City Juniors 7+ any feedback?

[anxiousparent22]

how did it go for everyone?

@bstrong0805 someone on another thread said they called Highgate and they said early next week…hopefully today but maybe tomorrow. How did your DC find the assessment? DD felt it was easier than city, not sure if that’s a good or bad sign 😂

Like City, many other schools in the area have sent out the results by email exactly 1 week after the exam so it should be today. At least I hope so, this wait is painful!

@SparklySparky my son said the exam at City was also much easier than Highgate (which I found surprising!). He said the NVR was tough at Highgate and Math was mixed. I don't have high expectations but lets see!

It really is painful! Best of luck to all.

We contacted Highgate and they said “later on this week”. Last year, it was two Fridays after the exam so that would be this coming Friday.

DS also thought Highgate was trickier than City. Good luck everyone!

Thank you @Crunchycrunch , can stop obsessively checking emails now. Wow that seems like a long wait, but then there were literally hundreds of kids there, wonder if there were more than City?

Oh god so we have to wait all week 😭 DD said she found Highgate easier…she didn’t get through to the next round at City so I’m worried she’s misinterpreted all the questions at Highgate 😬😬 I can’t cope with potentially doing this all again at 11+!

There were ~360 students at City, according to the lady at the door. I have no idea how many sat Highgate but from memory there were fewer spots on offer at City than Highgate.

I think it’s the other way around unless something has changed. According to their respective websites there are around 80 places on offer at City and 70 at Highgate.

Yes, 360 at City sounds right. I know a child in Y4 there now who said they were told that. @Crunchycrunch thanks - I can also stop refreshing emails now! I think Thursday or Friday seems more likely now. Most schools shut on Friday so in any case we should hear before that. Anyone know how many sat Highgate?

On City from the tour we went to they said looking to admit 75, equally split boys and girls. This was not long before the deadline for admissions and at that point they said they had 300 applicants pretty evenly split by sex. So 360 would sound about right.

It does mean though that your child is competing for 38ish places against 180 boys or girls as appropriate. Presumably a higher number of offers to some degree to allow for multiple offers.

At our Highgate tour in Oct, they were expecting 310 applicants. Idk how they know this level of precision though!

Does anyone know roughly how many City and/or Highgate call back?

From City looking at my notes from the tour they said 150 for round 2.

Thank you and well done for taking notes.

My DD seems to think Highgate was harder than City but overall thinks SHHS was the hardest.

on the Highgate website, there are two pdf’s with admissions policies for 7+. In one of them it says that they invite back approx half of the candidates back for an interview.

Just got the Highgate email. Another no for us 😢

So sorry to hear that. This is brutal process

Thank you crunchy. Feel like I have really let DD down, I think she could have got there had I had more availability and time to prep her. Really regretting not going for an independent school from the beginning, I feel she’s regressing a bit each year at state but I just don’t know if we can get her in anywhere else, occasional places seem very hard to come by and clearly she’s not cutting it for these top schools.

I’ve been reading but not commenting as not directly related to me but have a son who did the 7+ at Hampton this year and a daughter who did LEH 7+ the year before so I’ve done my time. I perhaps sadly looked on mumsnet too and was quite astounded. You have not let her down at all. We realised when we went to Hampton that most of the children were also sitting the exams for some or all of the London schools,
often (but not always of course) with a year plus of tutoring or from cultures within which it is the norm to do extra work from an early age (which I totally understand). Feel free to PM but you really haven’t failed her at all x

@SparklySparky this is v tough I know. When we toured City we were the only state school family in the room.

The reason we are considering a 7+ move for DC2 (only applied to two schools though, both of which have secondary transfers) is that DC1 (state educated for primary) is doing the 11+ for local private schools.

I hadn’t appreciated until relatively recently the gap between the SATS/National Curriculum expectations and requirements against the 11+ and also until very recently EXACTLY how much focus and drilling the prep schools do for the 11+. And even then most of the prep kids seem to have private tutors on the side for hours a week even when the schools discourage it.

I don’t know what the answer is but a state primary education to 11+, even at a good school, has suddenly felt like bringing a knife to a gun fight.

@SparklySparky : I have read with interest how some MN parents (both working) prepared their state educated DC for 7+. I thought I could try it myself doing 20-30 minutes a day before/after school. The prep school my DS will go does not prepare for 7+. Luckily one of the parents in one of FB groups kindly shared their experience. That was eye opening, to say the least!
The parents did work but that was just supplementary to professional tutors from the start of reception year. Their boy seems to be very bright and studious. He was attending online tutoring lessons, one hour every day, since the start of reception without parents constantly monitoring him. He pass City7+ exams and already got an offer from another school.
I spoke to my colleague re. 7+ and 11+. His son passed 11+ exams to City and now attending it. He was in private prep still had tutors to prepare for 11+.
My colleague said my DS can sit 7+ better to try 7+. That's is still big question whether my DS will be mature enough to do one hour tutoring from September next year.

Education is a life long journey. They are so young at this age, you couldn’t have let them down! One doesn’t need to go to these handful of academic schools to achieve in life. Maybe consider sending your DC to a good prep school, give your DC time to flourish and let the school guide you which secondary/ senior schools might suit the best in time for 11+?
(And yes plenty of children do get in competitive / selective senior schools from state schools too)

Education is a life long journey. They are so young at this age, you couldn’t have let them down! One doesn’t need to go to these handful of academic schools to achieve in life. Maybe consider sending your DC to a good prep school, give your DC time to flourish and let the school guide you which secondary/ senior schools might suit the best in time for 11+?
(And yes plenty of children do get in competitive / selective senior schools from state schools too)

@AegeanBlue : I know a few families where DC went to state primary and then to private secondaries. But they started tutoring two years before 11+ and mothers did not work so could take DC to tutors.
It is hard both for DC and parents but achievable.
Also some private prep DC go to state secondaries. Not every child is academic and parents do not see the point to pay for a mediocre private secondary.