The Trinity Whitgift Dulwich 11+/10+ thread 2014 pt2

[LadyMuck]

Anyone still out there?!

Thank you so much JustAnotherUserName! Cannot wait for the process to be over now, DS and DH seem to be fine but I am getting very stressed...

This seems to be the norm in my house too, I am super nervous about the outcome, DH and DS cool as a cucumber!
...whatever will be, will be...

Hi poozie

Reeds jumps from £7.5k to £9k in the senior year why I have no idea !!! just hope the bursary goes up still waiting what is it about Indys keeping people waiting ??...

Wow, and I thought peacocks were expensive!

But that is for weekly boarding so guess W would be around the same figure right ??! ... Didn't note how much the new boarding at W was as its at 13 ...

A week today.......

Just de-lurking to say thank-you to all on the thread. I have been watching this thread with interest for some time now. You all seem to be very supportive of each other and this thread has helped me tremendously through the process, despite the fact my DC hasn't sat W or T...

In particular, Ladymuck's tips on the interview were invaluable! The school my DC sat send offers out today by post and hopefully reach us tomorrow unlike what some of you were put through, waiting for ages.

Good luck to all waiting for offers.

Wow, just looked at Reeds fees. Haven't applied as too far for us but £7k a term (y9-13) is ridiculous for a day school. Can't believe they get anyone interested.

Good luck, kanita, and I really hope you get good news today!

Thank you, MrsSteptoe, that's very kind.

We are expecting the letter to arrive tomorrow morning. A friend who has an older DC told me that the head and a few relevant teachers at school should already know the outcome and that her DC who sat the same school for 13+ knew the results from our prep school earlier than the published date... I don't think anyone of us whose DC sat 11+ exam for this school is informed yet. We will just have to wait - at least one more day. Feeling restless...

Hello, I've been following this thread with interest, although we're a bit further east! DS successfully navigated his way through Bexley and Kent 11+, and got a 'likely' for StOs (but tbh we weren't happy with the head there, so that was off our list). We also put him in for the entrance exam at Eltham - and here's our dilemma. We met the headmaster on Monday, who indicated that although DS did very well, his creative writing let him down, but they're likely to offer him a 25% scholarship. We've pretty much convinced ourselves that it's unaffordable at 25%, but if he'd got 50% we'd probably go for it. I'm so tempted to contact the school to see what, if any, movement there might be. I guess there's nothing to lose - if he gets the 50%, fantastic, and if he doesn't, he has a perfectly good grammar school place as fall back. It's a good dilemma to have, I suppose, and I'm so proud that he's done as well as he has.

Just wondering: is there anyone out there still waiting to hear from W or have all "no thanks" letters now gone out. How long before the last one was sent?

JustAnother, everyone I know in RL got interviews at W this year, so can't help there I'm afraid (mainly full fee payers though).

Re Eltham, I think that the difficulty may be that 50% is the maximum scholarship award. And that is likely to go to a strong academic performer who also has a good co curricular to offer eg music or sport. If you "only" needed 35 or 40% to make it work for you then it might be worth exploring, but 50% scholarships are fairly exceptional (likely to be the only one in a year group). You need to also be sure that your Ds would be happy with the pressure that that would put on him - scholars are publicly known whereas bursaries for example aren't. Whether he likes it or not every other child (and their parents!) will be eyeing him up to see whether they will be better than him academically. Eltham will offer a number of 25% scholarships which gives him a bit more "cover" I would say. But those are my views. If even 50% would be tight financially then you do need to watch out for extras.

Ladymuck or anyone else, do you know about scholarship amounts generally awarded at Whitgift?

Ranges from 5% to 50% (though usually only one boy a year on 50% I believe, and an awful lot of the 10+ and 11+ sports scholarships are 5%). A fair amount of money has gone towards the 13+, and 16+ pot to get the boarders in and settled, with awards at 10+ and 11+ being rumoured to be less than say 5 years ago. Academic ability has usually attracted the highest amount, though currently a rumour that they're after talented musicians. They've always left themselves very flexible about what is available and how it is made up (whereas some other schools have very fixed awards or maximums for academic and co curricular say). They also keep themselves very flexible as to how many boys they have in each year group, whereas other schools are more set in stone.

Whitgift is a funny animal (as is Trinity to an extent) because so many children have some level of discount (either due to bursary or scholarship), and as a result there are probably a set of parents in each year group who feel slightly disgruntled at paying more than average (for that school) for their son education. At somewhere such as Dulwich there are probably more full fee payers in each yeargroup.

Has anyone actually had a 'no' from Whitgift yet? Those who did not make interview I mean

poozie only know of one person who eventually phoned and was told no. Not sure about written 'no's '

Lemonemma ,...interested you turned St Os down ....I like you didn't really buy the atmosphere or the head ..DS got a possible (so unlikely to get in anyway) . Liked Wilsons far better ....but we will see what occurs in the next month ! lady muck you should def publish a book ...far better info than the guide to 11 plus book I bought.:-)

Hi Kanita, has your post arrived? We got our letter this morning and ds has an 11 plus place at Sevenoaks!

Good luck to everyone still waiting, I've been lurking on this thread since the start and really hope everyone else gets the school of their choice.

Muddypawsoncleanfloors, thank you. Yes, we did get our letter, and DC has been offered a place. We are all ecstatic!

Fingers crossed for everyone waiting for offers from T, W, Dulwich, Caterham etc in the coming week.

Delighted, kanita! Many congratulations!

Thank you, MrsSteptoe! Best of luck to you...

Congratulations to kanita and Muddypawoncleanfloor atleast your wait is over.

Its clear from LadyMuck roughly how much academic scholarships are offered. Does the same apply for bursary? I suppose most decisions depend on individual circumstances, but does any one know what's the maximum bursaries W offers?

The school will offer a certain number of bursaries at each age group (and they don't take the amount needed per child into account). The Whitgift Foundation then sort out how much bursary the child will get (guidance here www.whitgiftfoundation.co.uk/content/bursaries with a table which indicates what you would get depending on your net income).

Unlike some other schools I think that Whitgift offer a certain number of bursaries, and then you get what the table indicates (updating the foundation with your circumstances each year). Some schools have a certain sum of money set aside and only offer bursaries up to that monetary amount (so there might be 2 100% bursaries in one year group, but 10 20% bursaries in the next age group say)

ladymuck you mention below that scholarships are publicly known. Probably a stupid question, but how do people know? I can't imagine arriving on day one and announcing it. Is it info that gradually leaks out over the first few weeks?