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.

Txs FourRedShoes, I don't know anything about Sutton as I don't live in that direction. SHS attracts dd from a wide area and has a lot going on plus offers rowing which is really strong at the school but boat house is in Teddington & there is a lot of driving to & from by parents. For a lot of parents the final decision comes down to gut instinct plus fees cost & journey time. Things like swimming & food tech take 2nd place. Good luck with your decision, you can't really go wrong.

FourRed i think if you like them both then go by journey.
If it matters to you i think Surbiton is more highly regarded...

FourRedShoes I don’t have any inside knowledge of Sutton, but having been to the offer holders day I would say it’s probably the cosiest and least busy of the schools we’ve looked at.

jimjam The WHS admissions person was very helpful and did tell me roughly where on the waiting list dd is. She seemed pretty positive, but said things won’t move until the end of February, at the earliest. So if anyone on the thread hears of the waiting list moving, I would really like to know! Dd is finding it hard - she’d almost have preferred an outright no than the uncertainty - and she’s really fretting about Friday, poor thing.

@FlumePlume remind me of the offer you are waiting for on Fri. What do you have on the table now so far? I agree is all so uncertain at this stage. X

I feel for you FlumePlume and your DD. Hold your nerve. The WHS letter asked people not to hold on to more than 2 offers and this is good advice. Wait lists will move more quickly if people don’t wait until the last minute if they already know they won’t be accepting certain schools.

Bool We’re waiting on SPGS, and we have an offer from Sutton. This is the point where I start to second guess myself, and wonder whether the DIY prep, only apply to three schools to minimise stress approach was the right thing to do...

Jimjam I’m (attempting!) to hold my nerve. But dd is really finding it tough. And I agree, if people release places quickly it makes things so much easier, even if they just discard the ‘back up’ place and hang on to the two top runners while they make up their minds.

LEH do not set much at all. Maths, soon into y7. French y7 mainly because some have learned French for some years & others are total beginners.
2-week timetable meant that French sets were dropped after y7 though.
Comms are quite hands off compared to KGS or WHS for example.

Tumfy - thanks for confirming about sets at LEH. Do they have most of their classes in their firm groups then? Do you know how much sport is timetabled and whether their is a choice of sport?
Flumeplume - hold tight, I think you’ll end up with offers at all 3 eventually. That’s good news about WHS waiting list. Hope it will start moving soon.

How much do waiting lists move tho. We are on PHS waiting list and I just find it so difficult to know how much it will move. There must be only 50 or so external offers or may slightly more if they over offer. But then the waiting list must also be relatively big - I don’t know how big the PHS waiting list is for instance. So is all so unknown.

Yes most of lessons are in form groups which change inby10 due to time tabling for GCSE choices.
Sport is same for everyone with a carousel from y8 or y9 & widening of choice from y10. Lots of clubs so extra practice/games in school sports- see website. Lots of teams too, so my impression is that if you want to play & turn up to practice, you will have a space.

For all those waiting to hear about WL places, they do move just before acceptan ces are due. Sometimes the offer comes through the Monday morning before the 12pm deadline so you have to really hold your nerve. I know someone who was about to courier her acceptance to another school when the PHS offer came through by phone.

If you really want a school and are on WL you should contact the registrar to say it’s your first choice school and you would accept immediately if offered. Registrars want to offer places to people who will accept.

Remember lots of girls will be sitting on 6 offers and they can only accept one.

Good lcuk flume i am sure it will come good.

I am waiting on state offers but if DD gets Coombe and we have an offer from SHS i have to weigh up if it's worth the money. does anyone have an opinion on this?

She is fab at drama and literacy. average in manths. plays netball at wds. She is confident without being 'that' child. tbh i think she will do well at either..... ugh. HELP!

Flume and Bool - I would guess, in the case of PHS and WHS, if they have 60 places, they probably offer 90? I think there will be a lot of movement next week after SPGS, Latymer and G&L are out. I think it’s rare for schools not to go to the wl, but do ring and tell them you would accept instantly if offered.

Kalifornia - I have a friend who has 2 girls at Coombe and they have a “grammar school stream” there which follows a slightly different syllabus. She’s been really happy with the school and says the pastoral is great. I’m afraid I know nothing about SHS.

Just holding out for Friday here. God this feels like a long process.

From my experience last year ... WHS waiting list moved a lot. I had quite a lot of friends that got calls just after half term. As someone has already pointed out WHS are very conservative with the number of offers as they had to have an extra class a few years back because too many people accepted offers ! The PHS waiting list last year moved very little. This is only what I heard from others in my area and am sure it probably changes every year.

I am wondering whether the 3 year building project at WHS will make a difference in numbers too ? Its a long project and I know it has put off a few parents. But worth it in the end as it will be amazing.

Good luck everyone on this thread. I am going through this with DS and the wait is horrible !

Current WHS Y10 have two bulge classes and the following 2 years have one. This has caused some consternation among parents of girls already at the school and pressure on changing/locker space, in classrooms etc given what is already quite a compact site. Accordingly I think offers last year and subsequently are now quite conservative. Bearing in mind they have to assume (in most cases) the junior girls will take a place that doesn’t leave many more to go around. The reason for over offering in past years was wanting to avoid going to the bottom of the WL (or beyond) but they just failed to judge it right and had too many acceptances. I heard last year they went deep into WL. Hopefully good news for those waiting 🤞🏽

As a LEH parent of 2dds I would concur with a lot of what SWLondonGirl says. Re the sport, the sports department is good but woefully understaffed. At matches there are often matches taking place with no staff at the sideline or on the pitch, hence they don’t get the support they need or get to assess playing. The current year 7 has 2 bulge classes so the biggest year group ever which impacts positions in sports team, drama clubs etc . It will be interesting to see if they revert to regular class sizes this Sept or accept a six class entry again.
Communications are adequate at best, it’s just about good enough to not be a problem but not impressive by any means. I’d give it 5/10.

My girls are happy, working well academically, participating in a wide range of interests, have some lovely, well mannered and loyal friends and it is our local school so overall it was the right choice for us.

I was in this position this time last year, so just to help with information about WHS and PHS from my experience last year. Last year, the WHS waiting list started to move very quickly, after half term as I recollect. The PHS waiting list moved not at all, or if it did, it must have been very very late. Many DDs in my daughters school on the WHS WL ended up getting a place. None on PHS WL got a place last year (that I am aware of). But of course things can change a lot year to year so I am not sure that is necessarily an indication of what will happen this year. I would also agree that if you can, do release offers for schools that you or your DD won’t want as early as possible. It does help not to sit on offers as there are many girls on WL who would grab a place if offered it. We set ourselves a deadline with our DD of a week after half term to make a decision and released both WHS and PHS at that point. Wishing you and your DDs good luck and best wishes these next few weeks. I am sure they will be very happy wherever they end up.

I agree with pamplemoussed's points on the staffing of sports dept. My DD2 has commented negatively on lack of staff to observe/train even at practice other than A & maybe B team, so that is very demotivating to the C/D/E teams.

There is also tension, perhaps inevitable, between Sports/Music/Drama depts because all have lunchtime & after school events, so girls inevitably have to choose before they have necessarily given new activities a proper go. Or they can become overscheduled, which is a real problem with high achieving girls with high expectations of themselves. So that is probably not a purely LEH issue.

On the plus side, having coaches at 4 & 6pm does mean that those on the coach network have a higher rate of participation.

And yes, communication is adequate, no more. There is a real sense of standoffish ness about the hierarchy of whom & how to contact, possibly in fear of parents being over involved & hard work? I don't know, but it is hard to get through at times.

The LEH head said at the interview q & a session that they would definitely not be having a bulge class this year as they haven’t got space.
That’s interesting about lack of sports staff. I would have thought they could afford enough cover in view of the fees!

eponine8 and tichey That’s really useful information, thanks! I shall keep my fingers crossed for movement after half term.

1ndig0 I’m with you on holding out for Friday and the whole thing feeling endless. At least SPGS barely holds a waiting list, from what I’ve heard, so it’s very likely to be either yes or no, which does give a bit more certainty.

@Flume am with you on the endless! How can 2 weeks possibly take so long. I am now hoping KGS won’t have exploding offers this year (if we are even lucky enough to get an offer) so we have some time to take stock and think.

Flume - I was told by the head if another school who used to work at SPGS that they offer 100-105 places with a W/L of just 10. Yikes!

For anyone interested in stats, Surbiton High had around 600 girls sit for 144 places, they said at the offer holders morning.