3+ 4+ 5+ 7+ support thread 2018

[mumteacher]

In previous years I have started these threads to help and support all those involved in the independent school admissions process.

I wasn't going to start one this year as I know I would not be able to check back on it as regularly as I would like, which then defeats the purpose of the thread.

However, after numerous positive PM's about the threads I think it would be a shame not to start one where at least the hand holding can continue.

There are many many people who have been through the process and 'live to tell the tale' . There are also other tutors I know who read this thread and it would be great if you all could help and support and share your ideas👏🏼

(Roll on 2018!) 😉

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/2783435-3-4-5-7-support-thread-2017

@lovemybabies2much wondering if you managed to make a decision yet?

Congratulations @4plus. That must be a relief!

Has anyone heard from Highgate 3+ yet? Nailbiting!

@Sanya83 Hi, so good to hear from you. Yes, we have made a decision. Will PM you.

@newmummycwharf1 -- hi there, no we still haven't heard. They said early February... Any day now I suppose!

Thanks Nlondonmummy. Fingers crossed then!

Dear mums ..does anyone have any updates on 4+ reserve list at NLCS and has anyone declined NLCS for other offers, wanted to check if there can be any hopes as DD was on the reserve list

All NLC places are taken... I have been informed this late afternoon ...

@schooltime sorry no, we ended up accepting nlcs today. Hang in there, there could be some movement between now and September. Do you have a back up

@newmummycwharf1 @NLondonMummy
Hi newmummywharf1 and NLondonMummy, My DS been to the assessment last month, just wondering, if you two have heard from Highgate yet?

@mamalovebobo -- Hello! Still nothing yet....

Schooltime, so sorry you are still on tenterhooks. You can ask to stay on the reserve list in case a place comes up later. You must explicitly ask so they know you are keen. Not to give you false hope but in DD1's year, a girl moved at short notice over the summer and one girl came off the reserve list. She was the only one, though.

I also have a child in first school and I can categorically tell you that tutoring is definitely a norm. Parents are secretive, no one wishes to share details of which activities their girls go to, until you land up attending the same event and then realise that the other child also goes to it. Most parents are either covertly competitive or in your face competitive. Either ways, not one can be trusted especially when they say things like ‘oh my child barely had time for Maths or spelling practise!’. The kid just miraculously knows everything!

Teachers are a mixed bag, it’s no different to being in a corporate environment where so much of one’s success is a mixture of ‘personal ability, Lady Luck and nurturing Line management’. The kids are also a mixed bunch, some are very nice and others not so much.

When you sign up your child for a school like Nlcs, it is knowingly that so much depends what you do with your child outside of school and how well your child demonstrates those talents/abilities at school. Almost all assessment based independent schools are similar, the only difference being that it gets magnified that much more at Nlcs.

nlcsparent, are you, perhaps, confusing extra-curricular activities with tutoring? Are you talking about over scheduled DDs who do ballet, gym, instrument tuition, art classes etc and 'miraculously know everything'? Unless things have changed a lot, hw in the first school took 10-20 mins and DD1 usually found it fun. If your DD is spending more time than that doing hw, something is wrong. Are you referring to Kumon? Some mathsy parents and DDs actually find this a fun thing to do. You'll probably go berserk when you see all the KS2 opportunities for activities for STEM stuff over the school holidays. Those activities, obviously will only be made known to a select few families at NLCS and invitations arrive in encoded form by email. Or, go to your local newsagent- the secret codewords are 'Time Out' and 'Angels and Urchins'. Do burn after reading.

A couple of people have now come onto this thread and said that there is a lot of tutoring in the first school at NLCS. Your youngest child is in the sixth form horsemadmom. You're saying that both those people are making it up and there is absolutely no possibility that the culture in the first school has changed since your kids were there? none?

horsemadmom, if you say Kumon is just an extracurricular activity and "most kids find it fun", of course there is no tutoring. Do most kids also find it fun to do "leaders are readers" holiday camps and fill in handwriting worksheets with mummy?

I have lots of friends with kids at NLCS, it's true that many don't actively go to an external tutor, but they do work a lot with their mums outside of school, and working parents have to resort to tutors so their kids can keep up.

In the senior school, of course kids are more independent and can study on their own. But I don't think you should sell prospective parents disneyland. At least half the kids who get in at 4+ were tutored for the assessment, and a lot of them won't stop after.

horsemadmom, if you say Kumon is just an extracurricular activity and "most kids find it fun", of course there is no tutoring. Do most kids also find it fun to do "leaders are readers" holiday camps and fill in handwriting worksheets with mummy?

I find the postings totally unfair to NLCS. The whole point of going to a selective school is to have an aggressive scholarship atmosphere.

The only thing I know about NLCS is from the mock test that they offered online a few years back, which we used when our kid was taking past papers. I found the NLCS font really strange, hard to read for my adult senses even. I looked it up, and I found that they were using a dyslexic-friendly typeface! Why on earth would they do that: it would appear to me that they should be doing precisely the opposite and make it harder for students with various difficulties to get in! So, I think the evidence speaks for itself. It is actually fairly inclusive. If kids are struggling, that means that the school is probably setting the bar fairly low to admit them in the first place.

No-one is saying the school shouldn't be academic. various people have pointed out that it isn't uncommon (not everyone, of course) for NLCS girls to be tutored to keep up and that's something prospective parents might want to bear in mind. that's all. other equally academic schools don't have the same culture.

'fun' should have been in quotes. I wouldn't have been able to drag either of my DDs to Kumon. Nor would they have been best pleased if I had signed them up for a half term of coding camp. But this is where some girls' interests lie. That isn't tutoring.
BTW, my youngest isn't yet in 6th form. She'd love the bump up, though- access to the cafe!
I'm nearing the end of the whole school experience thing and most of you are just at the start. Here's a tip- it's their homework. Not yours. Supervise your DCs. Do not stand over them. Do not do it for them. It's 20 minutes max or you write a note in the diary.

HoverParent- I've got a very bright and dyslexic DD. Are you suggesting that she should have been rejected?

OK, thanks for the qualification, like I said I really don't have any info about NLCS other than the test we took. And that was nothing extraordinary, other than the strange typeface, which I discovered was to make it easier for certain kids, not harder. The test was definitely not as difficult as Habs or Westminster.

Another test for how academic the kids are, would probably be how many make it into Henrietta Barnet. Given that it is similarly academic, in the same neighbourhood, and FREE, a good experiment would be how many transfer. If very few transfer, that should be a fairly clear indication that: 1. they are of fairly same academic level as kids in general and 2. they are willing to keep paying 20K a year for whatever people are complaining about. My bet would be that many don't transfer, for either of those two reasons.

Hi horsemadmom!

That is perfect! No, I think that means you are a poster parent for what I was trying to prove!

If you have a kid with learning difficulties at NLCS, and you don't tutor, I think we should all be listening to you!

Just as an addendum, we signed on to a selective school for our kid, and second paragraph states, if your kid is dyslexic, they are out. So the fact that NLCS does not create a big fuss about such things, is a really good sign.

That's pretty unusual @HoverParent - plenty of dyslexic and dyspraxic kids in my daughter's very academic private school and they get full support. I wouldn't choose a school like that.

Yes, I found it odd that it is the second thing they mention, right after duty of care. Also that the second round was basically a gym class, I guess to screen out dyspraxic kids. In the end it did not apply to us, so we are not going to make a fuss about it. But it does show that NLCS is doing a good job in making for an inclusive environment. The trend in North London selectives in general seems to be quite the opposite.