SW London grammar and private year 7 entry 2024 - Continued

Yes, I was told this. But doesn’t work if you have a third school in the mix, as two exams in one day plus the long interview (plus distance of schools). One is one hour from the other. It just doesn’t work. But in the end we decided not to apply to one of the schools.

It has always been like that. They will ask if you have clashes. If your child is sitting the St Paul's exam for example, LU will give you a session that doesn't clash and you can pop over the bridge.
It's a massive organisational feat for these schools and dates are decided on a couple of years in advance for some of the schools.

Not the three I mentioned....I even pointed out to one of them the clash for exam date the previous year, in the hopes they would not clash again this year...did not change a thing

Schools where we had this situation offered alternative dates

Crumbs.

Yup, this is a busy day indeed....Latymer interviews, Alleyns exam and St Pauls (boys) stage 2 exam.....You would think schools would consider the dates a little better.

I know this is an old thread but I'd be really grateful for the thoughts of the people on here. I have had a look at the dates for the assessments for the various girls' schools for next year and so far Tuesday 7 January 2025 is going to be a very busy day. It is the day of the City Girls' second assessment, the Channing interviews and FHSS interviews (I understand that these will be a half day). Did anyone else have this? If my daughter were to get through to all three, what would I do? Would we need to choose which ones are the most important to her / which she is most likely to get into?

The impending retirement of Mrs. Fletcher from St Paul’s Girls’ School next year could potentially set off a domino effect among headteachers across London schools.

Surbiton High have announced their new head from Jan 25. It's the current head of NHEHS so he is moving from GDST to United Learning.

Interesting views on the factors to consider when deciding between state (non selective) / grammar / private. We did not consider grammar (the one do-able for a logistics viewpoint did not feel right for our DD, and the logistics were to great). We had a good state as a 'back up' but felt that our private options would work best for our DD - smaller size (both of classes and overall school), more options for languages and GCSE / A-level, a curriculum that was less formulaic and better catered for the intellectual curiosity of our DD and the range and type of extra-curricular. So far, expectations have been more than met, as well as an environment where being 'geeky' and wanting to do well / making an effort is embraced by the students. Our DD is making good use of the clubs and exploring new interests and also deepening her engagement in existing pursuits (musical ensembles, choirs).
I think that it is very difficult to generalise - it depends on the schools under consideration and the child ...and, of course, the financial impact / affordability.

Totally agree with this. Personally I would pick a grammar school over an independent school for this reason.
My oldest is at a top independent school. 50% of leavers now going to US universities because they can’t get in to the better UK ones. My son is still a few years away from this, but that’s not something we would want for him so it’s a worry.
Also echoing the other poster re the clubs. On paper they look great. In practice most kids do few of them as the timings for the ones they want to do doesn’t always work with their schedule, or they are full already , or not open to their year group, or just not that great.
Music lessons are during lesson time. So many parents don’t want their kid to miss a lesson, so do it outside anyway. They just come together occasionally at the school for orchestra.
For our son, all his sporting activities we continue to do outside, as the standard of coaching of a specialist club is higher than what he would get at school. That is true of most of his friends, and certainly any of the children in the A teams: football, rugby, swimming, cricket, tennis, let alone any specialist sport is done outside.

i think the thing which would be hardest to replicate outside school would be drama. So if that is a big focus, then yes that could be a consideration. But for the rest - you will continue to be taking them to the extracurriculars anyway.

I agree Buru. We are in a similar position having chosen independent school over a good state school. It very much does depend on the interests of the child at the end of the day. The sport provision at our independent school is terrible, as is the food. The class sizes are indeed smaller, yes, but there is quite a lot of cover lesson / teacher absence and the offerings for trips etc is not as good as some of the state schools that my DC's friends are at.

If I were choosing now, I would think very carefully about rejecting an offer from a good state school. The climate at the moment is such that children at state schools have access to so much more when applying for university - e.g both Durham and Oxbridge have masterclasses and A-level preparation for Maths and Science which is available to state schools only. This is quite separate from those projects that support disadvantaged families (and I wholeheartedly support). There are opportunities out there for a child interested in Science, Music and possibly other subjects that you are unable to access simply because you attend an independent school.

Just to add a thought on considerations re state/grammar schools vs independent. I had the same hesitations last year (not a grammar but a very good state school vs a top independent school). Ultimately, the variety of clubs and sports was one of the key reasons we went for the independent school. Now, 9 months into the school year, my DD practically attends NO clubs and she continues doing her sport training at the other end of the city. It’s really tiresome and makes me wonder if we made the right choice. The school is amazing, we really love it, but clearly DD is not using opportunities it provides. Something to think about.

@11plus24 @SamPoodle123 , it depends whereabouts you are in the country. London is still going to be competitive.
More DC from state primary going to private secondary due to family saving money in the earlier years. Some schools have generous bursary levels. Some schools allow families to forward pay school fees.
Westminster going coed in the next 2 years and it seems City of London too. This push towards coed means more will apply 11+, and there are schools with siblings discount.
It is worth checking what the fees covers, we know London schools that kids required to buy textbooks and notebooks, folders etc and others supply them which is included in the term fees. Some schools have laptops free/ cheap rentals whilst others have high price laptops to buy on top of school fees.
Competition levels in London grammars and independent will still be intense.

It's a long standing acceptance that it's more difficult to achieve a straight offer from Tiffin Boys than Hampton but if your achieve a high WL offer from Tiffin by the end of the summer you should end up with an offer, as per the ds of the poster.

Re vat on fees, the parents of the dc currently in year 6 viewed secondaries over a year ago when vat on fees seemed more distant and perhaps open to legal obstacles. Now it may be a reality soon plus the around 5% fees hike for Sept 2024 at most schools im sure all admissions depts are wondering what will happen.

@11plus2025 and @SamPoodle123 I have noticed from our circle of friends and the 11 plus chat forums like this, that some private schools seem to be offering more places this year and having extra classes etc -which is good news for some.

Whereas state grammars e.g. Tiffin Boys and Wilson's appear to more competitive this year with very little movement on the waitlists I have only heard of one of two getting a place from the waitlisting at Tiffin Boys and no one at Wilson's, but Tiffin Girls interesting is up to waiting list number 16? Not sure what is going on there? I guess ultimately, it depends on the schools your targeting.

The simple answer is it difficult to tell - although one of the moderators on the 11 plus exam forum has said movement nationally on waitlists this year is slow - so that's interesting and could be the impact of the potential VAT changes.

I got a lot of information from the eleven plus exam forum over the last year. Best of luck to you both with your journey through the system.

I was wondering the same thing. I also have a year 5 dc.

Just found this post, very helpful thanks all. Have a child in year 5 who will likely be sitting the 11 plus exams this year for entry next year for both grammar and independent schools. Would like to get a sense whether the looming vat hikes is affecting numbers applying/accepting, is it less competitive for an independent place and more so for grammar places? Our prep has hiked fees for next year by quite a bit, with vat added on top it’s going to be quite a financial commitment. Weighing it all up, lots to consider.

@Bookingorcrooking I’m sure you will make the right choice for your son and if you don’t choose Tiffin you can be sure someone will be very pleased as a consequence, as the waitlist is very long and not moving much this year, from what I understand. Best of luck

DD was not interested in sports at all, but yes that is also an important point if you have a child who likes them!

@BonjourCrisette Well said. i concur with you on everything esp the underfunding aspect of schools which i personally experienced. It could be different with some grammar schools.

Also agree the SAT exams which my son is sitting and his state school is keen to be on the data point list of achieving top sat scores

Third point is Sports. In many grammar schools there is a dedicated coach ONLY for the A team and maximum B team. For the rest of the teams ( C to F) they are at the mercy of a volunteer from the school.. ( funding issues)

In indepedent schools, even the F team kids are made to enjoy the sport and learn a bit.

Lunch time clubs - There is no comparison. Over 150 clubs in Independent. And lunch time is 75 minutes in independent schools vs 50 min in grammar schools.
That extra 25 mins adds a lot of enjoyment to the kids every day

The money factor is always there, but if you can afford it, i would put my cards on the indepdent school ( as long as you have done your research - ie every kid is different and will thrive in a different setting)

Class ratio 20:1 vs 30:1

Language options - better taught and more options.

If i did not have the money or the choices, then would have def put my Ds in a grammar school.

We had a very similar choice to make with SPGS vs Tiffin Girls (some years ago) and the main thing that swung it for me was curriculum. The specific tipping point for us was languages - the variety on offer was so much greater at St Paul's and it was already clear that DD was interested in that area. As well as that, the creative opportunities seemed to be a lot greater at St Paul's. There were a number of things mentioned on the website that she was beyond desperate to take part in. I'd suggest taking a look at the GCSE options for both schools and seeing what you think, if you have any idea what kind of area your son might be interested in later on.

Another thing that worried me was the increasing underfunding of and pressure on state education. Some of the horror stories I've since heard from friends have made me think that we did the right thing and were very lucky to have had the option. I imagine these pressures are probably somewhat less at a good school like Tiffin, but if you know anyone with a child already there you might like to ask them about the frequency of supply teaching, subject specialists and so on.

The third thing that tipped me over the edge was what a horrible joyless experience SATs was and it was suddenly clear to me that if I opted for a state school DD would have continued to be a data point and I just didn't want that. She is lucky to have had her school years untainted by GCSE flight paths etc.

Anyway, it worked out really well for us but I am sure DD would have had a good time at Tiffin too.

Hope this is vaguely helpful!

Ah that’s great! Can I ask how you decided?

@Bookingorcrooking

Fantastic. My son will also be joining hampton In sept !
We have said No to his grammar school place

He is really wanting to go to Hampton. It's so hard because obviously we'd like him to be happy where he goes and he is incredibly anti-Tiffin!