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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

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

969 replies

FlumePlume · 26/08/2018 18:15

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.

OP posts:
Sweetnhappy1 · 09/01/2019 22:24

Littlemisslucky2 sorry, it was KaliforniaDreamz's DD. I'm not as observant, I picked up my DD and didn't really notice what was going on around me. I think the schools must look at where the girls are coming from and bear that it mind (hopefully). The ones we've applied to seem to take quite a few (around 50%?) from state primary schools.

dontjudgemummy · 09/01/2019 22:25

I think they must too. A lot we've applied to take 60% state

Glaciferous · 09/01/2019 22:43

I think they do make allowances. They know that children from state schools will have covered less material and not been prepped so much for exams, even if tutored. They genuinely do want to take the cleverest children they can get. It's really important to them in terms of results down the line. Surely all the forms you filled in asked where your children had previously been at school? I know ours did, and also asked how much tutoring had been given which I answered honestly as I imagine most would. They will look at the schools involved and how well they perform when they offer places, I think. Most of the admissions people I met during the process seemed very switched on to this issue.

Jimjam68 · 10/01/2019 08:15

Does anyone know when Putney send out their letters?

TheExtraGuineaPig · 10/01/2019 08:59

I thought that Glaciferous (we are also coming from state primary) but I remember the head at KGS said they don't look at where candidates are from or their gender. That made me assume they don't take previous school into account either but I could have got that wrong. Also might not be true for other schools. All the schools I've looked at (LEH, Hampton, SHS, KGS and Halliford) have been proud of having a large proportion of state school pupils at 11.

We did get a tutor for DD though, to consolidate and speed up her maths and to go through the reasoning techniques. I think it would be really hard to face those papers without at least home practice and I didn't feel confident to do it myself.

KaliforniaDreamz · 10/01/2019 09:24

It wsa PHS and there were a few in uniform as they may have been going back to school after the exam.
(we went to wagamamas.)

I agree they just want the cleverest, i think it is such a racket tho. all that registration money and they know most of us don't stand a chance...

meh.

Pa10ma · 10/01/2019 09:26

Glaciferous - thanks so much for the SPGS info. I guess we have to wait and see now.

On the prep v state issue, DD is coming from a prep and she’s done all her exams in jeans and a hoodie. SPGS don’t even have a uniform anyway, so why would they care what you wear, as long as you’re comfortable.

I have DC at LU and at least half the intake are from state. Over 20% are also on bursaries. They know that state school heads won’t write references as a matter of course, in the same way as prep heads do (I’ve heard of some people having to pay for references)! I think this is why LU interview so many, or PHS interview everyone, to make it more relevant.

That said, they do quite a lot in preps - ie a marked comprehension, story and maths paper in school every week from about Easter Year 5, plus extra ones for h/w each week. They do a mock interview and VR / NVR as part of the curriculum. To be honest, you can do the papers with your child yourself, but I think the main difference is the guidance from prep heads re-suitable schools. They tell you, based in CAT scores, if your child has a chance of getting into particular schools. If they don’t, they refuse to write a refetence! They call it “managing expectations.”

Is anyone’s DD doing the Consortium exam tomorrow. This is a new one so not sure what to expect really?

Glaciferous · 11/01/2019 00:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
FlumePlume · 11/01/2019 07:08

Dd came out of SPGS saying “Cloaks! There’s loads of girls with CLOAKS!”. Having heard more from her she found both maths b and c hard and missed quite a few out, and got so interested in the diagram that she didn’t do the final (10 mark) question on the comprehension paper. So I fear she’s not done well enough - which is a shame, as she loved the exam day and is now super keen to go there.

I’m second guessing our no tutor, no prep school decision now. But we’re lucky enough to have an excellent offer already, so I’m telling myself it’ll all work out fine.

OP posts:
Greenleave · 11/01/2019 08:43

We felt intimidated with flashing uniforms and numbers of badges too however to be fair if that makes the child feeling better and could potentially do better on the exam date then why not. The prep schools do better in preparing their pupils and the prep peeps work hard so the competition is fair. We have saved alot on fees (might be making less sacrifices than the fee payers) going to state schools and we want to be mixed with hard working peeps. Similar to in 7 or 8 years at University entrance the competition will be among local comp, grammar, indies and grammar and local comp parents would say the same about the Indies kids.

I am now biting my nails praying for the next round as I am sure we all are.

Graciferous: green hair!?! Thats very cool!

TheExtraGuineaPig · 11/01/2019 09:52

Good luck to everyone waiting for KGS today!!

ChristopherTracy · 11/01/2019 10:05

I'm not sure I really do agree with the prep dislike here. If you are looking to pay full fees at 11 then it shouldn't matter where you are coming from - you could have paid those fees for a prep but you have chosen not to. It's a gamble or maybe some would call it a calculated risk.

For full bursary places then those dc are competing with eachother and not with the full fee payers.

User111222333 · 11/01/2019 10:10

This reply has been withdrawn

The OP has privacy concerns and so we've agreed to take this down.

winterishereithink · 11/01/2019 10:23

I'm not sure there's much envy going in SW London to be honest. Most of the parents at DC's state primary who are looking at Independent secondary could have afforded prep but chose not to for a variety of reasons (but fully appreciate this is not always the case). We all have friends whose children are at preps and quite often the 11+ process seems to be more stressful for them. One prep around us in particular has children sitting 7 or 8 exams, makes them wear uniform for the exams even when the senior schools explicitly tell them not to etc etc. Yes, they get more preparation but this can be done just as well by parents and tutors. Friends have also paid their prep schools even more money for extra 11plus classes. Its all a bit of a racket!

ChristopherTracy · 11/01/2019 10:26

Prep school fees can be so much smaller by comparison though - For us it is the other way round - no way could we afford secondary fees without taking on another job but prep school fees are doable. Its the difference between 11k and 17k.

Our prep school fees were actually lower than day nursery fees so we just continued.

I just don't understand buying into the process and then moaning about it. The actual process is the same for everyone - how you use your money to engage with that process is upto you.

User111222333 · 11/01/2019 11:01

This reply has been withdrawn

The OP has privacy concerns and so we've agreed to take this down.

KaliforniaDreamz · 11/01/2019 11:14

Obv i can only speak for myself but for me It's not dislike, or envy, (i have one foot in private already) and i know many families with children at these schools, for me personally it's about regret. i regret having put my child into this ridiculous circus.

Abetes · 11/01/2019 12:05

My dc are at a super selective independent. Each year, the intake into the senior school is one third junior school who are guaranteed a place, one third prep school kids and one third state school kids. The proportions of prep/state applications are approximately the same as the proportion of prep/state offers.

Richmond001 · 11/01/2019 14:28

Has anyone heard anything yet re KGS? I thought we would have an email by now......eeeek!

dontjudgemummy · 11/01/2019 14:33

They (KGS) started at midday. A "rolling process", apparently.

Richmond001 · 11/01/2019 14:37

Thanks...
what an awful experience this whole 11+ has been....

TheExtraGuineaPig · 11/01/2019 15:02

Also waiting for KGS 11+ news

TheExtraGuineaPig · 11/01/2019 15:50

Success for us DD has a KGS interview.. so pleased/ relieved! Good luck to everyone xx

Original poster
FlumePlume · 11/01/2019 15:55

TheExtra So pleased for you! Well done to your dd! We didn’t do KGS, is the interview the last stage, and if so how long do you have to wait for the final decision?

OP posts:
TheExtraGuineaPig · 11/01/2019 16:04

FlumePlume - I'm not sure how to tag properly - sorry!

Thanks so much.. yes interview is the last stage, they're next Saturday and then offers are published on Feb 14th.

Really proud of her of course :) Good luck with your results!