RGS Guildford 11+

[Sophie42]

Hello fellow parents, Just wanted to start a thread on RGS Guildford, which our children will be sitting on 11th January 2020. Not long now.

@mantapeace It is not easy. I have been counting down the days. 8 more to go. Letters are sent first class on Friday the 14th and will be with us on Saturday the 15th. Our post is always late. Could be as late as 2 pm before we get ours. I will message you on Saturday with our news.

@AtiBati @Mantapeace - I can knock 24hrs off that straight away . The letter handed out on exam day states 'Offer letters will be posted first class on the afternoon of Thursday 13th February".
So they will arrive on Friday (God willing) and not Saturday...

Happy Valentines Day!!!

@mantapeace oh yes. I see that. Thank you for that/ I hope you are right. I’ve asked around and was told that previous years the letters were sent on the Friday. 24 hrs is still 24 hrs. Can’t wait for this to be over

My poor husband won’t get a look in on Valentine’s Day! This year it’s going to be all about my son and RGS!

Has anyone heard about suicide problems at RGS? Someone mentioned it to us today after we said our son had done an entrance exam there and it has got me really worried. A horrible thing to say to us and it has completely taken the wind out of our sails but I’d like to know whether it’s true or not before I worry like mad ...

I have an older son at RGS and please believe me when I say that there is no such pressure on the kids at the school. In my few years of being a parent here, I have never met a teacher who has had unrealistic expectations of the kids. In fact, even if I, as a parent, have expressed disappointment at an end of topic test result, I have been reminded that they are all teenagers and a perfect result is not always possible.

Load of nonsense! Have a DS at the school. If there is any pressure, my DS certainly does not feel it - he’s as laid back as anything. He gets less homework than the local state school! And no homework in the holidays so boys get a complete break. School does lots of PHSE lessons to support boys and often runs workshops for parents on certain topics. School has sensible approach to mobile phone usage and drugs policy etc.

@Oldtimer2020 and @Sophie42 Thank you both for your constructive replies and for putting my mind at rest, good to hear xx

Best of luck to all you lovely people for next Friday. I’m out, not staying on a thread where I get accused of causing trouble and being manipulative which is the furthest thing from the truth. All I did was share a concern. I’ve shared information and been supportive from the very beginning on this thread. I strongly believe us mums should stick together not turn on each other especially at times like this. Goodbye and good luck xx

Hey hey now... think we all need to take a step back here... Our DSs will possibly all be friends in a few months time and this is how we behave?? 🤷🏼‍♂️

There was nothing alarmist to your post @HampshireGirl123. There was a suicide in 2012, but had nothing to do with the school. See link attached:

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.mirror.co.uk/news/latest-news/edmund-smith-suicide-claims-he-had-girlfriend-1154661.amp

Nothing to worry about and all just gossip.

I think what @Pyrfwondering was trying to convey is that, that sort of gossip is just so cheap and is pure sensationalism on the person who told you part. It is purely unconstrained conversation about other people involving details which are not confirmed as true.

We are all better than this...

Good luck for Friday!

Oh my goodness....
@HampshireGirl123 - hope the link BooRadley7 provided and the comments from current RGS parents have put your mind at rest that this was an isolated, individual tragedy. Please come back to us...not long to go now and plenty of good to be had here too.

@HampshireGirl123, the wait is nearly over. We can all be celebrating together clinking champagne glass emoticons next Friday!!

@HampshireGirl123 its a valid concern and i don't know why its being objected to here but someone asked this question at open day at RGS last year. During a group chat with one of the senior masters this was raised while I was there. It was not specifically about the/any incodent just the question that with pressures increasing on kids and so many incidents in universities what is RGS doing about boys' well being and healthy mental attitudes in general. It was quite a long conversation but the summary was that RGS have a big focus on the overall wellbeing and making sure the boys are more capable of managing life pressures as they go into universiities and beyond. He also said that they keep data and tracked them all the way into adulthood in light of the current issues. I remember this discussion being a turning point in my view about RGS (we were a bit on the fence before that as DS preferred another school). Hope this helps.

It's finally the last week of waiting. Hallelujah!!
Hope everyone's holding up ok this week...especially those whose DS had interviews. It's definitely an emotional and stressful time!

What a tough and arduous process!

Just to think where we all were a year ago? All the hard work, revision, practice papers... then the exams... and probably worst of all the wait 😁 all coming to a climax this Friday!

All our DSs are superstars for doing it, irrespective of outcome. We all can be very proud.

@BooRadley ...totally agree. Monumental effort from all the boys.
Literally cannot wait for Friday's post now.
DS playing it very cool which only makes me more proud of him...especially when I know how much he wants it!

Did your boys prepare for a long time for the entrance exam? My son only let us know in July he wanted to “have a go”! Looking back I feel so bad about not asking him about this already in year 4 or even 5 and preparing him for it in better time. He had 5 months of preparation and comes from a state school. I really hope that I’m not gonna be kicking myself in the you know what on Friday because I didn’t do enough for him.

@AtiBati - I genuinely believe that the school know how to select the right boys. They deliberately change their exam every year to avoid over-prep and they can spot regurgitated essays. They are looking at the way the boys think and react...lateral thinking; original thought etc etc

We went to the RGS open day in Oct of Yr5 and that's when we as a family all agreed that it would be an amazing school to be part of. DS absolutely loved it!
My son is also in a state school and so has had no prep during school time - I know most of the prep school are teaching towards the exams eg. formal VR and NVR lessons, timed papers...
We did do some practice papers at home towards the end and we looked at verbal reasoning at home as he'd never come across it...but absolutely not overkill and probably like you, only in the last 6 months with any real focus. No tutoring or anything like that.
Do not worry or beat yourself up.

@AtiBati you did more than me!

We did a few of the Bond VR tests over the Xmas hols so DS would know how to approach them and we looked at the example questions on the school's website but that's all. Like you, our DS is from a state school and wanted to "have a go". All the boys have done so well - just sitting the exam was daunting enough and as someone said previously they are all bright boys whatever the outcome

Oh dear...my DS only had a weeks prep. We decided on the monday that he'd sit the exam on saturday! Did feel bad, but he felt the exam went well. Was invited back for maths interview (which he felt went really well too). Only time will tell. Not long now! DS also from state school and the only one who sat the exam from his school.

@Tinytempa you would have had to signed him up for the exam back in early November. Did they take him without you doing this?

Yes they did. I called on Monday and had to return all the paperwork by the following day/Wednesday. They also emailed me the RGS practice papers and that's what we used.