Entrance Exams - am in purgatory with waiting!

I feel for you Caoimhe!

The wait is awful! I was sure I would have grey hair by the time we heard.

I was physically shaking when I saw the envelope on the mat!

It is so good to be able to relax, I had the first good nights sleep last night for ages. I had to reread the letter this morning just to make sure. Ha Ha!

The best was Dd's face when I met her after school yesterday and gave her the envelope. She was so thrilled! I will treasure that moment forever.

She worked really really hard to get her place and I am very proud of her.

Best of Luck to you, hope you get what you want.

Lucky, lucky you newpup!!! I'm so jealous - I still have nearly two weeks to wait!!!

Great news re the interviews for Master Stokeytiger and MasterGisbourne - fingers crossed for both boys.

I will have no nails left by the time I get to the end of this process (either that or I'll have alcohol poisoning ).

Good luck stokeytiget and mrsguyofgisbourne at City of London - I'm sure your boys will do really well. And congratulations newpup - great to have the result "in the bag" already - good luck to your DD at her new school.
stokeytiger - I'm already thinking ahead for my DS2 and wondering if I might do the 10+ for him at KGS if DS1 does get a place at KGS - I seem to remember your DS was doing 10+ rather than 11+. What sort of level would you say he was at now?

mrsguyofgisbourne - what a great feeling, eh? well done
thanks metella

Thanks Metella!

Good luck to everyone awaiting the envelope!

Stokeytiger - so did we! (and it was a small thin letter )

Fantastic news, stokeytiger & newpup!

Got the letter this am - DD passed her entrance exam and has a place at our top choice for September. Whoo hoo!

Sorry so excited after all the stress , am fit to burst. Just can not wait to tell her after school!

Just received the City Boys interview appointment letter, YAHOO, very happy and proud. If all goes well it means we won't have to move house for Kingston Grammar.

It was a tongue in cheek comment really.

Here, it is more a case of how bright everyone else is than how bright your child is. One particular school, 360 "passed" the exam out of 1500 that sat it. The passmark isn't a mark as such, it's the top 360 children. Competition is tough since there are no few very good secondary schools and you are up against privately educated children battling for free state places at the grammars in the neighbouring borough. Then there is the competition at 2 top private schools.... you have to put in an application for a reasonable local secondary or run the risk of ending up with one of many failing schools. You simply can't guarantee that your child is brighter than the necessary % of his/her peers.

Thankfully, DS1 proved to be bright enough (with some brightness to spare).

I must be seriously dim then! Depends on how selective the schools you are applying to are, how bright your children are and what state alternatives you have a realistic chance of. Neither of mine had any serious likelyhood of not passing and if they hadn't there was also no likelyhood of them getting a place at a decent secondary even if we had applied (unless I'd managed to fabricate a baptism certificate & manage some catholic church attendance). The local one always has space available - somehow that 25% 5 A*-C pass rate doesn't encourage many to apply, so not a lot of point really.

I think you'd have to be seriously dim not to apply for state schools too!

mrsguy we went through all of this last year for DS - the much-awaited envelope saying he'd got into the selective school he wanted to go to was very small! It had a single sheet of A4inside basically saying he'd got in and if we accepted we'd get an info pack at a later date....he got into the other school he tried for and they sent a huge A4 pack with offer letter, contract forfees etc and tons of other stuff, so no general rule about envelope sizes!

Good luck to you all and your DCs!

meba, I'd reckon that anyone who didn't use belt and braces was foolish - you don't lose anything by stating your LEA preferences (and putting your child in for 11+ if appropriate). Why on earth would anyone not do this?

Of course, some people take it to the limit and attend church for 2 years and move house as well (not sure I'm even joking there!)

Out of interest. Do people who are applying for selective private schools send in an application for state secondaries in October just in case. (Bearing in mind most of the better ones are over subscibed) Or do they risk ending up with no school if worst comes to the worst. Just curious

DS1 got interviews for both the private schools he sat for and they were virtually biting my arm off to have him at the schools when they interviewed me (whilst they were interviewing him). He excelled himself [proud] (although I'm still not convinced the English results were his - all the comprehension stuff and essays I marked for him made me want to gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon)

I think the results are out on 18th Feb.

MrsGuyofGisbourne - we got the smallest and thinnest of envelopes for an interview appointment, so don't immediatley despair if it's a thin one.

Is htere any reliable indication by envelope size - eg large = good news, small = bad news?

That's fantastic news MmeBlueberry - you must be so proud! Well done to you both.

congratulations MmeBlueberry, fantastic news

Well done to your dd, MmeBlueberry - fantastic news .

I know what you mean, needmoresleep - I'm afraid that come 19 Feb I might take to prowling the streets to hunt down the postman. Be afraid, be very afraid!!!!

Congratulations! You and DD should be very proud.

Last year my daughter did better than predicted - not a scholarship candidate but some good offers - she was keen to tell me that SHE had done the work and exams and so I was not entitled to congratulate myself. But it was an awful process and I think it might have been easier if I had sat the exams myself!

And good luck to everyone else. There is no point in saying it is not long to wait. It will feel like ages. We were very lucky in that one school gave results a couple of weeks earlier and DD got in, so the pressure was off a little. Otherwise I would have been standing at the street corner waiting for the postman.

My DD has been awarded an academic scholarship for her senior school

Just bumping to find out how everyone is doing. Ds had his last interview yesterday - yet again he didn't exactly cover himself in glory in the exam so I can only hope he did well in the interview.

I have to wait until 19 February for the results - I will be very grey by then!!!!