7+ / 8+ London boys schools Dec 2018 / Jan 2019 (St Paul's Juniors, Westminster Under, Kings)

[RaspberryCake]

Hi everyone, just wondering if anyone has a DS doing the 7+ or 8+ exam for some of the London day schools, like St Paul's Juniors, Westminster, or Kings. My DS is doing the 7+ and the first exam is on December 1st (St Paul's). I think I have a fairly good idea of the exam structure but, of course, I would welcome any top tips - as well as company from a Mumsnet support group, as we go through this! Good luck to everyone!

signing up for the company! westminster in Jan, St. Paul's is a bit too far.

Thank you :) DS is doing Westminster too. I think we are equidistant between the two. What are you doing to prepare in the run up to exams? We come from a state school so DS has had to do quite a bit of extra work. He took it in his stride and understands that he will have to sit an exam. He is also convinced he will pass. We have no benchmark and no guidance (unsurprisingly his school doesn't help with any of this) so I really have no idea how he compares to others.

We are also in this for both SPJ and WUS.

We are following the maths syllabus provided by spj and use that as a benchmark. Lots of timed writing practice as well.

Anyone did Kings last weekend? How did it go?

Not us. I looked at some threads from last year. They were so active. This year's are so quiet!

I think there are less people applying. We don’t have as many applicants this year at 7+ than we have had in previous years. Still lots, just not as high as before. No reason for less people to apply.

Brexit uncertainty? 😂

Hi Trinity0097,that’s interesting. What school have you noticed the drop in applications at 7+?

Shameless placemarking here, we did King's last weekend which was hard, as you would expect. Waiting to hear the outcome is excruciating so I am glad to have company.

I heard there were 300+ boys did Kings 7+. Still seem a lot.

How many offers does Kings make at 7+? I heard 300 is approximately the number that try for St Paul's do but I have no idea if this year is any more / less than previous years.

Ds did WUS a couple of years ago. First round was okay - general 11+ preparation adequate. BOFA online to practise the computerised bit.Next round was harder - poetry analysis, trickier written maths questions. Look at something like the Manchester Grammar School past papers.

Final round was interviews with a maths and English teacher. Presented with a challenging maths concept (something along the lines of what ds is now doing in Year 8). They are given an explanation of this concept then a problem to solve which they talk through with the teacher. I think the school is not necessarily looking for the right answer, but a willingness to explore concepts. English interview hard - again a poem to discuss. Ds and I had covered poetry analysis as part of the super selective Grammar luckily. Then finally there's an interview with Mr Dereham and the head of WUS - general stuff, what are you reading etc.

Hope that helps.

Aagh- just seen the thread is 7+ - sorry!

Have any of you done SPJ on Saturday and heard back the result already?

My eldest is now at WUS but came out of his final interviews feeling like he hadn't done too well so I agree that they're looking for a love of learning rather than someone who's learned the right answers.

@@rasberrycake we just got the email invite back for an interview. Phew!

We didn't get it. Not entirely surprised to be honest, we had to make up so much ground at home compared to his state school. We are exhausted. The process has been very helpful though as it helped us realize the shortcomings of his current education in a clear way. So off to prep-school we go now and moving him from January.

Can I ask a really un PC question- what sprr of household income do people have who send their kids to these sprts of schools?? (Especially if you have more than 1 child). I am asking because we are seriously considering sending our son there (we have 3 DC) and we have a very solid middle class income (probably close to £150k - we both work), bit the fees just seem crippling to us. So i am wondering, are we just being selfish towards our children s education, or do people who send their kids to these schools earn a lot more than that??

CocoC - 3 children are going to be expensive to put through private schools. I think dh is on more than 150 and we only have 2.

Can i ask, does anyone know how many boys sat the 8+ for WUS and St Pauls this past week? Also how many boys do WUS take?

I should add, we did but very difficult to guage what the odds are. St Pauls seem to have used several buildings to house different groups so not possible to see how many boys even attended.

WUS seemes to have over 100? Assuming only one day of exams ?

Don’t forget that many candidates will have sat for more than one of these schools - and the same candidates are often offered places at 2 or 3 schools. So don’t despair based on numbers alone.

does the school offer bursaries at 8+?

Fees go up every year and up again at senior school. I think it would be very tight for 3 kids on 150, I wouldn’t consider it on less than 250/300 and even then it will eat a huge amount of net income.
Madness I know

Sorry for this post, we did 11 plus. How do you get results by email 9r post please? How many days did it take to know either way? Thank you.