7+ exams for Westminster, King's and St. Pauls

[Heist]

Hello Everyone, my son is writing 7+ exams for Westminster, St.Pauls and KCS this year.
My son is preparing for a while now and struggling in English a lot as of now.
Could someone please provide me more insights on the interview and activity tasks that the kids are asked to participate in and how to ace those bits? How could I prepare my son for these bits?
Thanks a lot.

What about schools if he isn’t successful at this stage?

Where do you live?

Is he really struggling with English, has his school told you that? Or is it your view as you are pushing him so hard?

Is English spoken at home or your first language?

I live in Wimbledon.
He struggles with inference based comprehension questions and most of the times with compositions.

If he struggles with comprehension and story writing then you need a realistic backup for 7+ which isn't just putting him through the same thing again a year later.

My DS goes to outstanding state school upto year 6 and thus, as such I am not worried about back up options.
Some help on improving comprehension and story writing will be useful.
Also, please suggest what kind of comprehension is asked in the past in St. Paul’s, KCS and WUS so that I could clearly understand where is my son parked right now.
Cheers.

You really should check with your school so they can guide.

Your state school won't be preparing your DS in the same way that the typical feeder prep schools will be doing, hence your DS will be at a disadvantage and maybe that is why he is having difficulties.

Although it's not everybody's preference, you may want to consider tutoring to supplement what he is getting at school.

The prep schools are now spending more and more of the school day on exam practice as well as group exercises and interview practice, so they will peak around the time of the assessment. Even then, that is no guarantee since there are a lot of very qualified candidates for each place. Hence, why an earlier poster said to have backup. But looks like you'll be fine since your current school goes up to Year 6.

From a state school with no tutor the odds are against you and if you're seriously planning 8+ I'd start tutoring now with that in mind. Good luck with it all.

@Heist

Does anyone know what time the open day is for St Paul's juniors tomorrow? I had the email confirmation of a place, which just says we'll get further details closer to the time...

By the time I realised I didn't know when it was the school has stopped answering the phone! 🤦‍♂️

Tomorrow is Westminster not St Paul's

Definitely St Paul's... (I think!)

Tomorrow is Westminster for 7+ for sure. Don’t know about 11+.

We received a waiting list offer from Kings 8+ yesterday. How many spaces do they have and how many children make the waiting list?

DH jokes that they don’t want to upset anyone- they never reject and just tell you that your son is on the reserve list...

Has anyone ever heard of a boy being turned down?

That’s definitely not true. At 8+ I think they have 14 spots and about 130 candidates. From the reserve list there will be movement but not until end of January once commitments to SPJS and WUS have been made. But it’s a handful of kids and there is no guarantee to move.

@tweedandpearls it depends on whether they would over offer. But given the small number for 8+, they wouldn't over offer much. There surely will be movement in Jan when SPJS and WUS results are out. Good luck

Would be interested in finding out if anyone did the SPJ exams today and how they found them?

Anyone had word from SPJ yet on 7+ recalls for interviews? I’m going out of my mind!

Does anyone know the numbers on SPJ callbacks? How many are called back for how many spots?

About 100 callbacks for 54 places

I don’t want to throw a huge dampener on things but my son got into what was then Colet untutored at 7+. He and various other boys we know have been struggling with depression and anxiety as young adults. Getting into a ‘good’ school doesn’t always lead to a happy life.

Eastpoint - such a true point, and I’ve heard much along the same lines. I really dislike what this system has become over the years.

Eastpoint - have you seen this more in the boys from 'good' schools compared to others who attend schools which might be considered more mainstream? And what do you think it is that leads to this? Interesting to hear from one who has been through this system.

I don’t think it makes a lot of difference where they go (all 3 of mine have now left secondary school & are at uni).

My daughters thrived at an amazing school both took part in the activities available and have lovely friends. Son didn’t take part in activities, not a sportsman and there were other boys who were more academic & more driven, I think he was rootless within the system. I know boys who’ve had similar issues at Hampton, Latymer & Kew Green. I also know boys who have done brilliantly at those schools, it just isn’t guaranteed.

When do people have their SPJS 7+ interviews?