Sutton high

[DawnJ01]

Hi. I’m new to all this 11+ nightmare! My DD has applied to Sutton high, which we fell in love with! Probably very naive but I know they have spaces for 80 children, but considering a lot of parents apply to up to 4/5 schools. How does a school know how many places to offer when sending out letters? Do they just offer 80 and then have a waiting list for those who don’t accept? Or over offer above the 80 places in the anticipation that not every one will accept?.

All private secondary schools offer more places than they have because they know dc have applied to more than 1 school. They use past data to determine how many extra to offer but as a rule of thumb it's around 3 offers per place and then a waiting list. If too many dc accept they lay on an extra class but for some sites like Kingston Grammar this isn't possible so they have a stricter ratio. Pre covid when dc use to visit schools for interviews you could understand the over offering because you would see the same dc again & again at different schools!

It is also much easier for Sutton to over offer as they know that a lot of parents use the school as a back-up for a grammar place. If you are anywhere around that level then you will probably get a place.

I would always shamelessly stress how much you wanted the school at every opportunity though and how much it was the first choice.

Thanks. It’s so difficult when there are no physical open days. We are just waiting for an offer now as she sat the exam 2 weeks ago. It’s so stressful! Won’t hear until Dec they said. I just can’t understand how they know how many places to offer over the places they have? Must be a nightmare to work out year on year!

@DawnJ01 we have Sutton as our first choice too, though waiting to hear about grammars as well as a few others we haven’t actually visited. At the virtual event the head was really open and she said they offer to 200 expecting between 50-60 acceptances as it’s such a competitive area with the girls grammar schools. She said they have 300 apply so that’s a good ratio. We found everything about the school so far very welcoming and the girls we’ve met from there seem happy and down to earth - fingers crossed for your DD when offers come out. Where else have you applied?

We applied a couple of years ago. The gossip in our primary school playground was that no girl had ever been rejected, though at least one had an offer conditional on her parents paying for extra support in her weakest subject. We chose elsewhere, but I really liked the feel of the school and I know girls who are happy there.

I think similar to Surbiton High, most get offers as they have to fill places, but at DD current (state) school two girls didn’t get in last year but did get Surbiton. Another was on the wait list but then got in around March,

I have sent you a pm

Corblimea can I ask do Sutton hold a wait list? How does this work with accepting places etc? Do they tell you you are on a wait list or do you ask for this if don’t get an offer?. I guess you then have to wait until after offer day to accept if spaces are available?