Is it too early to start a 2016 girls 11+ W/SW London thread?

[orangina]

What do we think? DD is sitting 11+ for various consortium schools in January 2016 and I am slightly desperate for a thread to compare notes, pat each others shoulders etc..... I lurked on last years thread, but it didn't start until much later....

Just booking up open day places and filling in my registration forms now.....

My DD said the same - although she didn't manage to finish the maths either. She also seemed to think different groups of children had been given different comprehension papers which seems odd to me

All ready for G and L tomorrow?? Long morning for the girls...

Anyone at nlcs test today? ?

Does anyone know which SW/W London exam was on today? Saw a neighbour's child heading off and didn't get the chance to ask. Being a bit nosey as my child is also sitting exams but wasn't doing one today!

It was reserve day for SCHS today. There may have been others (main or reserve sits). I don't think anyone can keep track of all of them!

Might have been Kingston grammar

Thanks. A reserve date makes senses as poor child is sitting every exam going

How did your girls get on at G&L this am? My DD seemed to think that the Godolphin Exam was more difficult than the SGPS one!

Hi Mumofthree1976… dd sat the G&L exam this morning, but didn't sit SPGS, so have no point of comparison. She seemed to be quite happy when she finally emerged (a bit of a scrum on collection!), and having gone in feeling ok about maths and worrying about english, she came out feeling that her english was better than her maths. She didn't finish the maths paper and I'm not 100% sure she tackled the opinion piece as well as she could have done, so am not feeling very optimistic.

So difficult to gauge how they've done isn't. My DD wasn't very confident with the maths paper at SCHS this week, but happier with her English (usually her weaker subject). I was trying to convince her that others probably found it tricky too, but she said no, they all thought it was really easy!

JAGS tomorrow, imagine that will be a scrum.

Managing to keep her spirits up at the moment, just another few to go and then the wait! I'll be on here day and night come early Feb looking for clues on how we might fair based on others news.

Hang in their mums!

Hi orangina - my DD said the same about the Maths paper. She is stressing that she made silly mistakes and the questions towards the end were quite hard. It is her first choice of school so now I have a very worried child. I am trying to reassure her that she probably isn't the only one who found the papers hard and she did say that a child in her group starting to cry in the middle of the exam due to the pressure. Why do we have to put our young children through this!!

Can I offer my support to you all? My DS sat his first ever exam yesterday - 10+ for Whitgift. He is the only child from his state school sitting 10+ and we've found it nerve-racking. TBH I don't think he's gone enough to get in and we started tutoring far too late but it's good experience for next year I suppose

Good luck to your girls

My DD sat the godolphin and latymer exam today said the English paper was manageable and math was harder than nlcs

Dd also said she thought that everyone around her finished their maths papers and she didn't. I pointed out that she didn't know whether any of them had left questions blank. G&L is also dc's first choice by a long way, but despite her feeling that she hadn't done very well in the maths, doesn't seem to be overly concerned at this stage….. I will have to big up the Group 1 schools I think…..

Shirleycantbe I saw you posted this a while ago and just wanted to let you know it is complete and ignorant rubbish.

But now I've had it suggested that this will actually put her at a disadvantage as she'll be judged negatively and will be chasing a limited number of SEN places. Aargh! Feels like a no win

My daughter is dyslexic and dyspraxia and went to LEH. All of these schools understand Specific Learning Difficulties, after all we pay for educational excellence, and they know the ways in which it manifests itself. When I rang to make sure they wanted her they showed a very good understanding of her strengths as well as weaknesses. They welcome diversity in the classroom and different ways of thinking. A very common comment on her report was that she had creative ideas that the whole class benefited from. They will spot the signs in many of the exam papers they mark for girls not yet diagnosed, part of the reason LEH include reasoning questions (and indeed the more complex Maths problems for the more selective schools are designed to provide evidence of reasoning / lateral thinking skills as much as knowledge) . They are looking for potential not crammed knowledge. In year 7 all the good schools will test for SpLDs and in the end around 10% of the year group will be diagnosed, because that is the incidence in the population regardless of ability. If anything they will welcome a child of parents who has recognised that their child has a SpLD because too often they encounter resistance from parents who hold these prejudices about "labels" when they try to support their daughters.

So there are no quotas and no negative perceptions of SpLDs. Indeed it seems as if the most selective schools are the most supportive. As an aside I would reassure yourself about the level of support at Ibstock. In it's relentless drive to rise up the league tables I did hear a lot of tales of students with SpLDs having difficult experiences there but I think there has been a leadership change and hopefully they now have more enlightened strategies.

Oh and good luck everyone. I am probably wasting my breath but they really do tend to end up at the school that is best for them

KGS was well run today for the afternoon session of 10+. dd thought English was the hardest but overall said her experience of the process was positive. So was good practice after all, whichever is the outcome. Good luck to all having tests next week

My DD- who usually ok with Maths papers did not finish the paper leaving a few questions at the end.She did not finish the English either. She was getting over a cold but pessimistic about this one - hopefully she can use it to improve exam tactics for the next ones.

Whatwouldrondo - thank you so much for that detailed and reassuring reply! LEH were certainly very reassuring on the phone. She sat the exam on Weds, didn't finish but then that was what we expected. Godolphin and Latymer today - also seemed quite hard so what will be will be. Not a lot we can do at this stage!

I very much appreciate your kind words.

Am slightly relieved that dd was not the only one who struggled with the maths paper….

Hi does anyone have any idea about the type of calculation a school would make in respect of the number of available places to the number of offers made - eg. if a school has 50 places, would they make 100 offers, plus waiting list places so as not to be caught short? Or would they have to offer more?

It depends on the desirability of the school and the number of applications per year. The registrar at Emanuel said they offered 6-1 or they made 6 offers for every available place. I would imagine that is pretty much the highest it goes.

Minoula: It varies from school to school and year to year. I've heard that some schools offer more than 2x the places they have available while others (particularly highly academic ones) make offers only slightly in excess of the targeted class size. Some schools - sometimes in reaction to having miscalculated the expected "yield" in previous years - become cautious and make few offers initially with the view to drawing on the waitlist if necessary. Overall, it appears to be more art than science.

True Orangina ,I think I might have to big it up too.Though I wonder how many people will be called to city of london interview. Does anyone know what nos are for that school and how many places are available

argyle1234 we are not sitting for city of london so i can't help i'm afraid.