11 plus 2026 entry

[jdr1234]

My ds has been fortunate and received interviews invites for all 4 of the schools he has sat for- I wondered in reality how likely it is that he will now get offers. Is it really the case that most schools cut the number in half again after interviewing therefore he may end up getting this far and getting none? For context we sat habs, ucs, city and St Albans.

Based on very little other than limited personal experience and what I’ve read on these boards I’d say candidates in your son’s position could expect an average of 3 offers - unless they are someone likely to struggle with interviews or come across in some way as a “bad fit”.

My DS is at St Albans School; when he did the admissions test last year we were told 280 applied and 220 got called to the second (so after both exam and interview). The admissions lady on callbacks day said we had got over the biggest hurdle and they were looking at making as many offers as possible. They ended up with around 85 (some of those places went to late applicants) so I’d guess they offered maybe 200?

It’s a bit different for the schools where the interview is the second stage as more is going to be riding on that.

Habs Girls said this year they’d had 300 sit the assessment for 70/80 places. But crucially that’s places not offers - all schools have to over-offer to a considerable extent as most candidates (like your DS) typically apply to 2/3/4 or more schools. My guess for Habs is they will offer at least 200 to fill those places and probably slightly more.

Out of interest @jdr1234 do you have an order of preference if you get offers from all four? I’m curious as to whether it’s the case that London candidates use St Albans School as a backup option.

@BarqsHasBite thats really helpful thank you. Ds has just come out of the call back and seemed to really enjoy and they said 300 sat for 11 plus and 250 called back so pretty low numbers cut so far.
Our preference is probably ucs but habs and St Albans work better location wise as we are in radlett. All fantastic schools!

I don’t think it s the case - north london area would use mill hill as a back up rather - noting as well that mill hill has seen better results last year - st albans is considered a great school but more inconvenient transport wise ( we would need to take Thames link which is not too close but not unfeasible) so few in our area apply - so it is a back up in a way but more because of location for london kids - preferred schools will be Ucs / highgate/ Habs for their bus / city

What I mean to say is imo while mill hill is a back up academically - st albans is not but more because of location for many london boys - if I look at DS school - we applied and another 2 boys applied and they are all in top sets- so I think the level of applicants is rather high but ultimately they over offer bc of location but end up with still a pool of v good level kids and hence as well can maintain good results - that’s what I think. It s different situation than say mill hill offering / cutting same % . The pool is different

I would say if you have applied for 4 you would have a good chance of getting 1 or 2 or more. The cut will be less after the second stage. I would, however, say from what i have read that due to location St Albans is used as a backup school due to it's location agreeing with the other person. I would think they need to offer 3-4 times number of offers to fill places. I would think good chance of offer at st albans as long as DS does not mess around in the lessons or stand out for negative reasons. It is obviously less popular as only 300 apply. UCS has less offers so think this is the most competitive since they call 250 back so will need to be in the top 25-40% to get an offer. Habs have 100-110 places we were told around 600 applied and 250 called back, I would think Habs have an offer acceptance rate of around 65-70% so would make around 150 offers so your DS would need to be in the top 60% to get an offer. These figures are just my opinion so could be wrong!

That’s interesting about St Albans being a back up geographically rather than academically, makes perfect sense. We’ve been really happy with the school but we live in St A.

Having driven in rush hour this week from Habs via Radlett to St Albans I did comment to hubby that if we lived in Radlett Habs would without a doubt be my first choice! Though of course the train means it’s an easier commute than doing Habs fro
St Albans.

@jdr1234 re the admissions stats for St Albans this year the waters are muddied by the fact they are allowing children to sit the 11+ for deferred Y9 entry. So applicants aren’t all chasing the same pool of places - there are more places in offer.

@BarqsHasBite yes I got this from what they said today. 400 have sat but 100 for the deferred entry

Ah, that makes sense. I still think the overwhelming majority of call-back candidates will get offers.

I am curious re the interview process, I can’t work out if there is inherent bias - kids with top exam results will be selected subject to messing up the interview or every interviewee is considered on their own merits. I guess only admissions staff know the answer(!)