SW/W London Independent Schools thread part two

[Chillaxalready]

There. I've done it and started one.
1001 messages and counting!

So pleased to hear all your good news and sure our DCs will be happy come September!
Head at KGS has been very quick to respond and try to reassure that DD was actually assessed properly. Fed back on what he has found out about her results (at least I think they are her results!). She is also high on wait list which may result in an offer,but to be honest, even though it is her first choice school still, I don't think initial impressions have created any confidence...and WHS have said they want her outright, which gives me a gut feeling that she is better suited to that school anyway! They also test NVR and not just VR (despite her top English results, her VR is weaker than her NVR! Ironically this doesn't translate into any confidence with maths).

We are from a state school too and infact an average one too, where only a We are from a state school too and in fact an average one at that; where 10% (9) DC sit for the Indep schools and of those, only 1 -2 get into the more selective schools each year. My DC is also on the waiting list for KGS and we beg everyone that doesn’t want to accept their offered places at this school to send them back so the waiting list can start moving. It is bad enough feeling incredibly anxious not knowing the length of the waiting list and where DC could be placed, I am now also really worried about what Chocfingers has written ‘private school heads will phone up to lobby on their waitlisted students' behalf.’ Is this really true? Please say ‘No’ as I’m sure our head wouldn’t do that for us and I’m not sure I could even ask.

Would it have just been better to have been rejected rather than put on the waiting list? At least then we could just make a choice from what we have and not continue hoping and praying for something that may never take place. Feeling soooo sad - at work and want to burst into tears – away from DC so that they can’t see the despair I’m feel at present.
few DC who sit the Ind school get into the more selective ones.

Hey Twickersm0m I know how you feel. We are wait listed for Emmanuel. Its kinda like purgatory. Can't afford to accept another offer and walk away from a terms fees; but Emanuel say they don't start offering til after March 5th so that means unless we are really high on the list I think its too risky.

Making me crazy.Thought I'd just be happy to accept the offer we have but DD wants to wait and see.

Does anyone have experience of how much the lists move?

I've burst into tears as well in private. Am so irritated with myself.

Twickersm0m - hang in there, the waiting lists will move! Lots if people will have been thinking things over this weekend and will be releasing places today. I've just sent DD to post the decline letter to JAGS and have emailed Wimbledon to say 'no thanks'. Once the schools have received sufficient declines they can go to the waiting lists.

Prep school heads will make calls on behalf of pupils on waiting lists but you can also contact KGS to let them know you're keen. DS2 ended up on a waiting list and came from a state school and I made it clear that we REALLY wanted a place - and we got the first offer!

So don't despair, all is not lost.

Thank you for the support, words cannot express how much it really helps. DC also want to wait and see what happens and both my DH and I feel that we owe DC that much. The amount of hard work all our DC have put into sitting the tests and passing them is commendable! I will email them next week to say we really want DC to attend KGS; I might be brave and approach our school head too, see if there is anything she can do to help our application. Think I know the answer but it is worth a try...

Twickersm0m, we have released KGS offer last Friday, I hope it will help your DC. It was a hard decision, because we loved the school.

I have just sent no thanks letters to JAGS, WHS and Ibstock - really hope those places go to someone on here!

At the state primary school where I work, our Head definitely phoned up the registrar last year to plead the case of 2 boys on the Latymer waiting list, and has done the same this year to G+L for a girl who was very unwell on the day of the test.

It's worth asking!

Thank you so much Alana1975 - I so hope it helps us. I really need this to happen for my DC1, this whole process has been somewhat a confidence bashing for us. I have to go through the whole process again next year and at present with the result we have, I have lost all motivation to work with DC2, Which is so unfair I know! Will pull myself out of this dark hole, I Promise. Just not today ?

Do the heads phone the registrar? Or Head of Independant school?

I too have handed back all rejected places but admissions say this is rare so early...the half term does not help as many parents will hold, and most until the state offers are issued if both sectors applied for. The lists will then move quickly, but this is no consolation I know given the long wait already endured.

A friend recently told me with 3 boys, ages between 18 to 12 that by far, the 10/11+ process of the hardest of all (UCAS, GCSEs etc) because this process is so gruelling for our DCs, given their age. Best wishes to you all, and don't be scared to be persistent persuasive with your communications to schools if that's what your DC really want...you have nothing to lose!

Sorry! Does the Head of our school phone the registrar or the head of independant school? Just so I am well informed when I go and see our head and have all the contact names and numbers with me to give. Thank you all. xx

At Latymer it was definitely the Registrar.

The problem is do you abandon second choice and wait for first when you can't afford to accept one and then reject it later? Or do you abandon first choice as second is better than nothing? Arghhhh

Twickersm0m, I would call the Registrar yourself (not now as she is on holiday ). She is very approachable. I think you will find considerable movement after the state school deadline (March 2nd?) and then after the private school acceptance date. Don't expect much now as most people are on half term. I know that my "friends" have all gone abroad with their clutch of offers. They don't think like the nice people on this thread and it won't cross their minds to release places until after the reply deadline.

Omg, where's my Goethe quote?! I'm almost pleased to have no offers or wait list place reading this. Courage to you all.

Not easy whereas. I guess you work up to the wire. In the mean time, find out more/go visit the offer school who clearly want your DC. This may lead you all to loving it more when deadline comes, or conversely you know no change on feelings and you are then more up for taking the risk. For now, I'd big up the offer school, find some DC friends (if possible) who have accepted it too as there is so little between these great schools...a deposit is tough to lose.

I teach in one of these schools and apparently Heads of Prep schools and individual parents phone begging to speak to the Head. I am told she speaks to them but it does not make much difference to the waiting list. Remember
all schools want the most able pupils they can get so will follow their own list when offering further places.

Twickers if it is any consolation I actually think KGS favours children from the state sector - they are certainly very proud of their high state intake (it was a selling point of the school on Open Day that nearly 70% of places are awarded to those coming from state sector) and it seems most of the outright offers to MNetter's children have gone to those in the state system.

I honestly don't believe it is any benefit for applicants to attend a private prep when sitting KGS. Really hope your DD moves off the waiting list soon. I doubt there are many people who could afford to accept one place at another school while waiting to hear from KGS, though, and they say they send their wait list offers after March 5 (which is two days after most acceptance deadlines, I gather).

Losing a £1000 deposit is peanuts compared with seven years at approx. 18k a year isn't it? So I would think most people would happily lose their deposit should their first choice school become available to them sometime between now and September.

Check the T&Cs!

It's £1k (ish) for deposit now. But after April, you'll also be paying fees in lieu of notice, even if your DC never starts at the school. It should all be laid out clearly; and expect it to be enforced (everyone wants to reduce place hedging, and making it expensive is one way of so doing).

The place hedging issue is not parents' fault. We are also in the business of faffing around with places (in Paris) and do our utmost not to hold onto places we probably won't want, but the order in which we hear from schools is not our order of preference. At the end of the day I want a particular school for DD but if I don't get that one, I want our second choice, not our fifth choice, and if that involves holding on to a place for a while and even paying a deposit we may lose - so be it.

I didn't mean to suggest it was anyone's 'fault' as such - just that it's undesirable from everyone's POV, and schools do what they can to make it as uncommon as possible.

The reason why I posted was simply to point out that it's not just the deposit you might stand to lose (maybe I misunderstood waitingandhoping's post, but I thought she was suggesting it was only £1k deposit you were likely to lose by doing this, when depending on the cost if the school and the nature of the contract, it could be £7k+ which might be a much more significant strain).

The schools ought to do a better job of coordinating admissions IMO - the number of DC sitting for each school seems to be getting completely insane.

There needs to be a UCAS system with max 5 choices or something similar.

I agree Bonsoir.