7+ 2024/25

[Caps0218]

I haven't seen another thread similar to previous years, so thought it would be beneficial to start one as exams are now 1 month away.
I think SHHS, UCS, KCJS and WUS are all in October.

Also - Curious to see if number of applicants are down this year, with Labour's VAT raid.

We also had a group meeting with Mr.Snowball in SPJS R2 after drop-off. There was a short but rather “creative” writing exercise in R2 according to DS.

@Fullmoon99 Tough one - We are doing Highgate and did City, if he gets the former then no, we will send him through to 18. City - then we may do 8+ and / or 11+. If he gets neither then obviously we will do 11+.
However strong his maths is, his English is the opposite. 10 years ago he probably would have got in with his Maths, but now they want the full package!

No just group q&a session.

We actually stayed back a bit and asked and he mentioned this year all the feedback will be in January per the emails they sent out.

I hear you. SPJ seem to be keen on tutor-proofing their writing tasks. At our small group tour earlier in the year, they did say the 1st stage doesn’t have CR because they were reading so many similar pre-prepared lines.

Really hard to tutor proof, as many of the kids will be tutored in the 2nd round. They then feedback to the tutor who prepares accordingly.
This feels that the new head is doing his own style. The 2nd round seemed shorter in length than in previous years.

We applied to top-tier schools- KCS and SPJS only

KCS: He couldn’t pass the 1st round. His scores- 72% in English and 40% in Maths, although his Maths is much stronger. unexpected Maths. The KCS feedback mentioned that his listening, VR, and NVR were well above average. If he had performed slightly better in Maths—even if below the cut-off—he would have been called for the 2nd round.

SPJS: He couldn’t pass the 1st round. No feedback yet.

For 2nd-tier schools- we decided to apply only to those very near us as we were sure we wouldn’t be moving house.

He received offers from:

• Hampton Prep: This is the junior school of Hampton Boys.
• Shrewsbury House School: A prep school for 13+ with an excellent track record of sending boys to top senior schools like SPJS, KCS, WUS, Eton, Harrow etc and same league.

We are not originally from the UK (we moved to London almost two years ago). Our son studies in a state school which is quite slowly at snail's speed. Whatever he has achieved for the 7+ exams has been without external help/ tuition/ online—just me teaching him at home. Overall we are satisfied with his performance.

Initially we thought of trying the 8+ but now decided to go with the flow and proceed with the current offers. These 7+ has given us a good understanding of his level and capabilities.

Feedback or suggestions are welcome.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts @Caps0218 and @San2023
No idea what we will end up doing. Will see where our chips fall.
If DS is up for it we might continue trying to study and work slowly through some weaknesses to see where it takes us. But it’s dawning on me that halting completely on home-study or at least exposure to accelerated learning won’t occur in any scenario. If DS enters an academic school, it will be challenging him a lot more than now and I assume there will be some impetus to ‘keep up’. If he doesn’t enter anywhere, this process has opened a can of worms!

We’ve gone for the top 3 academic schools and some 2nd tier Co-Ed all-through ones.
If we do 8+ it seems sensible to add some feeder preps in.

It was 2.5-3hrs. Was it longer in previous years?

Anybody doing Highgate on Tuesday?
Seems only comprehension and maths with some
NVR.

these are similar schools, id concentrate on location and gender preference (single sex/coed)

and writing as well, not sure how creative it is gonna be.

@daddy888 I believe it's a continuation from the comprehension text as opposed to a story, so possibly a paragraph. Similar to WUS first stage.

@daddy888 what is your order of preference in terms of schools for DS?

@Caps0218 did you mean if you get City, you will stay at your current school and then try for 11+? Reason:Too urban?

In the nicest way, why would you put your son through that? They learn so much at school, it’s long days anyway. Please don’t be one of the clan who continues to tutor and their children then only associates learning with extra time out of school and the pressure from parents to be “better”. As they’re not stupid; they can see this and they all talk. See where your child ends up and let them have a rest.
I say this as a mum with two kids who did the 7 plus. We did tutor for about 4 months for one and two sessions for another. But it’s honestly insane at one of their schools how much tutoring still goes on and it’s a very top school. They just grow up with the pressure to “be the best” x

My DC said it he found it ok. They had some writing exercise about describing a ship, about 10
questions in maths and then the rest of it online. 13th feels very far. Good luck

No - if we get City, then we will take it but will then do 8+ and 13+ if not successful, seems more places at 13 than 11!
but will try Highgate at 11+ also
We would prefer a campus school, which City does not have.

No preference: we’ll just toss a coin to decide where to go if there are multiple offers after all the results are in.

Thanks, that's good to know.

Hampton Prep sounds amazing @San2023 . Well done to your DS

No preference in terms of location/co-ed etc? Where are you based @daddy888

No preference as we are happy with all the ones we signed up for, and it’s a relocation for us regardless of which one we ended up with.

How did people find Highgate this morning?
DS said it was marginally harder than City, but significantly easier than the 3 top boys schools.

Does anyone know when Habs boys will send out the results of the first round? Thank you!