Wallington County grammar school v/s Royal Grammar School(RGS) Guildford

The number of people sitting exams is not a good estimate of intake difficulty.

More objectively one should look at the last ranking position that got in the school as percentile of total number of students that took the exam.

WGCS is part of the SET exam, and compared to Wilson and SGS, every year WGCS typically go down to very deep of the waiting list for the last applicant to get in the school. Generally SET pass scored is over 30% of the total applicants (around 2000+ boys), the guess is WCGS last ranking position via normal academic selection route got in is around 30% percentile.

Not idea about RGS last rank percentile vs total applicant, but I guess maybe similar to top 30%, could be lower, but with a slightly different exam cohort due to location difference.

Some top superselctive grammar might get last ranking position as high as 10%, such as QE boys or HBS. The "top" private selective school in UK probably won't get last ranking position as high as 10%, maybe highest is around top 15-20%.

With due respect WCGS is a good grammar school, but not a superselective top grammar in terms it intake difficulty.

If one really want to compare the WCGS vs RGS in terms of academic aspect in general , as a suggested earlier, best way is to look at the public exam results these school achieved. Clearly on average RGS is ahead of WCGS consistently in the past years.

One might argue public exam performance might not be entirely due to the academic quality provides by the school, another factor is how selective these schools are in the first place. Then your argument of WCGS take "more academic inclined" kids than RGS is contradict itself as RGS shows better public exam results in the end.

And btw, disagree on applicants being more academically inclined.

If anything the steep fee for even applying helps parents weed out which schools are suitable.

Also indie schools sometimes set their own exams, and aren't standardised tests that they can sit for multiple schools so there is some self-selection regarding academic ability as there's no point putting a child through yet another exam if they will fail. If the child is not cut out for academics, they shouldn't be applying to RGS. It's known as one of the most academic schools in Surrey, certainly no average private school.

No, the two exams are not comparable.

I actually sat the 11+ and private schools for similar schools: Nonsuch, Wally Girls'and then GHS, which is RGS' sister school (as well as Tiffin Girls'). The entrance exam was harder whereas the 11+ was easier to be trained for. Anecdotal on my side but I've had first hand experience of sitting exams for similsr schools. I got a score in the top 0.5% or something for the Sutton schools and something similar for Tiffin. Got in for GHS but was definitely not in the top 0.5% as my English dragged me down (tougher exam and all free response.) Went to GHS in the end.

Just because your child found the specific private school entrance exam easier doesn't mean that it applies for this particular private school. Wally Boys isn't even the top grammar in Sutton; it's a back up. You only need to look at the results.

As more people sit the grammar exams the pass mark is higher. That's just a given. Not even to look at the challenge level of the paper.

Not so. But we can agree to disagree.

"That's why I said the entrants for grammar tended to be more academically inclined."

Still don't see this point if you compare WCGS vs RGS. All the evidence indicate otherwise.

That's why I said the entrants for grammar tended to be more academically inclined. It's not for everyone and that's no bad thing. No slight on RGS which can provide a good education. But the relentless marketing of these private schools thar continually blur the lines shouldn't be underestimated. If a child is happy there fine. But you don't need to spend a lot of money to get a good education. No way !

Need to improve the gold percentage of your el derado.

It is possible if WCGS cull the rest bottom rank 100+ students - but these bottom rank 100+ students also took the 11+ to get in, according to your standard they are supposed to be "smarter" then RGS 349 entrants on average.

Already done and dusted. Long time ago. Good luck with el derado.

So with your smaller classes -349 entrants- evidence shows that WCGS would get 95% .?

Yes you clearly understand percentage well. Good luck with your 11+

If you can't understand the percentages nothing I can do. And it seems you haven't experienced the 11 plus

Why does it matter in terms of entrants if use percentage as measurement? RGS has less students to WGCS at sixth form.

Where is your evidence? If a school is oversubscribed the school can cherry pick regardless private or grammar.

Specifically between these two schools I'm not convinced your saying RGS takes less academic students.

They are not the same number of entrants. That's the manipulation. You are wrong.

So 11 plus is harder than your entrance exam as evidently if it wasn't you'd push away your customers.

You are wrong, RGS 48.4% is A vs WGCS 27% A

A*/A 80.9 RGS vs WGCS 63%

On RGS website it says 50% of 349 entrants got A/A - very impressive. WGCS has 63% of 549 entrants- 345 entrants had A/A grades in 2022.

I don't know which specic private schools your children experience is.

If your perception that RGS take "less" academic student than WGCS at entrance is true, then clearly RGS provide more value added in terms of academic since it consistently outperform WGCS by some margin in public exams.

Before rummaging for stats at this time of night. Is the RGS entrance exam harder than the 11 plus? From both my children's experiences with private school entrance exams definitely not.

Tell me a statistic between these two schools which are directly comparable and shows WGCS has a better exam result?

You are free to challenge the public figure or publish exam results based on your judgement but if you don't any hard evidence to prove on your claim then it is just merely your supposition.

80% for 349 entrants. It would be 100% with any less- they'd do that for the ops. Private schools often hide their stats because it might not justify their clients paying such high fees. We know the game. Same with reports. Often ambiguous and convoluted because they owe parents what they're being paid for. Been in and around private/prep/public schools for years. Went to one. As did my siblings. Sent my daughter to one. Each to their own.

Yes you probably read a different RGS? RGS is a private school that government won't publish the attainment 8 or progress 8 scores for it.

And RGS A*/A is 80.9% in 2022

We must be reading different stats. The one I read says 63% A*/Afrom 543 entries for WGCS at A level in 2022. Also in the government stats says attainment 8 for RGS is 2.7- below the county average. WGCs at 7.4. RGS definitely has an academic bar of entry but the 11 plus is higher. I'm sure RGS does provide a good education but it is not 'better' simply because you spend lots of money. Many things money can't buy. A good education surely tells you that.