SPGS first round… what actual device are they using for the test?! Laptop? iPad?

Have the results of the first round come out for SPGS?

Any feedback on what the participants thought of the test?

This thread started as a computer hardware question, and now here we are...

It is the mumsnet myth, I think it was a joke.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4749433-cat-scores-required-for-sw-london-boyscoed-independent-schools

Who are MNers? Can you link the info please?

I did see something on here a while back where someone said Atom used to annually report on the average entry scores but apparently that info was for 2019-2020. Apparently since that time they stopped producing it.

Based on the info reported by MNers, those most academic London Selective (top 30?) would need CAT over 130+ lately. I'm sure the figure, even is normalized measure, can be easily inflated or influenced by extra mean and efforts.

@Juja They don't have sets for anything except Maths any more so it would be very difficult to find out if you were actually at the bottom end of most things. But no, I don't think it has hugely changed in most ways (the main differences I have noticed compared to my own time there are related to things like pastoral care which is vastly improved).

@Jonny234 I'm not sure I follow your logic about not being in the bottom half of a school given 50% are. I was in divs 3 and 4 (ie the bottom half) until 6th form and it did't worry me at all - yes its over 30 years ago but SPGS was still considered externally as an academic hothouse.

Interestingly my view is they are pretty good at selecting girls who will flourish and they are very good at looking at girls as individuals and encouraging you to explore your own interests. I flourished under that educational philosophy.

My parents remained hand's off the whole way through. In the 3rd year at a parent's evening most of the teachers said I was struggling a bit and my mother told them, you accepted her and she wasn't tutored so its up to you. And to give the school their due. they provided some additional English teaching and I ended up with good O' Levels and went on to Oxford.

It maybe the world is now very different.... living in the north we haven't been engaged with the London schools with our DC.

I'm not sure there is a top half and bottom half as such. People are good at different things, aren't they? A girl who is really good at English and History might find herself not so good at Physics and Maths and vice versa. And you do need to remember that being 'not so good' at something in terms of this kind of school will likely mean getting an 8 or a 7 at GCSE rather than a 9 for most of them, so in fact that is pretty good at whatever it is (was at pains to remind DD of this in the run up to GCSEs).

How can one know if they are in top or bottom 50% when they applied? Does the entrance exam has such high correlation to the actual attainment progress? 🤔Ask the school?

So 50%, which is quite a lot!

As a parent of a SPGS girl, I would agree with this assessment: parents of girls in top 1/3 to 1/2 of cohort are probably hands-off and let the girls manage themselves. It's the bottom half who are heavily supported by parents by whatever means necessary.

I hope you didn't pay for this obvious info! 😂

I didn't claim the the majority of girls are untutored Cat4 130-140s, I just said I wouldn't want to prep a kid excessively to try and reach that stage.

That said you do make a valid point imho, and one i'd overlooked. Cat4 125+'s (say top 6%) must be circa 3 times that of say 130+'s (top 2 percent), so if a lot of the 125+'s are "tutored up" they will no doubt form a lot of the intake.

What makes you think that the majority of girls there are untutored CAT4 130-140s rather than heavily tutored CAT4 125s? There exist a lot more CAT4 125 kids than CAT4 130 kids. If the 130s are tutored as well, the 125s won't stand too much chance of getting a place anyway. If the 125s are tutoring and the 130s aren't as much, the school will have plenty of girls who got in "only with" tutoring.

If heavily tutoring 125s is enough to get a place at the school, they're likely to be the norm.

This really has not been my experience of St Paul's (girls) over the last five and a bit years. The majority of the parents I know are fairly hands off and tend to leave their children to manage their own academics and other commitments. Appreciate this is to some degree self-selecting, though, as madly pushy parents probably aren't the sort of people whose company I would seek out!

I spoke to an exam prep company who gave me feedback on the schools. She said that the likes of City & St Pauls (boys and girls) it is not just the child but it is also a certain type of parent. One that is super involved in their child's life and pushes them. I know two mums with children at SPGS and City and this describes them perfectly!

I do think it helps to be surrounded of dc with similar ability so they are learning at the same pace. I think each case is different. Some dc will work hard in any environment, some might need that extra push and to be stretched.

IMOH, based on cluster theory, parents alike tend to form groups, private schools are quick to adjust and develop in line with the demands and desires of the parents to address the misallocation.

I agree on all that.

I wonder if sometimes bragging rights makes parents send their kids to the wrong schools.

Every school will have a bottom half cohort.

I think some parents have a theory of having the kids surrounded by intelligence kids then they will get challenged and improved.

And many parents have high expectations and probably over estimates their DCs ability.

I think people need to be realistic about what's important.

I wouldn't like to have a kid at say 125 ave CAT4, prep them up to their eyeballs in the hope of making them into a 130 just so they scrape into a school like this.

Then unless they are continually prepped and stressed in the future they can't keep up with the cohort, sit in the bottom quarter and become anxious and demotivated because they are not quite at the required level.

I spoke to a parent a few years ago who simply said "everyone finds the right school sooner or later". Bang on the money!

Personally I think the right school is one where the child sits in the top half/ top third of the cohort. Not too high to make things too easy, but not too low so they always feel like the thick ones.

For filling missing words, keyboard speed is also important 😂
At one point I was shocked by the preparation levels.

Keyboard speed isn't everything. Mental processing speed is.

Agree don't think it is NLCS school for prepping the kids on CEM select.

What I meant above are the kids in the room are from NLCS junior (prep) school with the uniforms.