As the Tiffin deadline looms, is there a girls SW London grammars / indies thread yet?

[FlumePlume]

I just realised that I need to get the Tiffin Girls form in ASAP, and wondered if anyone else is in the same position? I could do with company in this process!

We’re not yet decided but probably applying to Tiffin, WHS, SPGS, Sutton High and maybe one of PHS / Emanuel / KGS.

And she's done... phew! DD had Surbiton yesterday and LEH today and seems pleased with both days so fingers crossed. I'm more glad it's over than she is I think. I was having major doubts over Christmas whether it was sane to put 10/11 year olds through this and risk rejection!

Good luck to everyone else

I still have those doubts TheExtra

if i had my time back i would not do this again

PHS waste of time tomorrow then done

TheExtra Woohoo! I’m so glad it’s over for you.

Kalifornia I’m so sorry it’s been so stressful for you. How is your dd feeling?

Sorry don't mean to be dolly downer. Best of luck to all your DCs xx

Ah thanks - and I didn't think you were being a downer!

It ended up being ok for us because DD seemed to positively enjoy all 3 exam days she did (unlike Tiffin which she did find overwhelming) - I am still worried in case for some reason she doesn't get in as I think it might upset her but she's absolutely fine and says she will be perfectly happy (helps we have a good state option)

I am certainly hoping for a good state option to come through!

Kalifornia, best of luck for Putney tomorrow. I'm sure it won't be a waste of time and your DD will have a better experience xxx

Flumeplume, mine didnt do too well in the 3rd maths section for SPGS, she only could attempted 3 out of 7:(, there was no time for the 4.

Hi Flume - DD also came bouncing out of SPGS. She said she thought the Comprehension was great fun and she drew an invention . Also deciphered Cornish and Old English? She said the first two maths sections were fine, but the third was more extended questions. She did LU today and found that maths harder. Anyway, She is generally quite upbeat so I guess regardless of how it actually went, that’s the main thing. PHS tomorrow and then just one more Fri. Bring on the weekend! I also have elder DD doing GCSE mocks so all fun here.

My DD did not finish the maths when she sat St Paul's and she got a place so I think not finishing is OK, and girls who did not finish are still in the running provided other stuff is good. She is absolutely not struggling with Maths now she is there, btw, so I suspect it is pitched fairly high. They may in fact be interested in what children do when faced with something they don't know how to do, as well.

I suspect the Comprehension paper is quite important. I remember DD really loving it and her performance on this was mentioned in her acceptance letter.

Re marking everything fast and deliberating over the interviews, I think the interview is important in terms of them selecting children they actively want to teach. So do encourage your daughters to enjoy it and speak up and not worry about getting anything 'wrong'. I think they want children who will participate fully and not be afraid to give an opinion.

DD really enjoyed her interview (she is a talker by nature) and they don't ask anything terribly hard or designed to confuse. It is just a good chat as far as I could tell. They do do the thing where they show them a picture and ask them about it. DD got a surrealist thing with lots of meat, possibly Dali, and misidentified the whole business as marshmallows and sweets which she thought hilarious, both during the interview and afterwards - so it doesn't necessarily matter if you get it 'wrong'. I think they also talked about religion for some reason, and DD was asked how she'd convince someone religious to question their faith. DD is interested in philosophy so this was right up her street and they probably had to kick her out the door still talking. She was still actually talking as they delivered her back to me, at which point she switched to talking to me.

Kalifornia beware, though, we got our dream state school offer (lovely comprehensive with extraordinary results, people cheat to get into etc) and yet still had been so suckered by the private school process that we didn't take it in the end. If we'd known we'd have been offered a place (was v unlikely) we'd have never gone down the stupid hateful stressful 11+ route.

And yet because daughter did so well by the time we got the (July) offer from the desirable state, we'd already emotionally committed to the private.

Such a racket!

Hi there, just when do you think we will start hearing from KGS?

Re KGS 11plus, last year they sent emails on Friday lunchtime. They may send a general email about admissions today or tomorrow to check everyone's email addresses are correct.

Thanks @Poppyred25
:)

We also got the KGS interview email on the Friday last year (12.34pm to be precise!- just checked). They also sent an email a couple of days earlier which was a survey about the admissions process so please don't have a heart attack if you see an email from them today...we couldn't make the original interview day as clashes with Ibstock exam. Not sure if that is the case this year? There were obviously loads who had a clash so maybe they have planned it differently this year?

I was just looking at the timeline email and it says everyone will hear by Friday lunchtime but the scholarship exams are on Friday so I guess those people will have to hear today or latest tomorrow.

DD felt happy after her exam but it's so hard to tell how they've done isn't it! She finished all the English, just missed a couple on the maths and found the VR the hardest and didn't finish

That is what I thought. Surely those who are invited for scholarship exams need at least a day notice? So maybe they select the top performers first and notify them first.....

Yes they directly contact the parents of those invited for scholarship plus it's all the dc offered 10plus places sitting. It's for dc who have achieved pretty much 100% in all 3 papers.

JUST SO GLAD IT IS OVER ACTUALLY CONSIDERING MOVING TO AVOID IT WITH DS

I am also reconsidering what to do with DS my DD and DS are only 1 year apart so we will be going through the whole process again next year if we choose to. We might just go for the local comprehensive... Probably depends what the outcome is this year for DD though.

Happy the exams are over but now I am eager to have the waiting over as well...

As i went in to collect my DD this mum and her shiny blazered DD came out, shiny girl exclaims "Oh Mummy, it was exactly like the mock exams we have been doing at school."

MY EYES ROLLED OUT OF MY HEAD

KaliforniaDreamz - ha ha. That made me laugh. I’m stressing out about the mega well prepared prep school girls with their blazers and several badges each. Does my state school dd stand a chance against them or am I completely denting her confidence? I think the secondary schools should give extra credit to those kids giving it a go from a state primary and being less rehearsed.

Littlemisslucky2, my DD sat PHS today too and I didn't really notice girls in uniform let alone badged blazers, the interview letter said come in comfortable clothes not uniform which was a good job because my DD's (state) school doesn't have a uniform...

I wasn’t actually talking about PHS....

Totally agree. My DD is also from state and they should get additional credit for competing with the prepped preps!

I have also seen those super prepped confident children whilst i am waiting just hoping to see a smile or at least not total meltdown.

I keep telling myself it builds resilience.. but it would be nice to catch a break as well seeing that they have to work so much harder.