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

@shrine - here is the thread posted at exactly this time two years ago

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3483270-4-rejections-from-senior-schools-options

It may not reflect your experience but it does have some quite good advice on it. Stay strong, have a plan. If you don't have one start a similar thread because you will not be alone and others may have some good ideas

@Shrine - have you actually had rejections so far or are you just still waiting for news. Are the ones you are waiting on aspirational or achievable in your mix?
Sounds like it's not over yet but there was a great thread last year posted by someone who was very worried about the outcome as the process progressed. I'll see if I can find it

Ooh, I’ve got my fingers crossed for all of you. So tough this year.

@PatoPato Left field and quirky is very SPGS, so fingers crossed your dd gets an interview as it sounds like she’d do well in that one.

Oooo @GrammarHopeful I meant to come & find you to tell you that one of the said patient friends I referred to above wanted you to know that her son also told Hampton he'd been tutored at his 10+ interview and he was offered a place.

Our daughter who is at a London prep has not been invited back for any interviews as of yet. I wonder what we should do, is anyone else in the same boat?

@Mumsrule20 we did get WHS, but when I opened the email my eyes just fell on a line that started 'it's a pity we couldn't invite......' and it took me a minute to realise she was through.

We've got SPGS, G&L, PHS, WHS, FHSS, IPS & RH in play though maybe not G&L after this morning which along with SPGS is really ambitious for us, though I'm not confident of any of them other than RH who are not interviewing. DD is good on paper but thinks a bit differently from the norm.

When we do start to get the rejections I'm going to shield her from them somewhat by being breezy . She's not especially engaged in the process having never visited any of them & we've always said the right school will choose her & she trusts in that. Not sure I do though!

Going back to the topic of 'worst year ever' I think the process has been easier on her but much much tougher on me than in normal circumstances. She would have been far more nervous had I had to drop her off at all these schools for exams and interviews. It's cosier at home but also completely removed from the actual reality of what's at stake. However, all this time at home with nothing else to focus on means I'm completely obsessing over every last detail/possibility. Plus all the bloody tech management - arrggghh.

I'm not great company right now and some of my friends have been remarkably patient with me - it's terribly boring for anyone who's not going through it.

Oh, @PatoPato, this sounded along the lines of my DS's Hampton interview...

@MumRule20, DS did Emanuel's "not quite exam" today as well. We had a bit of a meltdown the night before re VR with shouting and crying (he wanted to refresh, as didn't have to do it for any others for a while), but today itself went well enough. He did appeal to me for one last maths and VR cheekily, but I stayed strong and timed it to the second on the dot.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/education/3481914-what-was-the-worst-11-interview-answer-your-dc-has-given

Re interviews, this might put you at ease!

No - but we are cutting it very fine between the LEH interview and her WHS sports interview...5 mins in between! 😱

Back from my run - brrrrr, v cold
Thank you for all of your stories of rubbish interviews that made me feel not so alone.
EITEL 'I still replay it in my mind and feel physically sick' - this will be me from now until end of Feb

Did anyone have a clash for LEH and WHS ? I know WHS cannot be rescheduled but was wondering if LEH would .

Congratulations to everyone who is hearing about interviews and good luck, and commiserations to those who aren't. I've been trying to keep off this thread a bit as we've got a wait now to hear anything, and I'm trying (and failing) not to think about it too much!

@Flossietea DH was telling me that his mother sat in his sister's interview for secondary school for some reason, and was horrified when she was asked what she really disliked and her answer was 'school' and when asked exactly what about school she didn't like answered 'the work'. She still got a place!

I wonder how many of the 1000 applicants for WHS made it through to the group assessment phase?...quite bizarre to think that some of our daughters might be in the same group! 🤪 DD also got an invitation to the Sport Scholarship assessment that’s just a 10 minute interview as opposed to an actual physical assessment so very odd....

DD's JAGS interview was terrible as well - she was monosyllabic, somehow ended up talking about sport even though she's not sporty at all as the interviewer latched onto something she said in passing and didn't expand on a single question.

Pretty much the only question she came even slightly alive and sounded confident in was the maths one, which is something I guess.

We've only applied to a couple of indies as we're not that set on DD going private and wanted to stay relatively local, which limited our choice somewhat. So JAGS was our only interview and, as it was quite early on in the whole process, I didn't really take it that seriously for some reason? Obviously I'm kicking myself now.

I do think it has been so hard for them this year - DD hasn't been able to do a couple of her activities for the best part of a year now, so has pretty much forgotten that she ever did them. It's really hard for them to talk with passion about much when they have barely left the house for months on end.

At my own 11+ interview (many moons ago) I told the interviewer I wanted to be an opera singer when I grew up. The nice lady asked if I sang a lot and I just said ‘no not really’ and elaborated no further.
My mum was beside herself when I told her but I still got in! So, I guess you never know what they’re looking for.

DD’s interview today went ok I think. I didn’t hear much because she demanded I left her alone but she seemed happy afterwards. Who knows if she’s what they’re looking for? We just have to wait for February!

Wrap up warm @PatoPato, it’s freezing out there! DD is beside herself there is snow forecast for the morning and she has no work to do!!

DD’s JAGS interview was very ropey, the tech kept freezing so she missed bits and became flustered. She described her picture using words including ‘thingy’ ‘whatssit’ and ‘pointy pits’. Plus she forgot to talk about any sports or drama achievements. The chap she had acted like he had never spoken to a 10 year old girl before.. sometimes I wonder if they expect far too much.

Individual with 2 teachers, 10 minutes - punchy, no pleasantries, no opportunity to ask questions. She blurted out how nervous she was immediately after saying Hi.
5 minutes on getting to know you - favourite subjects, hobbies etc. It was this she tanked on. Honestly it was appalling. It was an opportunity for her to tell then what kind of person she is and it was wasted.
Then 5 minutes reasoning over an image - she was much stronger & more comfortable on this but is also a very leftfield thinker so came at it from a very quirky angle before they got her back on track with redirecting her thinking & she kind of got there I guess though not very eloquently. I love the quirk aspect of her but it's not for every school, maybe not for any school

Think I'm going to have to go for a run

@PatoPato, DD's interview for LU was pretty catastrophic! Even without being able to see the screen I could tell she was getting everything wrong. I comforted myself with the thought that she was polite and she was talking- she didn't clam up - but really those were the only positives.

We’d literally just finished the Emanuel exam and the WHS invite came through! Quite a surprise as it’s a stretch for us.

@Gladtidings1 I’m sorry to hear that and hope you are not too disappointed.. not saying anything might be the kindest policy if she is unaware.

@PatoPato what happened on the interview, was it group or individual?

Big hugs to all those whose DDs didn't make it to the WHS interviews. It's a numbers game and those odds are frankly ludicrous!

DD is through which is a relief. However, the pessimist in me is worrying she will be borderline for each school and still will be without an offer in February!

@PatoPato really don't worry. They are only 10/11 years and the schools will all be aware it's probably their first time being interviewed (and I'm sure a random stranger 'interviewing' a 10/11 years old is peculiar to UK independent school culture; can't see that happening anywhere else in the world!) Better to bomb the interview than be weirdly overly-polished. I think it's more cringey for us tbh!

my post to @montlieu about Alleyns!