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!

If it helps the T termly diary has interviews starting on Friday 12 and continuing through until the 31 Jan. So plenty of time.
THe call up process does take time so don't panic yet!

Yes I'd echo what everyone else is saying here. Unfortunately patience is a very difficult thing! 3 years ago, we didn't get the interview letter for W until the equivalent of this Saturday and didn't here from Trinity until TWO WEEKS after the exam. DS1 got offers from both.

For those who have applied for co-curricular scholarships that have assessments next week, if you don't hear by Friday then you should contact the school.

Back to check spam filters, home phone answer machines and both mobiles!

Hi all I am new to mumsnet

My son sat the 11+ exam for whitgift and trinity last week and has been invited for an interview at whitgift which we are really happy about!

I was wondering if anyone who's been through the process can tell me what to expect?. What questions they may ask. He's so nervous. Tia

Welcome Emma303 With DS1, interview at W was extremely slick. It's a very well oiled machine. Firstly, they will do their best to find an ex-pupil from your DS's school (irrespective of whether that is state or prep) to pick you and DS from reception and walk you through to wherever the interview is being held.

In terms of the interview, DS goes in first and will generally be asked a range of questions... interests, hobbies, opinions etc. He may be asked an/some academic questions but that in itself doesn't necessarily convey anything about how well he may have done.

Then it will be your turn to go in. To be clear, they are NOT interested in what you wear! So jeans or whatever you feel comfortable in is fine. Also, there is no comment/penalty for only one parent being there.

The interviewer will tell you how your DS has done. Sometimes this is specific ("he was great in Maths and got 90%") or more generic. If he is being considered for an academic scholarship, they often will tell you at this juncture (they didn't for DS1 and he still received a scholarship).

W in particular do not like being a back up, so choose your words very carefully. They appear to be less fussed about being In competition with T but are very wary of being back ups to those who think that their DCs will get into the Sutton grammars.

All in all, the process lasts no more than 30 mins and remember, they only interview people they are interested in offering too, so you should be very proud of your DS for getting this far!

Hi emma, congratulations to your son!

My DS1 had a 10+ interview a couple of years ago. It was pretty academic - he had to read a piece of poetry and then answer questions on it.

He also had to do a few maths problems. He was being interviewed by a maths teacher, and made the schoolboy-like error of saying he found maths easy. So the interviewer gave him one of the harder problems to solve...

There was a bit of general chat about interests etc at the end, I think.

We were interviewed afterwards, by the same teacher - we asked for some feedback on DS1’s exam and interview; were asked a few questions (why Whitgift? etc) and given the chance to ask anything ourselves.

Of course I’ve no idea if they’ve changed things much since then. Good luck with the interview!

Oh, x-post with firefox. But sounds a very similar experience to ours!

Hi all I am new to mumsnet.

My son sat the trinity and whitgift 11+ exam last week .
He has been given an interview at W which were so so pleased about as wasn't expecting it . I was wondering if there is anyone who's been through the interview process that can give any info on want to expect and what sort of questions we may be asked. My son's really shy and nervous .tia

Sorry I posted again thinking it was on a diff thread lol

Thank you so much for your replies! This has honestly been the most nerve wracking experience ever! We really didn't think he would get an interview! based on him saying he didn't Finnish the maths test and missed a few questions in English. But we are over the moon for him! Does anyone know how many of the children that sit the exam get an interview?

My worry is that he's not a sporty child at all! Hes willing to give it all a go but in general has pretty much played no sports! Also there are no opportunities where we live so that doesn't help.
But I wonder what would be the chances of him being offered an academic scholoship plus a bursary when it's pretty much a sports school!

We haven't heard back from T yet but the exam was only Friday so I'm not giving up staring at my phone checking emails obsessively just yet!

With the interviews, remember that they are very experienced at interviewing 10/11year old boys. They will have met every sort of boy from shy to extrovert. I remember the interviewer laughing about DS2 and saying “he’s very honest about his faults isn’t he?” - he still got an offer :)

Thanks that's reassuring. When I asked him why do you want to go there. As like a practice . He just said because it's so good . 😂 not getting much more than that.
I just wish I knew what they were looking for!

Welcome Emma! That's great to hear re the interviews, I think SoupDragon has hit the nail on the head when she says the schools are experienced and know what they're looking for. The one thing I'd avoid is over coaching. My ds is a massive waffler so I asked him what his favourite book was and he launched into this complicated explanation of a dystopian parallel reality which was really hard to follow - I just told him to try and answer in one or two sentences rather than going into too much detail. If your ds is shy then it may be that you need to get him to give more than yes or no answers but try not to direct him too much.

T called a couple of hours ago and we have an interview! Yay! I think the reason is that we have applied for co-curricular scholarships so they have to let us know sooner rather than later and they've scheduled us in so that we just have to make one trip and ds can do interview and scholarship assessment on the same day.

Anyone who has done T got any pointers? No idea if it's a regular/borderline/scholarship interview although I suspect regular as ds seemed to think exam was ok but missed out a few questions which makes me think it is most likely a standard pass. They have asked ds to bring something in which he is doing. Any other tips greatly appreciated!

Great news, sooo.

DS1 didn’t say very much about his T interview. He was asked about what he thought life would have been like 100 years ago, I think. No maths. And some general chit chat.

The “bring something in” is I think just so they have a conversation starter if needed.

I got the impression from DS1 that it was far less academic than his W interview. But that might not be the case for everyone.

Ah well done on the interview with T. I still am really hoping we get a call! We got notified by email with W although they did say it would be a call. So i can't stop checking my phone lol

W said he does not need to bring anything did anyone take anything in anyway?
I am dreading the interview I half wish I didn't have to go because I'm nervous about saying something stupid 😂 and I have nothing to wear.. I no they don't care about me but I just want to feel smart

We have the W interview on Monday and no mention in the email to bring anything. Nervous about the parent interview but what will be will be! Well done Soooo on the T interview! DS sat Latymer today....only a few more to go! 😁

Thanks so much Meetie that's really helpful. I think the key is to get ds to be relaxed about the whole thing! Don't worry Emma I am sure you won't say anything more stupid than any other parent! And I wouldn't worry too much about what you wear, my plan is to go try and find something clean that still fits properly (Xmas!!) and take it from there.

Hi Tolacar how was Latymer? A few of ds's friends sat it today too. We did Alleyn's today. ds seemed pretty chill when he left but then told me he had missed 'quite a few' questions , for some reason ds isn't that keen on Alleyn's so I think the being relaxed is more to do with the fact that he's not that fussed about not getting in! Just out of interest, how many schools are you all sitting? We are doing 4 so only one left!

If my son doesn't get a place in W or T then his only other option is awful he cries at the thought of going there! But there really are no good state schools in our catchment it's such an awful shame!

I think they use the interviews to get an idea of what they boys are like and also to help spot the ones with natural talent and those who have been over-tutored. T and W know boys inside out and there are certainly the full range of boys at the schools from sporty to geeky and everything inbetween!

DS is sitting 7 schools 😬! 4 down, 3 to go. Didn't go for Alleyns as they don't do rugby but I liked the school. Latymer was ok, DS said he thought it was easier than Hampton and the English slightly easier than Dulwich. Who knows!? I suppose it depends whether they have a good day or not!

Ah Emma keeping my fingers crossed for your ds, poor thing, horrible to have that pressure. We are lucky enough to have a decent comp on our doorstep and have talked it through with ds who is fine with going there and would prefer the schools he's sitting for but knows he'll be ok whatever.

So have just received the email from T confirming interview and it says it 'may cover a range of topics and might focus on some aspect of Maths and English' - is this a recent development? From what everyone is saying on this board T don't normally ask academic questions? Either way there's not much to do apart from ask ds to get to the point as it's only 15 minutes long and ds can riff for 15 mins on just the one question given the chance!

Tolacar we registered for a total of 7 but are now down to 4 as we realised a few were too far/not really where ds would want to go anyway. Hoping that's enough!

I'm sure 4 will be enough...there's one I was thinking of dropping but at the same time if DS is coping, it's worth him doing it. Will see what happens next week. We don't really have a state back up....! Could home school!?!

Hi So, I thought that T would only contact you this week if you were not successful, but I have just read your earlier comment where you said that your DS is going for an art scholarship, so I guess that's the exception to the rule.
I see that there is only one assessment day for art which is 13/01/18.
Best of luck

'may cover a range of topics and might focus on some aspect of Maths and English' - is this a recent development? From what everyone is saying on this board T don't normally ask academic questions?

Both DSs were asked academic questions at T and as one has just left for uni and the other just started in 6th form they’ve been doing it a while :)