ALL NEW; WHITGIFT/TRINITY/DULWICH/ALLEYNS 10+/11+ 2016

[MrsPatmore]

Thought I'd go ahead and start. Found the old threads really interesting and would welcome ongoing input from those who've been through the whole process.
Ds in Year 5 and we are looking at a mixture of grammar schools and indies for 11+ Whitgift recommended this year - we've been told there is a drive to raise academic standards. We're going to the Open afternoon on 10th Nov.

No, it wasn't me either, but I also read the same post as you so my ears pricked up when I heard that lady mention 10% difference in fees. Mind you, the gap is actually edging towards 20% at the moment, so T fees might go up a bit more in the next few years than what Mr Bishop mentioned.

I'm surprised that his first act as head is to announce future fee increases! Or at least with what has been quoted, it seems odd. Usually schools know that they have to defend any rise. As a large proportion of their costs are salaries, fee increases will typically run ahead of normal inflation. But larger increases are usually reference to significant changes eg new buildings etc. This increase almost sounds as if they feel they need to increase fees in order to position themselves closer to competitors. It may be that he was caught out by the question. At the very least I'd have expected him to outline the improvements that additional fee income will bring.

He didn't really have much choice, Ladymuck. He tried to avoid the question when it was first raised but then someone else asked very specifically whether his intention was to maintain the gap in fees between T and W... To me, his answer sounded a bit as if it were about positioning but he also said (answering another question, though) that the music department's facilities needed extending and it was going to be a project for the next 18 months. I don't think he was expecting to have to discuss the fees in that first meeting.

Oh well. At least it sounds as if he is honest! Possibly too honest.

I thought he said something along the lines of, if they wanted to invest in additional facilities, they might have to increase fees (by a bit more than usual).

Mr Bishop told me that the music department works were being funded without additional fee increases having been needed to pay for it.

Perhaps Mr Kennedy was just being cautious, and not wanting to give out misleading info about fees, without knowing the full ins and outs of the school finances - better to be more pessimistic, than have lots of angry parents a few years down the line saying "but you told us there would only be small increases!!"

Hi everyone , have anyone hard anything from T reserved tist . 📞📮

Olguis - I don't know where you need to commute to but we live in Upper Norwood very close to the Crystal Palace triangle which has fabulous cafes, restaurants and shops but also well connected to Canary Wharf, London Bridge and Victoria. Our boy is in JBugs and gets a school bus in. We're around a 15-20 minute drive to Trinity.

Hi all 10 days later and I still don't know if there is any movement on the waiting list for Dulwich College - its torturous!! Does anyone know of anyone else who has turned down a place there or anything about the waiting list at all. Would love any info please.

As frustrating as it is, most movement happens this week once state school offers are out. The ripple effect across schools is hard to anticipate.

aliangel thanks! I've now walked around a lot and driven, too.
My first impressions were wrong (if I offended anyone, sorry).

How early does your DS have to wake up to get the school bus, and does he use it to get back as well?

halogen - what agony for you? I don't know of anyone from our school turning them down sorry -but perhaps there will some movement once the grammar results come out tomorrow night?

Mr Tanner is so lovely- maybe try phoning directly?

The pan-London offers (all London boroughs and Surrey) are made at 5pm tomorrow.

So people will be digesting their news overnight, and then (one hopes) decisively and promptly accepting and relinquishing offers from Wednesday.

meditrina - March 1st is the outcome date nationwide but I'm not sure about the 5pm thing? We're a London borough and our borough only promises to release the results 'during the evening'....

agree on the acting decisively though - fingers crossed that tomorrow's emails trigger some decisions.

Fleurdelacourt, the 'during the evening' is the official line and it refers to emails that are going to be sent out. However, I've been told by a few people that last year, while a lot of emails arrived late in the evening, it was possible to view offers much earlier during the day by logging into one's eAdmissions account. It may well be worth trying.

The pan-London system (all boroughs and Surrey) posts offers on its website at 5pm, and at the same time starts sending out the emails in batches (has to be in batches, or the volume would crash the systems). So your email might arrive any time in the evening, but you should be able to log on and look at 5pm (volume permitting).

Thanks, Meditrina. I can just picture all of us trying to login and hoping for the website not to crash...

thanks fleurdelacourt. It is horrid. I spoke to them today actually. they said they don't really know what is happening as hardly anyone has let them know. I know you and Ladymuck are right and that it will all happen after state school offers tomorrow (hopefully)! I have a feeling we are really not going to know anything until the deadline - argh!! Thank you both for your messages though. Nice to know there are other people involved in this whole process.

Good Luck to all those waiting for grammar school results today. Hope u get your school preferences

To those on the T 10+ waiting list: there are 3-4 boys from our school with offers, who will be turning them down (either accepting W, or had only entered "just to see", with no intention of ever accepting).

So, depending on by how much T over-offered this year, there may hopefully be some movement in the waiting list soon.

BoSelectaBigBiff- Is that from Cumnor House school? Just wondering that's all

No supermummy - a state primary, believe it or not! (Lots of "pushy parents" at our school! )

And there's probably about 3-4 turning down 10+ places at W too, for the same reasons (me included - just posted the T acceptance form )

Must b a good state school to receive offers! Can I ask which one?

Wen r these patents planning on informing the schools abt declining offers. Cos not much time left b4 deadline next Monday

It's a good school. Well, Ofsted thinks it's outstanding, but I'm not quite so sure about that.

I think the fact that all of the children who got places will have had tutoring, some of them since about year 2 (not us - we "only" tutored in year 4) will have had a lot to do with it.

Sorry for all the questions do u know if any of them were offered bursaries that they r rejecting?