Is anyone else waiting for 11+ results from Guildford High School (GHS)?

I'm not sure I would describe the SPGS second round "aggressive"! Rigorous, robust, stretching for sure. But it's also a lot of fun (and people shouldn't think it's scary! My DD absolutely loved the SPGS assessment day). And as another poster mentioned, plenty of schools have some form of academic assessment for the second round (City, NLCS, WHS, PHS...)

Personally I think CEM alone is a pretty superficial test to use for assessments, but it clearly works for GHS - together with their assessment day - as they get incredible results.

I suspect a key difference to the London schools - as someone has pointed out - is that far fewer girls are applying to GHS so they can manage an assessment day with all candidates. I would be surprised if that didn't play quite a big part in their decisions. That just wouldn't be feasible at a lot of London schools where you have close on 1000 (or even more at co-eds) applying.

GHS has no choice but to be less selective than SPGS as fewer girls apply due to the location and also the fact that junior school girls have automatic entry. The Deputy Head academic talks a lot about the value added at GHS - clearly all girls are bright but there is definitely a wider range than you might think and yet they get great results. I know lots of girls who have sat for GHS in the past and I think they have a good system and know what they are looking for. They clearly want a mix of girls, with different talents and care a lot about girls doing their personal best. I think they do an excellent job of this.

Haha same here @durness good luck to our DDs!

I’m sure I’ll be singing the praises of a remarkably efficient, challenging examination approach should my daughter be successful. Or cursing an unnecessarily compressed, pot luck process if she doesn’t get an offer!

@durness the SPGS 2nd round day was actually not as bad as it sounds, DD enjoyed it, had a good taste of the school, and any academically able child would be able to handle such a day.
CEM test is already pretty time-pressured and tests all areas needed but I just wondered is it sufficient to even pick academic scholars from it. And worried about the predictability as well as we're approaching results day for GHS. Maybe they're in some way less selective considering a relatively looser part of the process, but doing something great to be almost in part with those other schools? I don't know.

I’m grateful for my daughter not having to go through a process like SPGS’s. I’m not clear how GHS make their final selections but they evidently feel the CEM test is sufficient academically.

The downside of it is that if you’ve blown the entrance exam then you’re just there to make up the numbers on interview day, without realising this. I’m sure many would prefer not to waste their time.

To those who sat received outcomes from GHS in the past.. did you feel the outcome was aligned to your expectations? Or is it rather unpredictable?
Asking because the process of this school was pretty unique in the way that everyone is invited to the assessment day and also I am not sure if the CEM test on its own is a good indicator of performance. For example, SPGS 2nd round tests girls rather aggressively after the first round of CEM test. CLSG also has a written test after the CEM test. So a couple of layers where girls need to do well to be selected for interview or get a place.

My daughter is in year 8 and when we got her results it was the last weekend in January so that would be 25th of January...so slightly sooner!

Thank you durness fingers crossed!

No specific date has been provided but it will be the end of the month. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say Friday 31st. Just another 18 days of agony ahead. Hooray…

Does anyone know when we’re going to get the GHS 11+ results?

Our daughter’s experience was very similar (as you would expect). She really enjoyed it.

@SchoolDilemma17 she has an offer from Sutton high and she is waiting on GHS and WHS. she missed the open day for WHS , so once she gets to see the school, then she will start putting her preference order .

Thank you @MariaMangali fingers crossed! Which school is your DD hoping for? Does she have a preference?

@SchoolDilemma17 Hey, my DD completed her stage 2 at GHS yesterday. Like everyone mentioned the day was packed with some activities , breaks and an informal chat or interview. In the interview they asked her about her favourite subjects in school , her interests in sports , the books she is reading , and what other schools she has applied for and if she passed any of the grammar schools. There was only one creative writing task where they have given the topic and it was timed. As in 6 minutes to describe the the plot and another 6/8 minutes to continue the story . Overall in my DD’s view it’s a fun filled day and she said the interview was the best part . Hope this helps ! Good luck to your Daugther .

Thank you! Very helpful!

Next year. She will be going to an 11+ small group weekly and have a bit of 1:1 tutoring (not lots until the summer). My DH can help w maths (I can’t 🤦🏻‍♀️) where she seems to have the biggest gaps. Have not looked at Atom yet, got a couple of Bond books. Unfortunately our options for state schools are pretty bad, and we are not Catholic, so we are aiming to get into a private school. Think we will try for 3 schools, how many did you apply for? Guildford High is our preferred option, our DD is very academic and into science.

I think our primary school is ok, but she is definitely not pushed and easily top of the class without trying very hard…

We’ve had help with maths from a family friend who then recommended someone else for English. We got stuck into pretest/exampapers plus only since the end of the summer. Tried Atom but didn’t think much of it. Examberry was a complete waste of time! Bond papers quite good; online not so much.

We’re also lucky that her primary school is really good, especially for English.

Are you applying this year or next?

Did you do pretest plus only or in addition to atom?

Thank you! And good luck to your DD. Would love to hear the outcome and also how much time you spent overall on prep (when did you start?). Our tutor is very happy with our child’s progress and she seems on track. But she also has gaps in maths thanks to her state school 🤦🏻‍♀️ who haven’t covered certain topics yet. She gets reports saying she is exceeding age related expectations but the school is not track for maths.

Another state schooler dreaming of Guildford here… Pretest plus was very helpful preparation for the CEM test and invaluable for the ‘missing words’ (cloze) section, which is waaaaay harder than the usual cloze questions you might see elsewhere.

@SchoolDilemma17 we are also from the state school , as you have a tutor they should be able to cover what is required for 11plus. Good luck and yes I will post our interview experience here in new year !!

@Userno1 Thank you for the response . Very helpful.

Thank you! We have the Bond books and a tutor but not doing too much yet (a few excercise a week), we are also coming from the state sector so not sure if we have more to catch up on. GHS is my first choice atm, let’s see. My DD is very much into science.
would love to hear how the interview went and any other tips you have for the prep! Thank you so much

@MariaMangali yes, agree with the above that the interview is relatively informal and they do group activities on the assessment day, which my DD said were fun. Think they look at whether girls will join in and be happy - encourage DD to tell them about things she is passionate about.

@Firenze12 Thank you so much for your response . Very helpful!