The Trinity-Whitgift thread of 2013

[hardboiled]

I thought I would start this tradition once again while we all wait? DS only sat Trinity...

Basildonbond - Thank you for your input. I hate that over subtlety of the British language. So much to read into....

Interviewer actually said that way but also mentioned "I was concerned about his English but his spoken English is very good. I am not worrying any more". "I love his personality. I would like to give him an offer". and went on "you will hear good news". But only to be waitlisted. I now reckon interviewer must have decided to offer but may have been challenged by some committe thing or HM. He was a quite senior staff but i wouldnt reveal name.

My wife and son's tear of joy and relief turned into despair after fortnight. BUT time cures and I was saying 'nice to see you again'........ W is still a good school.... What can i do...

Pls tell me if it was just my lack of english...

Burntoutdad-- get your point but then again will u call them during your holiday?

burntoutdad - we also fly out on 16th. So it will have to be either heaven tour or hell...
I would just assume worst case and develope backup plan while on plane which can be dumped happily after holidays.

Doolallyali- Welcome on board! you posted just in time see post following yours re positive feedback at interview. I think we here are all agreed now that although nice to hear and a bit of a confidence boost it cant be taken as read that an offer will be forthcoming. Keep grounded, but stay positive.
There is no passmark as such and in the end (if as last year) a large proportion of boys do in fact get offers. Now just a waiting game im afraid.
And now you have joined this forum most of your spare time will be spent reading posts - it is very addictive (smile)

I was kind of thinking that what ever happens by then its over and nothing we can do. The letter will be there when we get back and its contents wouldn't have changed.
wjchoihk - that sounds like an offer to me no matter what language you speak.
Why not name the culprit so we can be even more worried if we had him for interview?

burntoutdad - thanks!! We were not really expecting amazing results - so all the positivity at interview threw us a little. DS has unfortunately got excited that he has done better than he had ever hoped to. sigh. I do think it a little unfair that they can be so positive when it is all still up in the air, and especially with boys who are clearly middle/borderline. I certainly will be keeping up with this thread now! Also - understand your predicament about going on holiday just after the post arrives. My default is to try to expect the worse and if it's anything better ...then it's a bonus!!

Doolallyali - as you read through the posts you will find mine somewhere which is almost echoes your identically. I think at the time I used the words 'morally wrong' for the over positivity but have since seen it slightly different after reasoning from other forum members.
We were there Mon too - who did your interview?

Like many here I'm off with the family (including DS1) on the 16th. Is there anything that has to decided while out the next 10 days? Sorry for the dumb question -- I grew up as an expat so bit clueless.

Mum at school drop off today said her DS had been offered scholarships to W and T - is this happening already. I thought offers wouldnt be out until Feb 14th. Is it all over??

Hi Johnny - deadline for acceptance is Mon 4th March so you have a little time to enjoy yourself. Just realised that we are going on the Friday - oops. Will be in trouble with school.

Mum at school drop off today said her DS had been offered scholarships to W and T - is this happening already. I thought offers wouldnt be out until Feb 14th. Is it all over??

Bedgers - letters do not go out until the 14th. I would presume that the mum in question would have had been told in interview by both schools so must have an exceptional DS. Still not certain until letters out though. At W scholarships are still being determined certainly in sports as there are call backs for various sports over the next few days.
Unless they have been offered academic scholarships for outstanding results!!!

I agree - she will not have been explicitly told that her DS has offers. It could well have been made clear that offers will be made though - W told me this about DS2.

Hi all - interview at T today! DS taking it all in his stride! Just wondering about this " DS already been offered Scholarships" post. I though that at T it was only the boys who where interviewed, not the parents. I'm shocked that the kids will have been told they have scholarships! You know how kids are. Maybe there's a misunderstanding?!? I'll see what my DS has to say today. Good luck to all with interviews and sports recalls today x

Goldfish678mum - Very good point. Although I thought that the parents are interviewed only when a scholarship is being considered.
Good luck today!

Good luck today goldfishmum!

I feel shattered . Just so glad it's over and we just have to wait now. It's going to be a very long two weeks (and two days!) though... I didn't sleep much last night, mulling it all over. Pointless I know!

Every year there are parents (and boys) who say that they have been given a place/scholarship before offers date. They never have anything in writing, and they never know any details - they're just reading a lot into interview feedback. Of course if you've been told that your son got one of the highest marks and how they think that he'll thrive there, then you're going to assume that you're going to get an offer, and in fairness, most boys who get interviewed will get an offer. But it isn't always certain.

In terms of parents getting information from T, there will be parents already on the phone looking to negotiate with the schools, if they are confident that they have a strong candidate, more especially if they have 2 sons sitting at the same time.

Fatal - I was the same. Began to think of some of the things said here and compare with our interview. Did DS really change and come out of his shell or did the interviewer just say he did well to be positive? Did he really feel that DS needs to move on or say it to gauge whether we were seriously considering a move this year?
Doubts start to creep in, but I think now what is done is done. We have the sports recall this afternoon (poor DS has stinking cold, runny nose etc!) but I guess its only to decide whether we get a scholarship or not as the decision is already made on whether he has an offer for a place. And then the wait....

Ignore all school gate rumours/boasting about offers and scholarships made!

Last year one mother was loudly telling everyone that her ds had been offered 'very substantial' scholarships at both schools at the interviews, but it turned out in the end that he went to one of them on an all-rounder scholarship - good, but there are a lot of those offered (usually only 5-10%) and it was certainly not the major sports scholarship she'd been implying

It is possible to be reasonably confident after interview that an offer will be made if told that your ds has done exceptionally well in the exam and you know that he will offer 'added value' to the school - e.g. is already playing sport to v high level, is v musical, has appeared on west end stage etc

Goldfish As far as I know from last year only the boys at T were interviewed. The HM was available for informal chats whilst the boys were being interviewed, although you could ask for a meeting if you wanted to. I am sure the boys themselves would not be told they had scholarships. Similarly parents have not been told for definite - they are just reading between the lines of what may have been said (although only W have the parent interviews).
Hope all goes well for your Ds today.
Good luck to anyone else still interviewing or having scholarship assessments.

Thx to everyone for their comments. I can't believe how stressed I would get about this! Trouble is I'm gona need a scholarship/bursary to even have a chance of sending him there so any info on this gets my heart racing!!
What will be will be! Guess ill find out in a couple of weeks. Can't wait till its all over one way or the other!!

Just thought of something else to obsess about (as if not behind with work as it is).. does anyone know what weight they attach to the VR paper? DS's performance in English and maths papers was mentioned in his W interview as well as ours, but no reference was made to VR. I would imagine that would have been his weakest paper and he also found that to be the hardest part of the W exams - has anyone else received any feedback on that?
Good luck for today's interviews!

Well just to add to the debate, it does happen, not all parents are bluffing. The parents of top performers at certain London schools are being told right now that they will be getting academic scholarship offers. That doesn't mean of course that if you haven't been told you are not being offered one! It just means that some schools want to get in there early to the parents who will have a real choice. It is very silly though at this stage to be telling everyone out loud at the school gates.

Good luck today Goldfish and burnt, you've got beautiful weather for interview and sports recalls!

Relax, enjoy, don't over analyse any comments or body language (difficult, I know) and whatever will be, will be. Look forward to reading how you and ds got on later.

nothingyummymum - would like to know that myself? was told that DS did extremely well on VR - i think its used as a guide to logical thinking.
Wouldn't worry too much about it if other results are reasonable, we have been told by another pupil that quite a few did not get to finish the VR paper some had even left a couple of pages!