So where's this years Trinity/Whitgift/Dulwich/Alleyns thread

[soooooooknowwhat]

And any other schools you may wish to add... Have used threads from the previous few years as part of my research and ds sat Trinity today! I'm more of a lurker than a thread starter but decided to bite the bullet and offer a hand to hold. Good luck to all dc's sitting exams over the next few weeks!

Good luck Tolacar! I hope Hampton went well today and sending you good vibes for Latymer!

Firefox thanks v much for the good wishes, we're not holding our breath re the art scholarship as we know it's ridiculously competitive at Alleyn's!

Tolacar I'm not sure if other parents have told their dc's not to talk about it at our prep but ds hasn't mentioned anyone talking schools he also said said he wasn't planning on talking about it in case he got an interview for a school where one of his friends hadn't as he 'didn't want them to feel bad'. I think the mums are the ones doing the talking so I'm staying well away from the school gates right now as I don't want to get stressed out! Mumsnet is an infinitely better place to vent I think!

for some reason the last message posted as my old username?! it's still me! What's going on mnhq?

Thanks soooooooonowwhat, I think the interview went ok...so hard to know!

Re your comment on boys talking or even parents talking...the kids have been told by the school to be mindful of what they say in case they upset anyone and they're pretty good at sticking to that. However I think the parents need to be told!! It makes things awkward. I'm quite an open person and if someone asks me whether my son has an interview, I'll tell them. However I don't think going around telling people your child has an interview to those you know are going for the same schools is very helpful or mindful at all! There are a couple at my sons school, the mind boggles! I have a younger son and some of the mums from that year have said they find it so odd that none of the year 6 mums are talking! As you say, this is the place to vent, talk etc. I find this thread very helpful and therapeutic! 😀

Radmumsie I'm afraid that there doesn't appear to be an absolute rule re:scholarships at W. With DS1, at no point was it even intimated that he might be in line for an academic scholarship, however, he was offered one. Conversely, I know of several parents who were told "you're son did really well and is under consideration for an academic/all round scholarship" and who then received a full fees offer in the end.

We've just done 10+ with DS2 and although he was called for a Sports Scholarship Assessment, his interviewer did not mention that at all during the interview and instead asked lots of searching questions on English (his weaker subject).

So I guess they apply slightly different methods for different boys.

Agree Tolacar! My rule is also don't volunteer info but answer honestly if asked. Ds is currently a bit cross because I pulled him out of the LU exam at the last minute - I didn't want him sitting Alleyn's and LU on the same day and decided from a practical viewpoint that Alleyn's worked better. The funny thing is I don't even think he really wants to go to LU, but I think there has been some playground talk unfortunately re which schools are harder to get into and I think he feels he lost the chance to show he's got what it takes! I had to explain to him that it's really hard not to want to impress other people but he really is only going to go to one school and we have found four that we think he would be happy at. He's even got me second guessing now and wondering if we should have swapped our super academic choice for LU (ds found the assessment days tough) as the more I think about it the less likely it is we will send him there anyway if he does get in! I think this process is bringing out the worst in me - overthinking and feeling guilty all at the same time!

Thank you for that in sight into the scholarship process very useful to know

Don't feel guilty sooooowhat I think I would have done the same thing. I think doing the due diligence 1-2 years beforehand and then focussing on the schools that you think are best fit is a better strategy. I can understand if you haven't had the opportunity to do this then perhaps getting your child to sit 5+ exams is necessary - but I think there is such a thing as exam fatigue. It's a good lesson to value not 'following the fold' anyway - your DS will thank you for it later on.

Thanks Inthe! I think you can't win really, I think of the four I am now starting to doubt two of my choices for ds so we've only got the two left, no use crying over spilt milk but I think LU may have been a bit of a better fit for ds than Alleyn's - it felt a bit more down-to-earth and diverse, even though it has plenty of privileged families too! Either way it's all done now so it's a matter of working with whatever offers we get, as many pp's have pointed out, any dc who gets to go to any of these schools is very lucky indeed, so am going to take a deep breath and stop getting so caught up in the nitty gritty!

anyone has any idea on how the 11+ KCS interviews are structured? tnxxx

No yogli666 but I'd be interested! Don't think you can really prep for these too much!

Agree Tolacar, just curious if its academic or just general knowledge/current affairs and personality

Once we had all the scholarship offers in it was very difficult to decide which school to choose. We will always wonder 'what if'! Ultimately all we could do is look very coldly at what school was the best 'fit' socially and academically for our son even though it meant turning down some very prestigious offers. He's happy where he is (SS Grammar).

yogli and tolacar can't advise although do know some boys there so if I do hear anything at the school gates will update you. Well done to your boys - it's not easy getting to interview stage at KCS!

MrsPatmore thank you for sharing that. I think the social aspect is the trickiest for us as ds is very gentle, quirky and also quite a deep thinker so we want somewhere he can find like-minded friends who are happy to discuss the meaning of life with him (to give dh and I a break!) I think because all these schools will inevitably attract some people who are quite status-oriented it has been off-putting in some cases when we've come across parents who are quite snooty for want of a better term. You find people like that everywhere though, I remember the clique of stuck-up mean girls at my comp with their equally 'posh' parents (not posh at all by London standards, but posher than many at my school) so I think it's just a matter of remembering that no school is going to be perfect (easier said than done right now though!)

Hi ladies, we had our W interview today. the interviewer was very happy with my son he said my son has all the good qualities that they are looking for in a child and he have done well in his maths and easy not so good in comprehension . At the end he said that they may not offer my son an academic scholarship but we are hoping for academic scholarship. Can anyon tell me what does this means for us .

Please any information will be very appreciated.

The social aspect is a tricky one. Our children are at primary. Only 1 other child in my son’s or daughters class has ever been skiing, some have special needs, others are from very financially challenged homes, some on the SS radar. He didnt like DC and made a very astute comment about the headmaster which I agreed with.

Trinty interview went well on Saturday , chat with headmaster but no mention of scholarship just that our son had done well so far. No academic questions at interview either so no idea really where he stands.

As for choice I also think maybe 1 we shouldn’t have gone for. We like the school a lot but its probably less academic than Emanuel and not that close. Our son didnt get Alleynes which disappointing for him but I was slightly underwhelmed and it was 2nd choice to T.

"At the end he said that they may not offer my son an academic scholarship but we are hoping for academic scholarship. Can anyon tell me what does this means for"

I think it means that your DC will be offered a place, but not a scholarship. We're you also applying for a bursary?

Hi there, been mostly lurking and following a few of these threads. I notice it’s particularly quiet on girls’ school so asking on here ( I know it’s mostly about DSs)

My DD sat 4 independent schools and she has an offer already, but not first on our list.

She has had interviews with another school.

Has anyone on here’s DD sat JAGS exam? They sent out an email about scholarship interviews which will be next week, saying if we have not heard by the end of this week then we should assume no call back for scholarship interviews. My question is, has anyone actually received an invitation to interviews? Of all the girls that sat the exam in DD school no one has heard back, and there are some really bright girls who passed super selective grammars that haven’t hear also. So I’m just wondering if anyone has heard.

Thanks. Good luck to all those who are still having interviews.

My DD sat the JAGS exam. We haven't heard back re the scholarship but one of her friends has; and had the email the day after the update email came out.

I think they have been seeing the girls this week.
I'm not sure why they said "if you haven't heard by the end of next week" when they sent the emails to scholarship candidates the day after! It's strung things out for the majority! I have DD1 at JAGS so I'm not quite so worried (sort of) about getting an offer.....although there's no sibling policy. My DD2 has always performed better than her sibling in exams so I'm holding out on that being the same for this exam. I can't say I'm not worried though. It's all just as stressful as last time.....

Warm I did wonder about that too. We don't know many people that sat the JAGS exam. But don't know of anyone who has been asked to attend the interview either.

tinkerella The date on previous correspondence said 1st of Feb. for interviews . I agree it's a shame and not very nice that they've strung it out. They can't be calling that many people back, anyway.

Thank you for your responses.
Hmmmm, so even though published date for interviews are next week, they may have actually done them this week .
So we can focus on the 2 week wait now...
Tinkerella and pudding, hope it goes well with your DDs.
Yes the wait is stressful, no matter how many times you’ve done it.

I could be wrong with the interview timing.... so many going on at the moment. I don't think i'm up for doing a faux casual "yeah so...err... whens the interview"... .
I think I'm just going to assume we're onto the 2 week wait on this one..
To be honest I was more focused on getting in than the 'bonus' of the scholarship. We didn't get the tantalising email of hope first time round with DD1 so I didn't think about it at all that time !

Thank you very much( AnotherNewt) for replying. Yes we have applied for bursary but don't know how it works ? Is it possible to be offered bursary but not scholarship.

Yes, it is. It is also possibly to be awarded a scholarship but not a bursary or neither. Applying for a bursary doesn’t mean you will be offered one and I’m not sure how they go about choosing who gets them.

Unfortunately you only find out when you get the offer letter whether it is a full fees place (no bursary or scholarship) or discounted in some manner.

Thanks, SoupDragon