SW London grammar and private year 7 entry 2024 - Continued

Where else can one gather reliable information from school families?

To make things simpler, you could ignore mumsnet’s comments, regardless of whether they are glowing or critical, truth or propaganda, and trust what you see in school and follow your intuition.

I think it is also important to recognise that some parents might have never had to engage with the school much if their DC have never run into problems either academically or pastorally and are lucky enough to have a decent peer group.

Those parents will therefore have a very different take on a school than those who have needed help or support from a school and found that it was lacking and not remotely as promised at open days.

Some DC can be in exactly the same school and even in the same year and some will be taught by wonderful teachers and others by weaker or more unpleasant teachers.
Some might be offered numerous opportunities and others constantly overlooked. This obviously leads to vastly different experiences of the same school.

Staff changes can also not be predicted as has happened with Ibstock and not only the change of senior management but of key people such as the Head of Music and Head of Sixth form. All of a sudden the school you chose at 11 is a completely different place with different priorities and policies and a totally different feel.

It is a gamble and for many it pays off but for some of us it doesn’t.

One decision making factor that has become more pronounced for me is the mobile phone policy. I am keen on schools who enforce handing it in rather than just having it on you/in bag etc. I think it is so important

@HappyPoet My sentiment on the prevalence of positive feedback (as you can see above up threads) on the public site is more a general one rather than specific to Ibstock, as a matter of fact I never mention this specific school in the thread.

Regarding some posters who repeatedly accuse that the comments are unfounded or not first-hand, I would suggest a reader focus on the substance rather than the form of the content. It is a public website and when someone claims first-hand, it could be false, or could be very specific to one’s personal prejudice.

It is much easier to verify based on the substance of the information rather than who says what or does what.

@HappyPoet Just be careful of taking advice from people with no first-hand knowledge of a school. Some Mumsnetters make lots of pronouncements about a huge range of schools, all based on hearsay (and some clearly based on their own personal prejudices - you see the same posters criticise the same schools, of which they have no first-hand knowledge, across multiple threads).

There have been some good posts both on this year's thread about both PHS and Ibstock. I would just double check you're getting advice from people who actually know the school well, rather than people who just have a lot of (unfounded) opinions.

@HappyPoet Please just be aware some posters seem to delight in knocking schools they have no first-hand experience of. Why? Who knows. I don't have dc at Ibstock but have several friends who do and they're all very happy there. I'm also very good friends with a teacher who I know is incredibly hard-working and dedicated and achieves great results in their subject, this person rates the school, having taught in several in W London. If you prefer Ibstock I would go with that feeling but I appreciate it's a hard decision.

Thinking of all those waiting on WL’s! It seems whatever the outcome of offers, this process remains entirely stressful. We are stuck between PH which we know a lot about and feels a “safe” option and Ibstock Place School which DC prefers and has a scholarship for but feels more the “unknown” as not all reviews are good. @PreplexJ please do message me directly if you have insight into these two schools but prefer not to share here. Where else can one gather reliable information from school families?

We are also still waiting for wlt (for Emanuel). Not heard anything except the generic email. Good luck to those still waiting!

This certainly possible, the one as far as we can see in public posts is definitely unbalanced compared to what I gather elsewhere.

Hopefully people will do the right thing and release places before the deadline. Sadly I know some people
are just incredibly self centred ( my colleague is holding 6 offers and knows which one he is accepting and just couldn’t understand why he would release them. I gave up trying to make him understand and concluded he had an empathy bypass!) We have one final offer holder day tomorrow, hopefully confirmatory and then will release final school. 🤞 good luck

Same here still crossing my fingers and it hurts😂

Same here. I have been told to wait until the acceptance's deadline, and to be honest the wait is killing us.

Perhaps some direct parents prefer to give nuanced, i.e., less than glowing, opinions in PMs rather than risk outing themselves with public posts?

Still waiting!!

I suppose this is possible, the school wants to have a more balanced composition of the class.
I also suppose most of the private schools adopt an “over offer” model with a tightly controlled WL, because filling a place from the waiting list is not straightforward since the WL candidate might have already settled down somewhere else.

As far as I could tell, it made no difference (even got a scholarship offer second time around for a school we had declined first time around). I did make sure to send very polite ‘thanks but no thanks’ emails to the schools.

My guess is that ‘likelihood of joining siblings elsewhere’ is a factor in how much schools over offer, rather than anything else. But that is purely a guess.

Has anyone had any movement on wait lists?

Thank you @faithforgottenland and @GandTtime for taking the time to write. Your posts have been really helpful!

How weird that negative posts on IPS being deleted- !!! Anyway, we have a DD in year 9 at IPS and honestly have been so happy with the school. We also had a DD graduate LEH last year having joined year 7 and another in year 12 at St Catherine's Twickenham since year 7. We have found IPS to be a very robust academic provision with ample opportunities to also get involved in the school. So many societies and clubs! Great options for GCSE which DD has now selected. She is very quirky but has found a lovely group of friends and is doing well academically and likes nearly every teacher she has had. Of course, the intake is different from that of for example LEH, but it seems to us that they do a very good job of stretching the top sets and also providing support where needed. This is just our experience, but we have two other schools to compare it to - and we have commented a few times between us that actually, it's surprisingly been our favourite school. Do go with your gut though! Hopefully the right fit will become more apparent for your family. In our case, for each DD we went with the one they liked the most but also logistics were fine for each (which is perhaps the most vital piece of the puzzle).

We have dc at Ibstock and we have been very happy with it indeed. My older dc started under the old head but the school has changed a lot since then; the majority of it for the better!

We have found the teaching staff to be very supportive and like the fact that our dc are flourishing, both academically and socially. The co-ed element is a massive plus to us especially as they go higher up the school. The facilities are absolutely fantastic and the children have lots of opportunities for extra curricular clubs, societies and trips. There is definitely a real sense of community throughout the school.
We have never regretted our decision to choose it over some of the other schools our dc had offers from.
No one school fits all but go with your gut instinct as it’s usually right. Good luck with all the decision making and well done to all with great schools to choose from. At the end of the day they all end up with the same GCSE/A level results/uni despite which school they attend but it’s the journey and friends they make along the way that shapes them as they go.

Thank you to those who have replied re Ibstock Place School. Both positive and negative comments are useful. Not all negatives might be a game changer for some but more insight can allow a more accurate image to emerge.@FoxyLoxy25 please do elaborate on your experience… by direct message if need be. All other views on Ibstock still welcome! We are deciding between offers from Putney High and Ibstock and like both for different reasons.

CocoC - I’m a Putney parent so feel free to ask me any questions you might have. I know they took a handful from their 11+ waiting list last year. Also it’s quite hard to get any occasional place as they don’t come up frequently- other than at yr 9 of course, when a few girls go off to board.
As far as I know, only a few girls are leaving to go to other sixth forms this year (Westminster, Latymer Upper, Boarding). Quite a few stay because of music and sports - rowing in particular and they offer various scholarships to retain the high performers.
Its a brilliant school BUT as it’s so academically selective, it has a fair few very able girls so a high achieving peer group. That doesn’t suit everyone and can be stressful for some. Pastoral care is OK but I wouldn’t says it’s the school’s forte.
If music is important, the newish head of music is amazing. He’s also an organist, runs a parent choir and is a really positive and kind person.
Good luck with your choices.

@ItisaBeautifulLife re: SPGS

DD is a couple of years into SPGS and very happy. You mention 'blending behind people'; that would describe my DD well even if she is now much more confident (if still quiet) than she was when she started.

I have found most of the teachers I have met to be extremely approachable and reasonable. While there are some competitive students (with very competitive parents behind, as I expect is the case everywhere and particularly in selectives), pressure does not come from the school. Quite the opposite.

I was rather intimidated by some of the hear-say about the school. We were hesitant and very clear with DD that if it didn't work out we would walk (and that still holds) but so far we have not experienced any of the things we were told to worry about (intense pressure, heavy workload, all-round-alphaness, etc).

I do not want to 'sell' SPGS to anyone as it may suit some and not others. All I can say is that my quiet DD feels happy, safe and nurtured there and I like what I see and hear from the school.

I have heard good things about Ibstock. Current parents of girls in Y8 who are very happy, lots of opportunities and DDs have flourished. So I guess it depends...

It is good that some parents are still having a positive experience but there are a growing number of Ibstock parents coming together from all year groups and sharing their negative experiences both academically and pastorally.
All have tried to engage with the school but have had unsatisfactory outcomes. Another poster has commented about the fear of speaking up and that is very real.

The previous Head wasn’t popular but since she has left standards have slipped dramatically on all fronts particularly academically and pastorally. Some poor appointments have been made and some badly behaved children taken in.

Personally we have voted with our feet.