UCS 7+

[worriedmum2016]

This morning was UCS 7+ exam. Wondering how it went for everyone? Our DS gave mixed feedback about the morning. He seems very overconfident about maths but I'm not sure if it went that well. Couple of questions he recalled were reasonably tricky.

"He said the reason is that he wants pupils from say 50 downwards on their list to get an offer straight away due to the intense competition with other schools."

Do you mean to say that the top 50 scorers get an immediate offer? So if you are only applying to 1-2 non-competitive schools, your chance of an offer is better?

Does the order of interview day matter?

"They will always have some children where there is a fall back to Westminster or StPauls." Do you mean the other way around where Highgate is a fallback option to WUS/CC?

Thanks

Sorry TennisMom doing posts at speed never a good idea. I should have been much clearer.

Taking your last point first. Yes I meant that Highgate is the fall back for some, in case they do not get WUS or CC. We know plenty of families where the children have sat for say 4 or even 5 schools. For some of these families they want WUS or CC but have Highgate or say UCS as a fall back. That is not to say that some people would not choose Highgate above any schools - there are always exceptions as comes down to personal choice and what you think will suit your little one at the end of the day.

My understanding from the Head is that they will "over" offer on 1st Feb. So they may issue say 80 offers in the first wave to get 50 acceptances. This is because they make a judgement about offers they make which will be declined with input from the other schools. Mr James even went so far as to say that they mark children Offer Accept (OA) or Offer Decline (OD). Clearly it is not clear cut in all cases whether an offer will be accepted or declined. He was categoric that this made no difference to whether they actually made an offer. They will offer even if they expect it to be turned down in favour of say NLCS. But this will alter the number of offers made in wave 1.

They want to get as many people letters in wave 1 because they know many of the children who they want will have more than 1 offer. It is competitive for them as well as our little ones. Mr James indicated that he preferred to get pupils 1st wave offers so that they can make a clear choice between all schools in the first 10 days of February.

They will then run a wait list. He said in past years that they have been down to child 90/100 on their list as parents make final decisions. We would be delighted with a wait list place but not everyone feels like that and they feel that your are "2nd choice".

The number of schools applied to only affects the number of offers made by Highgate, not who they offer to.

I am not sure about the order of interviews. A very good friend has two older children in the senior school already. Her child is being seen this Friday. They already told the family (by phone call Friday) that his marks on the exams were not good enough but were still seeing him under the sibling policy. The Mum told me that at 11+ (which was the entry point for both her two who are there already) then the children are absolutely interviewed in rank order starting at the top. My son's tutor was way less clear on whether the order of being seen had any bearing at all.

Hope I have been clearer this time. This all relates to what I have gleaned re Highgate. The schools all do it differently.

Do you have a child with an interview? When are you there?

Gosh I really don't think they interview the Highgate 11+ pupils in rank order. Last year my son was one of the first to be interviewed. He has surname towards the beginning of the alphabet, as did the other children I know who were interviewed that day.

Plus I really doubt he did that well in the exam (and if he did, he must have really flunked the interview as he wasn't offered a place!).

The schools absolutely want to offer exactly the right number of places to not go to the waiting list. It must be a very tricky balance as you can't exactly predict who'll accept. However, you know for a fact that it won't be all of them offered - the chances are that the best children will get loads of offers. Parents and children who are given straight offers to a school and waiting list offers to another will feel much more positively inclined towards the former.

Do you think its a bit odd that the heads of schools meet to discuss the candidates. Sounds a bit dodgy to me.

Do you think its a bit odd that the heads of schools meet to discuss the candidates. Sounds a bit dodgy to me.

Do you think call backs for 7+ Highgate are in alphabetical order? We are on Wednesday morning and our surname begins with "A"!

I prefer to think that the meeting of all the heads is practical rather than odd. As written above so they can get a better sense of how many offers to actually make in the 1st wave. Nobody wants their child to feel like "2nd" choice. Head at Highgate Juniors was asked outright at Open Day if this meeting took place or was it gossip. He said that it did happen but it was not a "carve up" of the candidates between schools. He stated that nothing would stop him making an offer for a top notch candidate even if he thought that the reality was that they wanted and would likely get WUS or NLCS. This sounded true to me as we all know children who have received multiple offers.

We are "B" on Wednesday but my son's friend is "F" and back on Friday. Make of it what you will?????

Re: 7+ Heads meeting-
There used to be a formal consortium with Highgate, UCS, Habs and Mill Hill. You got a form with the schools DS sat and you ranked them in order of preference, the Heads decided who they wanted and you got 1 offer only. Much easier for almost all concerned as much smaller waitlist operated (for Mill Hill, basically) and parents couldn't sit on multiple offers (except for WUS and CC). I suspect this is now going on more informally.

This was before Highgate went co-ed, BTW.

and my friend is "P" and on Wednesday. What does it all mean????

We are towards end of alphabet and are on Friday?! Lord knows how they sort it out.

It does happen that occasionally kids choose Highgate over WUS for example - but not very often I imagine!

I'd heard that siblings who hadn't performed well in the test got phone calls on Friday. I was very relieved we didn't get one.

Haggismcbaggis - Can confirm that our good friends with two children (doing well) in the senior school were called Friday by Highgate and indeed told that the exam results were not good enough. Guess so they manage expectations when the letter arrives. He was invited to Friday assessment and they are planning on taking him for the experience and to show their commitment to the school. They were told that they could be considered for an occasional place between now and 11+ if he makes good progress at the prep school where he is.

Heard from someone else surname "R". In at 8:40 or 8:50am tomorrow. The Dad could not recall exactly. Son very able. Also sat WUS but said that was across the board harder in terms of all papers and extreme time pressure

Fingers crossed for everyone over next few days

CB2009, did this boy get through to second interview round at WUS?

TennisMom - he only sat Mill Hill/Belmont and Highgate. No WUS

Thanks for the info CB! That must have been very tough for your friends. Did it come as a complete shock or did they have an inkling he might struggle (if you don't mind my asking)? (Sorry for hijack given this is the UCS thread)

Haggismcbaggis - I am guilty of the thread hijack too! No probeln re asking. They were prepared for the news although never nice. They did not start prep early enough - Autumn early. They did go to meet Mr James in the Autumn term to explain their situation. He had all the data on their two elder children from the Senior School. Eldest boy super talented and turned down Westminster and City so all the family (2 boys and 2 girls) could be together. He told them to try but it was likely that if 7+ competitive then he would not get in. But they would be well aware of the family and looking to help down the line with an occasional place. I think Maths will have been fine. Story sounded better than my son's feeble attempt. Think the issue could have been the comprehension. I collect the boy at the end with my son and he said that he had not been able to answer many of the questions. His Mum knows that his reading needed work. Addressed that in the last couple of months but we all know that takes time. Hope this helps a little. His prep school goes to age 11 so no support at school and the Mum did everything. No external tutor. Hope this gives some insight for you/your family

Interesting to know. We have other kids at the school and they certainly do love a family and will try to accommodate where possible. As you say - if he catches up on reading & comp he may well get an occasional place. Those are invariably filled by sibs.

What schools did your DS sit for? We only did H'g as we will just stay put and do 11+ if not successful.

Haggismcbaggis - Our son "just" sat Highgate and Mill Hill/Belmont. My husband and I both went to co-ed and so it is our strong preference. Sam is an outdoors sporty boy so the green fields also informed our choice. Good luck

Had highgate round 2 today. Now it's just a waiting game until they post (yes - post!) results on 1st Feb. Argh!

TennisMom - re read thread and your question. Boy we know did not get asked back at WUS

efrieze78 - how did your child find Highgate assessment/interview??? We thought that they had given a lot of thought to the specific child with whom our child was partnered. Age. Background. Type of school. Our son seemed to enjoy. Who knows!!!

How was the interviews au Highgate today?
HABS had 4 rounds with sports, written maths, thinking/ comprehension and something else which my son couldn't recall. Wonder if Highgate was the same?

Highgate was just a 40 min chat. Nothing written.

CB2009 - I don't know if there was any thought about the specific child she was partnered with. He was already 7 and DD is July birthday.

But they both come from state primary schools I believe.