least I'm confident she is polite and reasonably chatty. She also did some prep with DH (including commenting on images as I knew it would come up from past experience).

I'm glad so many of you have had good news. Well done to all these clever DDs (and their mums!).
Very sorry for those with less positive news - we know a few very clever girls who did not get any interviews but would have most likely been offered a place in a normal year with a normal exam. I have the feeling ISEB schools will make offers to the same girls and some of them might struggle to fill in their spaces in the end so don't lose hope! It also shows some of these schools don't care about references and other circumstances and just care about the exam mark which is disappointing of them. At least JAGS had the writing task and interviewed everyone so they will be able to form a better view about each candidate and still make offers to borderline DDs in the ISEB if the rest (including references) is strong.

@Stircrazyschoolmum when did you get your PHS interview time? I haven’t got one yet.

Ooh, just realised I’ve had timings through for both WHS and PHS.. both mornings, which will suit DD as she likes things over and done with and no marshmallows required!! 😁

@Shrine if you are at a prep then you need to talk to your head - they are best placed to advise you

@MumsRule20 and @GrammarHopeful our Emanuel papers went okayish I guess, although I fear we might be disqualified for running a minute or so over on them. (And I mean literally, a minute) as it wasn’t obvious at the start to time from question 1 rather than clicking the link so I had to guesstimate the time of the maths, and then on the English DD had an absolute hissy fit about finishing her sentence whilst I danced around her shouting ‘hit the flippin submit button QUICKLY!’ Oh well, we’d prefer all girls so it’s not a biggie.. just so local.. but then perhaps a little journey gives them more independence?

@shrine sorry to hear about your no’s it’s such a weird year. And there was pasta as well as marshmallows?!? Sounds like a v bizarre interview!

I think WHS are doing their interviews over Thursday/Friday? So possibly if someone had a clash on the opposite dayit might be possible to swap?

@dazedandconfused11plus - just seen your link at the top of the new page.....thank you soooooo much

@patopato, Congratulations to your daughter on making it so far and thank you for your post. Our hopes now rest on pasta and marshmallows at the moment but it was a no from GL, WHS, LU and PHS which were in the realm of aspirational and do-able. She did all right on the ISEB but I guess not well enough to be asked back though we were told by one of these schools that in a ‘normal’ year, she might have received an interview. I was hoping that this being an odd and experimental year, that the schools would err on the side of getting to know more children. Anyway, just praying now, this is the first time we are going through this process. Thank you if you are able to find that link.