SW London grammar and private year 7 entry 2024 - Continued

Congratulations! We might choose KCS as it is close to my house. Hampton is a lovely school but one hour on the school bus to Hampton everyday is too much.

@fudgeandcookie has your DD been offered a place from WL? Called today and they said they haven’t had any movement yet

@Wraith99 Congrats ! My son got his offer from Sutton Grammar school ( His first choice on CAF form. he is over the moon

HE is elated and we are celebrating today. But mostly we will be taking up Hampton offer. My son always wanted Hampton but after getting the grammar school offer he is CONFUSED ! LOL

Reason for Hampton - MAin entry point is year 7. So everyone is new as opposed to joining KCS where majority start at year 3. All 160 kids are new. Fresh start. The Avon Tyrell trip will be an ice breaker and kids make friends for life.
Reason for Hampton - He just studies one language ( not a carousel of Languages or 2 languages) He ONLy wants to do spanish . He doesnt Dabble in Latin, German, french
Reason For Hampton - Later on (After 4 years) we will try LEH for daugther
Only Negative - FEES LOL

@Trickleg Yes you are right. He got into Waitlist. He had an interview but got pushed into wait list.

We consider wait list as not successful . St pauls reserve list is slightly different in the sense it is 13 plus and he is invited to write another exam in year 8 - So chances are still live

My son got the same offers/reserve list as your son, and he had the similar feelings of St Paul's, hampton and KCS exams. KCS math exam was very simple and so was the interview. I don't know how they chose the boys from so many applications.

Which offer do you choose? My son just received a yes from Tiffin, which makes things more complicated.

For KGS everyone with an interview gets either a place or a wait list place so the interview is not a complete game changer, tbh.

Hampton has 160 seats at 11 plus. Out of this 40 come from Advanced 10 plus and 20 from Hampton Prep school. Which makes it 100 seats to complete out of 700/750 students who gave the 11 plus exam. ( This is straight from head masters mouth !)

My feed back from my son who wrote all the schools
St pauls and Hampton had the maths paper of good or higher standard. YOu need to be at a much higher standard

Hamptons strengths are maths, chess computing. So is St Pauls.

Hampton and St Pauls set their own papers

KCS had papers from GL assessment board. Hence much easier.

KCS / KGS maths papers were so easy ( which makes it difficult in the sense you need to be a top scorer to be called for interview - like scoring 45/50 eg)

My son got Hampton 11plus, KCS 11 plus, St pauls( 13 plus) reserve list but DID NOT GET KGS ( 11 plus) . Was a bit shocking. We did not care much as we never wanted KGS. did not fit in with our requirements.

Interview can be a game changer to get the place or not

I kind of tend to agree with @Summerma in some aspects

Also at the end of the day, luck and a bit of lottery plays a role.

i can not agree more with you on this, since i have comparable results from kids inlcuding mine that gave on all 3, the Hampton offer was easier to get as long as you did the normal things that most parents do with homework and tutoring. I think also the fact Hampton has around 200 spots to fill, makes their life more difficult since lots will take STP and other top more academic schools , but from our small statistical sample LU is the more difficult school to get into.

@travelturtle Well done to your DSs - I'm hoping they each got their preferences and are happy with their choices and destinations! I agree with being utterly mystified by the whole process and your own domestic sample gives good evidence of why much of it seems intractable. I suppose things do change a bit in each school from year to year as they may get unpredictable gluts of one type over another (i.e. too many strong-in-X applicants). I am probably very naive and too optimistic but would like to think that most of the very competitive schools can and make a majority of decisions based on 'individual fit' and 'cohort balance' (as far as this can be done). In other words, I am hoping that there is some positive logic to this madness and, even if there isn't, everyone will end up in a place that suits them.

PHS wait list is moving

@lurkerty I think it’s really hard to predict where children will get offers. We applied to all 3 for both our boys. State school, v little tutoring (bit for English but just practice with me in maths at home). DS1 is v strong in English and got offer from LU but not KGS or Hampton. DS2 much stronger in maths than English and got Hampton and KGS but not LU. The whole process continues to mystify me 😂

@Summerma @Ian85 @11plus2nd @Clairesm interesting points on the KGS front and yes, I'd want to know whether their growing state means they might have expanded their pool a little this year. However, there were (that I know), three boys applications from our state primary to KGS, with two offers (2/3); they all had some tutoring (moderate) but the boy who didn't get an offer or indeed an interview was doing less well. Hampton offered to 4/5 applicants; these boys are from a very wide ability group and all but one had been heavily tutored. 1/4 offers for LU (a moderately tutored boy). Most of the Hampton group did not make it to LU interview (only 1/5) but the two who got KGS offers did (2/2).

Nobody from that group applied to all three (KGS, Hampton and LU) so difficult to make three-point comparisons but, in my very small sample, Hampton seems to have been the more achievable option for boys (with robust tutoring) this year.

Registration is at 8:30 but the door is open since 8am. Morning clubs start at around 7. It depends on the club.

Did the waitlist move? 🤞🤞

Hi

just released IPS offer and WSS…

they have got your money, fear not!

@ItisaBeautifulLife Do ask Admissions, they’re very helpful. There are a few after school clubs, but they are mostly in the long lunch break. It’s things like auditioned choirs / orchestras and the few clubs run by external providers (like dance and fencing). The school stays open until 6.00 though, so there is always somewhere to sit and do homework / chat with friends.

If you are looking for childcare or supervised activities every day, that’s not something the school provides. As far as I can tell, they expect the girls to travel home, or work independently, or take themselves straight to an activity they do nearer home. They don’t expect them to wait around to be picked up (though some are, in Y7) and they don’t keep girls busy with lots of compulsory after-school sport.

Thank you. We received an offer but are still indecisive about which schools to choose from. I saw the timetable on the portal; I just want to double-check my understanding. The deadline to accept the offer is looming, and I have sleepless nights thinking about which is the best school for my daughter.

@ItisaBeautifulLife have you had a place from wl?
school finishes at 4.
no school on Saturday.
no afterschool club (they are alll during the day at lunch or before school)

I’ve found schools are happy to answer these sorts of questions ItisaBeautifulLife, you could email the admissions team?

Are there no clubs offered for Year 7 students at SPGS? It seems there is currently only one after-school club listed on its timetable. Or do the school provide separate club list once the child joins in the school?

What time does morning registration start at St. Paul’s Girls’ School? What time does the school finish for year 7 & 8 students? Do they have classes on Saturdays? If so, what time does school end on Saturdays?

@farfallarocks - he’s off KGS. It’s a pretty huge turnaround though as he was in maths and English intervention from year 3 until the end of year 5! I think he’s on full relaxation mode now (understandably). I guess each parent does what they feel is best for their child. My DS would be a complete nightmare if I tried to pull 16 hours of tuition so I would never dare to try it! 😂

@Wondermumof4 🤞🤞

@Summerma thank you that is so kind !! Also crossing of course … we’ll see 🤞🏻

Poor fella and I do hope he goes to a school where he is not totally stressed out for the next 7 years!

good luck to everyone waiting for state school places and waiting lists!