Can anyone 'rank' the SW London selective schools

[FlumePlume]

Inspired by the SW London thread, I was wondering if there's a generally agreed 'ranking' for selective schools in SW London? The usual advice is to go for three - a stretch, a should-get and a banker. But what does this actually mean in terms of schools? Coming from a state primary, the whole thing is very opaque.

eh? it's just number isn't it? number of places offered compared to numbers trying to secure a place? = your odds = "how hard it is to get into" which is what the OP asked. Whitgift is easier to get into that Trinity at the moment because they offer more places, hence take more boys with lower marks. is 500 applicants vast? I thought they were all 400/500.

Parents receive guidance about which schools to sit based on how strong a candidate they are for that school. Schools go to great lengths to dissuade parents from sitting their children for schools that are too ambitious. The idea is that you sit them for schools that they have some chance of getting into.

You can't compare the 500 sitting Trinity to the 500 sitting another school.

is 500 applicants vast?

When my oldest son sat for Latymer there were over a thousand. I don't think it's particularly vast, no.

Local boys schools in order of place according to the Sunday Times parent power:

2 St Pauls
6 Westminster
11 Kings College
14 RGS
23 City
27 Latymer
38 Hampton
44 Trinity
46 Dulwich
57 Whitgift
67 KGS
135 St Johns
192 Reeds

I have always assumed that it must be easier to get into schools around Croydon because there are so many quite close together, but unless they are adding huge amounts of value they must be just as difficult to get into.

surely it's the quality of the candidates and the number ranking that school as their top choice that is key - not simply that there are 500 applications for 70 places?

I don't know some of those schools in the list so cannot comment but think a ranking is misleading. IME with a group of Y6 boys last year, there was no consistency as to where they all got offers or even interviews - some schools are looking for certain characteristics/talents?

Yes fleur that's exactly what I meant. You could have 500 applicants for 100 places so you could say your odds of a place are 1 in 5 (not true but for simplification). Then next year have 1000 applicants in total yet the extra 500 are nowhere near the required academic level so again your simple odds are now 1 in 10 but that's not true in reality, it's still 1 in 5 really...

Hampton do seem to set one of the hardest exams and yes it does appear to be maths heavy - I was told that the maths result counted twice since there were two English papers, but I don't know if that is true. I remember that DS2 who is very good at maths only just about finished the Hampton maths paper and many didn't even get that far. Compare that with the Reeds' maths paper he finished it, did it again to check, then looked out of the window until the end.

I'm surprised to see St. Paul's ranking above Westminster in that list, given that SPs sends around 33% to Oxbridge and W around 44%.

I'm slightly biased in that my oldest is at W, it must be said.

And in defence of Kings I would say that the required grades to stay for 6th form are very low because they are aware that many boys joined at age 7 and will want to stay with their friends. The specific requirements are 22 points with 4 for an A, 3 for an A etc, bearing in mind that 96% of exam entries were A or A it's a difficult target to miss. IME Boys tend to leave because they want to pursue a particular sport or drama! ( parents have too much money will never have to work).

And every school now weeds out after AS levels even the local comps if DCs son't do well enough.

Westminster do send far more to Oxbridge but they attract the superbright odd kids who probably only concentrate on the subjects they like. All the W boys I have known have been off the scale clever but justs a teeny bit odd! No offence MOC.

It's OK, my son is a bit odd. I couldn't deny that.

perhaps some of the most talented students are going to Kings, Imperial, MIT, Caltech, Harvard, Stanford or other top Epn universities? Oxbridge is not the only indicator of success..

Yes but you would assume similar percentages at each establishment would choose to go to Kings, Imperial etc so Oxbridge places is still a good rough guide.

Indeed, Oxbridge is not the only indicator of success but at the moment it is the easiest comparable indicator for academic success - but not one we ever thought about when finding the right school for the right child.

I reckon my eldest could easily have gone the Oxbridge route for maths which he finds very easy for some reason, but there is no way that would suit him and he didn't even consider it!

Oxbridge is the best measure of its kind that we have for now.

I'd like to see similar stats for the US Ivies or other top international universities for reasons you suggest agapanthii but I suspect that as cake says there's a pretty standard distribution of students applying to top universities.

I've crossed posts with SAHD.

which school is RGS, forgive my ignorance, i dont know the more central schools.

The a Royal Grammar School, Guildford.

There's a RGS in Reading too. Assuming it's not that one.

*a

Interesting to see this has revived again.

Having had more of a look, the thing I'm finding is the lack of co-ed options locally. There's Emanuel (which isn't that local, but an easy journey to Clapham Junction), but not much else that's easy to get to. Though it may be that what dd wants is a school where she fits, and as the only child she gets on with in her class at the moment is a boy, she thinks that'll be co-ed.

I'd like to find her an all girls school for 11-16 which suits a serious, quirky, dance and music loving child.

How is your daughter academically? What year is she in?

Emanuel is riding a tide at the moment, it's co-ed, has a sibling policy and is incredibly customer-service orientated.

Museum Feels weird to answer as too much like boasting, but here goes. She does very well academically (working at greater depth across the board last year, whatever that means) and is currently in Y4. Particularly strong in English, absolutely voracious reader and working well beyond anyone in her class on comprehension etc. Maths is good, among the top few but varies by the topic. Also musical (can read music, play an instrument and sing simple part songs/rounds) and very keen on dance.

Don't worry about it, that's what MN is here for.

Year 4 is early days and most preps (who have a good grasp on matching kids with schools) won't advise until late year 5. Most selectives (superselectives?) want 125+ on standardised test scores e.g. INCAS.

She's at a state primary, so no advice or support at all. That's why I started this thread, to get a sense of where would be sensible places to look at and then to try and whittle that down to a shortlist.

I had a quick look back to see where you live but haven't been through all the thread so sorry if this has been suggested before.. City of London Freemans in Ashtead. It's 22 mins train from Wimbledon and they have a shuttle bus up to the school. You could enter early as well as they go through from a young age. Co-Ed. We've always liked it and DS did apply there but I was never 100% keen as the journey for us is not great. Lovely grounds and facilities. You should have a look.

We were state primary too by the way, 2 boys, and no advice from school!

OP I live in your area and went through this last year with my DD, also from a state primary with no advice from them. I looked at about 14 schools (mostly during year 5), including state, grammar and private, mostly single sex but a couple of co-eds too. I can't say I found it an enlightening process. In the end our favoured school was the one she could walk to, that also provided good academics and I'm not regretting the decision. With a longer school day and lots of homework a 15 minute walk home is a massive plus and lots of her friends are local.