SW London Girls' Private & Grammar - applying for year 7 in 2023

@Lolakath19 I don't know any parent who has been through it / is going through it now who hasn't found it draining. However zen you try to be - "they'll all find the right school in the end" - of course it's going to be stressful and emotionally draining.

Yes, our head told us that about 80% of girls get through SPGS first stage - but it's still nice not to be booted out at that stage! What prep are you doing for the written paper (esp Paper C)?

SPGS is a very long process with 3 stages. Today was only the result for the pretest and they say they expect most girls to sit the paper in January.
I am finding the process very draining as a parent..

@Lolakath19 It's weird - we're not even sitting 11+ until next year and yet I feel nervous on everyone else's behalf on days like this! I hope you got good news.

@Lolakath19 how did your dd do? We did not apply, but now I wish we did! It feels like ages until we find out anything....we do not find out until early Jan for our schools.

SPGS email is out

Also liked the brochure of past papers and exam tips that they provided.

Thanks @BlueTick and @swgeek . We really liked the Head and found the 11 plus evening very informative and honest.

Thanks @BlueTick @swgeek @secondaryquandries @Daydreamscometrue for the information - really appreciated.
DD has a general interview and we really like the school. Like @swgeek , we have found their down-to-earth and transparent approach to admissions so refreshing!

When DD had her general interview at KGS last year, they already talked to her as if she had an offer. They would say "you'll be in a form of 20" "if you want you can join the orchestra when you are here" and so forth. That was in the part where she could ask questions at the end of the interview. The Head said they very much base the decision on the entrance test and the interview is for those children they would be happy to have, hence only about a quarter to a third are interviewed. I found their process very nice and transparent.

@BlueTick yes thank you. That is very reassuring. My son loves KGS.

At the open evening they said that they either offer or wait list everyone who gets an interview as you said. The head joked that they do this as they're not keen with the 'you did amazingly at the interview but then we met you' approach!

You’re welcome and congratulations!

Thanks so much @BlueTick , that's reassuring. We have a general interview at KGS and it is by far and away our favourite school!

I had a chat with the head of admissions at KGS. She said they interview 300 and offer to 250 with 50 on the waiting list. They double offer so 2 offers to 1 space as they know a lot of children will have offers elsewhere.

sometimes they go deep into their waiting list, sometimes not. She said it was very variable if they went to waiting list ir not.
Her overall message was that if you were invited to interview “you’ve made it” and it was very likely you’d be offered a place.

So those with KGS interviews know they will get a place or a waiting list place.

Of course things may change so I guess things could suddenly be different in some way. But that was from a few weeks ago.

Anyone waiting for spgs 1st round outcome today?

@Daydreamscometrue Many thanks - really appreciated

@QuiteAJourney it was mentioned by the Head at the 11 plus evening for parents. He didn't mention numbers.

Does anyone know how many they interview at Surbiton compared to Offers? DD has an interview early Jan for SHS.

@Daydreamscometrue - I have heard the same about KGS - do you know the source (e.g. whether that was something mentioned by the Headmaster / staff) and whether it applies to this year? Or numbers? Sorry for asking.. DD has a general interview and we really like the school...

It really depends on the school. For example, Dulwich have 70 places and their email says that they interview 160. KGS said that they don't like to over interview and so try not to interview many more than there are places. In the past, Emanuel have always interviewed everyone so I think 2/3 is a happy medium for them.

Less through if more popular rather.

I am no expert but I would think that it varies considerably. Some schools will have more of their offers accepted than others and so will have to take more through to the second stage. Also I think it depends on what the second stage is - the interview stage or an academic paper. Also it depends on numbers of applicants. If numbers are up, I would think that the number they put through would be fairly similar and so the % would go down.

I know someone mentioned they thought it was 2/3 they invite back for interviews from Emanuel. Do you think that is the same for all schools? Just curious more about the process. Curious how do they decide the cut off.

My DD sat it too. I quizzed about the questions and it sounds like they were all quite fun puzzles but aimed to show maths ability and indeed problem solving skills! Even the creative writing was a problem solving scenario. DD came away having really enjoyed it. I think that's a really nice way of doing it. I imagine the Iseb scores will be a big part of selection as well. Fingers crossed for the next round!

From a state primary, we started prep Y5 for older dd. Y4 for younger one, mostly as she was getting so little schoolwork in lockdown and I needed something for her to do!

We also carried on with all hobbies, clubs, music, playdates etc right through (lockdowns allowing). The 11+ prep was usually about an hour or so a week, though we did a bit more in the run-up to the exams in the summer before Y6.

They were both offered Tiffin and SPGS.

@yellowmoosefever I did like Atom and found it to be a very useful tool, particularly for ISEB tests but also more generally (eg good for NVR practice). I didn't perceive any major issue with unreliability, the scores my DS were getting seemed well aligned with how he had done. It was also god for us as my DS liked the tech element of it rather than more paper based work (which we did as well, albeit mane just one past paper a week). We started Atom in May of Y5, so subscribed for 6 months in total. It's £60 a month for the top package, so roughly the cost of one hour of tuition. I felt I got more value from Atom than from our tutor (who did 1 hour a week on English only)