SW London grammar and private year 7 entry 2024.

https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/births-by-mothers-country-of-birth-in-london

Bulge in births from 2010-2012. This also explains why the catchment areas for sought after schools were so tiny when these children were starting school in 2014-2016. Now some primaries are struggling to fill their reception classes. The same is true in in the private sector, with schools that had huge waiting lists now not running at full capacity.

G&L said 2 years ago there were 800 candidates and this year they said 900.

Yes 2012 was the peak of the mini baby boom across the UK. I don’t know about numbers of 10/11 year olds in SW London specifically though or how many are applying for private secondaries - not sure anyone has the stats on that!

I do think the average number of schools applied for per child has gone up a bit over the past few years - bit of an own goal there as of course if everyone does this it decreases the chance for each child to get their preferred school. So it could be an increase in applications rather than applicants iyswim.

More state primary schools kids applying for private secondary after Covid. Also, families saving fees at primary for secondary. More scholarships offers at secondary schools to offset costs.
The better, contextual offers from universities are not for high performing grammar schools, where applications are very high. Population boom for the last few years, so more children applying.
There are more kids applying due to relocation as post Covid, movements in jobs market.

I suspect the numbers aren't hugely higher. 3 and 5 years ago all our interview/ offer letters etc said numbers were higher than ever, more competitive etc etc!

Do we know if there is indeed an increase (or significant increase!) in the numbers applying this year, or in recent years?
That is the ‘official message’ from the schools, who are obviously trying to soften the blow to unsuccessful applicants… so that may not actually be true.
But is it getting even harder to get in? Are there more applicants? Are standards going up?
I would be really interested to know - one could have thought that with the cost of living pinch and the threat of paying VAT on school fees, as well universities increasingly going for positive discrimination against private school applicants, the numbers applying to private schools might be going down?…..
Would love some insight from people genuinely in the know.
PS i know that many SW families are international or super wealthy and not hurt by cost of living… but still!

@ALongProcess i thought same but re read that email, think is is decided post Saturday… not holding my breath at all here.

At a lot of these schools local parents put together a bus if they aren’t served by their routes. I know this happens for St Paul’s, Emanuel, Ibstock and Harrodian. So it is worth asking around when you consider your offers.

@Summerma when DS got the invite for Saturday for Alleyns I assumed he was definitively not up for a scholarship and that it was either 20th or 26th. If actually tomorrow is a deciding day then that adds both hope and pressure! (altho tbh it feels like a small miracle to have got this far at all in any case)

Thank you @Trickleg

You are most welcome! We asked about the bus routes last year and they said that they had no plans on that front, but maybe worth asking them again.

DS was awarded an academic scholarship at Emanuel this time last year. There was no additional interview/assessment (lovely school, went elsewhere in the end but would have been delighted if that’s where he ended up)

@WeezilWords funnily enough I looked at this point last night too and reached the same conclusion as @minipie. From the wording of the email, it appears that scholarships are decided after the group session and interview. It may be that there is a further academic scholarship interview but I’ve not seen anything on this. Of course, if anyone has received such an invite would be great to hear about. DS felt the maths went very well and generally had a good exam but that is no guarantee of scholarship level, just curious as to process.

(Sorry for double post - phone glitching on the train!)

I think there is another stage according to our alleyns email 5/1.

Academic Scholarship workshop for candidates selected after the 20 January small group activity and interview - 26 January.

Looking back at emails , Emanuel said “Academic scholarships are decided based upon the performance in the written assessments, interview and group experience. All pupils are automatically entered for this process.” So I assume there isn’t a further stage for academic scholarships, it’s all decided on exam & interview.

How do the Emanuel academic scholarship invites work? Would they have mentioned this in the email invite?

In the email about the exam day, it said “Academic Scholarship workshop for candidates selected after the 20 January small group activity and interview: 26 January”. So guess they won’t send invites till after Saturday’s interviews.

Did Alleyns academic scholarship workshop invites went out at the same time as the interview invites?

Mega thank you! Also wonder how the news about the bridge affects them? Article today saying at least 10 yes before the bridge opens to cars . I wonder (and hope!) it might make them consider changing their bus routes to south of the river? Clapham, Wimbledon etc

@QuiteAJourney it was your post. 😀 Thank you for the information. Good to know what DS can expect and it’s nice your DD enjoyed it. It’ll be our last interview and I’m sure there’ll have to be some form of celebration afterwards! Good luck to everyone for the final leg whichever schools you have.

Thank you @QuiteAJourney that is helpful 🙃

Great ! Congrats 🙌🏻

Yes Harrodian interview here too. Well done to the others who have them. Phew 😮‍💨

I think you may be referring to a previous post of mine . My DD had an interview (and got an offer) last year - in addition to the usual questions, there were questions about hypothetical and somewhat surreal scenarios ...would you rather x or y (with the x and y being quite surreal)? there is no right or wrong answer, just a way to see how it your DC thinks / what matters to them. I think there were also one or 2 puzzles - less about solving them, more about discussing with the interviewer how you would approach them ...My DD knew how to solve one, got stuck on the second one but got some pointers from the interviewer and then knew what to do. She mentioned to us that the interviewer was very nice and encouraging and had told her that he was just interested in how she approached things.

It was one of the interviews she enjoyed the most and she came out with a big smile (it was also our final one and she even told the interviewer how we were going to celebrate!).