SPGS actual offers and acceptances

I would try not to speculate too much about this. At the SPGS open day we went to, Sarah Fletcher said they currently had 12% of students on bursaries, which would equate to 14 girls in any new year intake (and were planning to increase that to 20% in the next few years). The woman talking about bursaries was absolutely at pains to say that the two processes are conducted separately: ie the list of successful candidates is drawn up, and then that list is discussed between Sarah Fletcher and the bursary dept as to what was available for each student in need. She could not have emphasised more times that there were not "two lists" and that bursary students were not "bumped off" the list in favour of someone who could pay full fees.

Of course a bursary fund is finite, but my impression was that they tinker around with the figures for successful candidates who don't need full bursaries (eg five families might hope to get 50% but the school can only afford to offer them all 30% instead, and then either you find a way to make up the difference or you don't).

The bursary process will always be a bit of an unknown quantity but I would really love to believe SPGS that it's done as fairly as they described.

Obviously if anyone has any direct experiences of the bursary programme it would be great to hear from them.

Cant see how the 16+ process would impact 11+ process as they say, or someone may have clicked inadvertently on update declined status 11+ rather than 16+..?
If that is the case I find it very surprising that so many bursar applicants (I admit Mumsnet one only) all had a declined status. If odds at this stage are more or less a 1 to 2 chance there is something fishy here lol
But let s try not to speculate. In any case I don t take the fact that my status did not change as a potential offer ...

Ours shows as applied…no idea if it was pre or post fix though. Unsure if I was quick enough to check when this kicked off…partially delayed because I had forgotten the password and took some time to figure that out. Now these posts have made me concerned too about the ‘applied’ status. All this waiting is a lot of mental torment.

Perhaps it was a mistake if no parents saw "accepted" status.

😕😮
I wish more parents would share... if any parent saw a different status, then it proves that the status would have been correct/real...

lets see how it all untangle on Friday.. 4 nights!

Yep

Oh dear..
@atticus77 did it revert back to applied?

We had 'declined' in the portal and we haven't applied for a bursary

Not convinced by the 'glitch' message from the school, but we will see...

If it is true that only bursary applicants had that update it seems very strange to me that it is just a glitch.

@Ernern that is what I am thinking as well. I am not thinking that they might have a pool of bursary applicant. Lets say 20 after 2nd stage and that not only those will need to meet the standard required but as they probably have a limited amount of bursary available will have to be the top 3 of that pool to be offered even if that means that some other applicants with lower standard but no bursary application will be offered..

Which does not seem fair at all.. :(😥

No @LondonMum20222 I was planning to call to inquire this afternoon but saw @Pleasegrowmore 's message. Thanks everyone for the support and encouragement.

I do hope that it's genuinely a glitch more than anything, though I have my doubts... anyway another 4 days of waiting and we shall all find out!

& to @Parent123456's point, I would not be surprised if the bursary applicants are being dealt with differently. Although I only suspect the requirements/expectations for a successful bursary applicant could be higher... all a speculation!

Nowhere near 2000 applicants, and actually, given there are two sets of tests followed by an interview, I'm not sure you can claim it's particularly random or a lottery. Of course all exams involve a bit of luck (everyone has good days and bad days) and ditto interview, but it's pretty exhaustive really...

@Parent123456 I did wonder too.. but the response seemed pretty genuine. If it was a day or two before the results email I'd be more sceptical but I think an entire week in advance does seem a bit odd and indeed perhaps a glitch in the system.

It's not 150 places and I'm pretty sure there are nothing like 2000 applicants.

The portal thing sounds very stressful. Good luck, and my fingers are firmly crossed for you all! Almost makes me grateful for waiting for the envelope through the door back in 2018!

Application to this school always seemed like kind of a lottery to me. I mean, when you have like, 2000 applications for 150 places, I expect they cannot take take time to consider each applicant.

Lets hope they were genuine ! It does reminded me of stories from last year where some people were emailed a newsletter and email address could read something like "acceptedcandidates" before the 11Feb and when some people found out from the website before email.
Our status says applied but we did not apply for bursary. Make me wonder if they treat bursary applications in a separate pool which would not be very fair..

@Pleasegrowmore Great news! Am so relieved for you. And am super pleased that you checked!! Fingers crossed for you later in the week.

Ah you too! Very odd isn't it! I think I'll just step away from my computer for the week.... *

• i wish

So an update for anyone also in this situation and all the kind folk who've offered support..

Does seem to be a glitch! I emailed this morning, after doing so checked again and it had reverted to "applied" baffling. Then just got a response to say that the admissions team haven't made any changes to the system, not sent out any formal notifications and in fact don't even have a final meeting until Wednesday. They suggested that they are currently moving 16+ candidates through so perhaps some glitch from that, and they are checking with the IT department.

So @Rub19 seems we may still have hope :)

@Ernern Have you called them to ask about it?

Oh my...well lets wait until Friday. Hopefully it was just a glitch..

The status has now changed back to "applied", lol
😂

@Pleasegrowmore @Rub19 Fingers crossed for you!

@Pleasegrowmore Good luck, and do keep us posted. I'm keeping everything crossed for you that it's a weird glitch...

Yes I think you are right, I'll definitely try and call tomorrow. Annoyingly I pretty much have back to back meetings so if anyone - @Rub19 or others planning to - manages to get through/ any info before me, please do kindly post here (I will do the same if/ when I get any info!)

I think it's a very valid point that if it is a no, then it's a terrible way to find out.

To all those bursary applicants whose portal is now showing "declined", I would call the Admissions office on Monday and ask for clarification. It would be astonishing if they'd put rejections on a portal an entire week before they're planning to send results. Perhaps it refers to the bursary application but not the actual offer. Perhaps it's a glitch in the system that only affected bursary applicants. Whatever the reason, don't spend the whole week not knowing, and do call on Monday. 🤞