As the Tiffin results day looms, a second 2019 SW London grammars and indies thread

[FlumePlume]

A new thread to avoid the doomsday scenario of running out of posts as envelopes are opened on Friday, waiting lists move (or don’t) and e-mails are opened on 1 March.

I don't know but the music department is good. They have more ensembles than you could manage to be in anyway. The choirs and orchestra do trips and tours (optional). The orchestra is going to play in a cathedral in Oxford next week.

Canada - Around half the students at G&L will have done the IB rather than A-level.

Also you need to know the total numbers taking each A level subject for the stats to be meaningful - for instance, if only 4 girls are doing A level maths and 3 of them happen to get an A, then that school can announce “75% A in A- level Maths!”, whereas the next school can only announce 50%, even though they actually got 30 out if 60 through with A*.

Blank means the data was suppressed or no one did the subject.

Or they did Pre-U instead of A Level. I definitely know, for instance, that SPGS does Pre-U for Eng Lit and languages.

The data on IB results, Pre-U results and numbers sitting each subject is all online for those who are interested:

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/a-level-and-other-16-to-18-results-2017-to-2018-provisional

@Poppyred25 In terms of Oxbridge and private schools, I would be interested if you could provide a link to the relevant Mumsnet discussions. I know that Oxbridge faces political pressure to increase the proportion of state school students admitted. Some of my "very English" (if you can put it that way) friends are selecting excellent state schools over excellent private schools for this reason. Brexit has revealed a stronger desire for redistribution and equality than we in London have anticipated.

Ibstock deadline is 12 Noon on Monday - hence my problem as my DD is on the G & L waiting list whose deadline is 24 hours later

@GrapeFruitsAreTheBest Thanks for your info on TGS.

Any news today ancient?

I do wonder how these schools calculate how much to over-offer. If you over-offer by say, 20 places (so 120 for 100 places), then how can you possibly know whether everyone will accept and then you’ve got an extra class? Yet if you barely over-offer but have a longer wl, then you run the risk of everyone having paid deposits elsewhere by the time you get to the wl.

This us why I think it’s important to let the schools know if you’re interested. Get the heads in the case if you can. All these schools like to consider themselves in high demand and none of them will like calling round asking people to take places who may turn them down.

Thanks for your reply Canada. Interesting to read all the stats posted on here.

Indigo, I would have agreed with you last week but I am now wondering whether we did the right thing in letting school know that they were our first choice and we were holding out for an offer.

This week I have seen a few girls be offered places from waiting lists, whose parents have not called the school at all.

Our preferred school has asked us to tell them the deadline of our other offers, and I wonder if that means that, armed with that information they are safe in the knowledge we are a sure thing until the last moment, while snapping up others on the waiting list that they don’t think will wait.

@CanadaUK are you able to please recommend the tutor you used?

I wonder why there isn’t a boys equivalent of this thread? I’ve found it incredibly useful for a general idea and overview of the process. I’m the mum if a reasonably able year 3 boy and his teacher mentioned we should be thinking about Tiffin. Thank you everyone for sharing.

It could just come down to waiting list ranking but then it surely hasn’t made any difference or helped our case that we have said we would accept immediately.

@Geogra

I think that of course it comes down to waiting list place. But I absolutely think it makes a difference if you are a bit further down and you let them know you are still interested. Ultimately the waitlist place over rides everything but there is no harm whatsoever in saying you are still interested.

@Geogra incidentally which school are you waiting for?

Hi @1ndig0 nope no news here my DD is starting to talk to her friends about Ibstock so I’m not sure how she’ll feel if a place comes up at G & L. My DMIL was headmistress if a girls boarding school in the SE for many years (within an hours drive of London) and she said you worked out your offer numbers using a formula and would also calculate your WL length that way. She retired 10 years ago but it sounds sensible to me

@CanadaUK , re Oxbridge, there was a very long thread on Higher Education called Oxbridge applications 2019 (part two). It followed the dc interviews and then in Jan unfortunately a large number of unexpected rejections and devastated parents. It's widely accepted that all the SW London privates have had a bad time and many posters quoting on MN threads that Eton had their worst year ever. These are all conditional offers so stats not released. Oxbridge are under tremendous pressure to increase social diversity and this will only increase in the future. But government policy on Uni entrance requirements shouldn't be a concern when choosing the best option for your dd. (Plus the privates will all turn to Ivy League instead).

Bool, Putney High for us and we have friends waiting for almost all the schools mentioned on this thread.

Yes we are too - PHS. Are you holding another offer? We are holding KGS and will accept that in Tues if a waitlist place doesn’t come up on Mon. You?

Pa we rejected iPS and SHS for anybody waiting for waitlists there. X

Bool. Know someone who declined offer for PH end of last week. Good luck keep us posted.

For Oxbridge situation, this article also useful for a bit of context, private sector representation still relatively strong: www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-46470838. I’m not thinking about uni yet, one worry at a time!

@thesunalwaysshines - yes one more day of this madness! Will let you know.

@Kora - oooo yes not thinking university yet - one step at a time!

Bool, Geogra for what it’s worth we have a Putney high offer which we may decline if G&L waitlist comes up. I have an older one at Putney High and younger one at LU and I can say I love both schools and both are very happy respectively (third pasted the LU exam and went to interview but no offer) geographically Hammersmith works better for us.

I was talking to the PHS registrar on offer holders ‘second sight’ last week and asked her about the waitlist out of curiosity and she said they didn’t have many. Hang in there.

@toomuch thanks for the update! It’s like one big chain!!!