Wallington County Grammar School

[TheWomanOnTheBus]

How difficult is this to get into compared to the other Sutton/Croydon/Kingston grammars?

Does anyone know what sort of score is typically needed in the entrance test to get in?

Thanks

Thanks, CustardCake, yes I saw the 326 on the website, but wonder how much higher you (typically) need to get to actually get a place. Appreciate it will vary from year to year.

Hello The WomanOnTheBus, as CustardCake stated WCGS is deemed a 'super' selective as it has no catchment area and in recent years has become horribly oversubscribed.

In regards to the passmark, the school has changed the information received upon passing the test and will no longer tell you what mark your child acheived or their rank order position. To clarify the only information gleaned is that you child scored over 326 and how many other children scored over the passmark e.g. for the Spetember 2011 intake - 1676 were tested and 451 were successful. Following on from the notification that your child has been deemed selective, you then have the agonising wait for National Allocation Day, when you find out if your child has obtained a place at the school.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, both.

It is of course worth remembering that those who pass WCGS, typically, but not always, will have also passed, Wilsons, SGS and possibly either St Olave's or Tiffins depending on where they are based. So as 450-odd pass WCGS, they have a reasonable chance of getting into one of the schools (given there are 390 places in just the 3 Sutton schools). Last year offers were made to boys scoring 336 and above at SGS, so would expect similar at the others, possibly higher at Wilsons due to its stellar results recently.

Again for SGS the final offers were made last year at 332. (First offers at 336).

Whilst WCGS seems to be on the up (or so I hear), and Wilsons is always excellent, I have heard a few bad things in relation to SGS recently. So I suppose slightly easier to get into SGS in terms of scores.

Not by more than a couple of points. And certainly judging from the Sutton mocks the number of children scoring 390 are very few and far between. Just the maths alone would indicate that if around 450 boys are of selective ability (326 and above) and there are 390 places available in the borough, the mark to secure a place won't be vastly higher than 326. Parents have different preferences, and there will be some who prefer Sutton over WCGS. A boy should come out with excellent results from any of these, but there are other factors which mean that a particular school will suit better. For example we've decided not to apply for Wilson's, as we are looking for something "rounder". Friends are pursuing Wilsons as their first choice but knowing that they will use sports clubs and groups outside of school to supplement it. And geography can be a very important factor.

Also fwiw I have children at 2 indie schools which prepare for the grammars, and haven't heard specific negatives about Sutton recently. This year's A level and GCSE results were fractionally better than Wallington's but not sure that there was much in it.

What were the negatives on Sutton? It's one of the nearer Surrey grammars to us and I wasn't at all keen on Tiffin Boys, so was hoping this would be a good choice (not visited it yet.)

I have heard - and this is purely anecdotal - that it has quite a macho feel to it. Certainly not for mavericks, Sutton likes boys who do what they're told and are good at sport and CCF (forces cadet training). From my one visit, suspect its art and drama is not as strong as some as the other schools in the area.

Firstly, there are no grammar schools in Croydon.

TBH, you can't state what score you need to get to get in. You need to be in the top however many school places there are. If it is a particularly bright cohort, you need to do far better.