SW London girls independent/grammars thread 2020

[autumnnightsaredrawingin]

Last year, there were two amazing threads which were super helpful about exactly this, so I wanted to start a thread for girls due to start September 2020. If anyone from last year wants to contribute please do!

We have narrowed our choices down to 5, sadly not in the right postcode for Tiffin, and decided not to do the Sutton grammars.

So, she will be doing PHS, WHS, LEH, SHS and Woldingham. Also registered for Emanuel but we may pull that one.

Last year DD did PHS, but not WHS as it’s too far for us, but the results for PHS (in terms of who got an offer) did seem to be more predictable. I think WHS had some kind of group activity assessment day and nobody really had a clue what they were really looking for. Then there were several different waiting lists,if I remember rightly. There was a “priority waiting list” and everyone apparently was told their position on it and were ringing every day. It went in for weeks and weeks. In the end, nobody from DD’s prep even went there. I think they found the whole process a bit too much of a palaver, to be honest!

I think the WHS waitlist works the same as all the others- you get told you're on it and asked if you want to stay on it and then if you want to know whether you stand a chance you get told if you're in the right 'zone'. But we were at a state school so we didn't have a prep head who kept phoning up. Most of the lists don't move at all until the state school results come out anyway and then there's a flurry of offers.
WHS changing their 11+ format seems to have sent some of the prep schools into a spin but when DD day it a few years ago it was a similar process, just not a 2 stage process.

Hi,

Great to see this thread a bit busier! We are thinking of pulling Emanuel as their entrance exam clashes with a potential scholarship assessment, obviously we need to wait and see if she is shortlisted for this assessment first! Also, yes, the co-ed thing, I’m pretty sure all girls would be a better fit. If she doesn’t get shortlisted for the scholarship assessment we’ll let her sit Emanuel though as we’ve paid the registration fee and she’s quite keen to do it as lots of her friends are .

RE PHS vs WHS, we are doing both because geographically for us they’re actually very similar. We loved both and as they have such different entry processes, we felt we might as well.

Went through PHS, KGS, WHS, Ibstock and SHS. DD got places at all except WHS. That seemed to be the one that surprised a lot of people. They get through the NV and V reasoning test and then need to go for a group day. My DD is quite an introvert and didn’t speak to any staff individually throughout the whole process which I found highly odd. No interview no nothing. Just observation. And knowing that other girls who were in the second stage DID speak to staff on the day just makes me feel that DD was not forward enough or made a loud enough impact. My opinion and I wrote to the head about it at the time. Her response was suitably defensive.

Expo- that’s interesting! Where did she go in the end? My DD is pretty confident and loves group work type tasks, so I really hope she gets though the first stage- but NVR is not her strongest although getting better, so we’ll just have to see...

I have one at KGS and one at PHS. Both amazing schools and suited for each. You will find that each child ends at the right school for them. My very personal opinion is that head at WHS (who I loved) is extrovert showbiz and also the girls they showcased were the same. Look this is my own personal opinion but that was the impression I got. And my introverted DD better elsewhere. But then they all will slot into the right places for them in the end. Sounds like your DD may fit but honestly they are all brilliant brilliant schools lucky things

Me again on WHS!
Agree the head is very showbizzy! DH loved her- I found her a bit much! In DDs year there are lots of outgoing girls but there are also lots of much quieter, shyer girls. All these schools need a mix, they can't just have 100 alpha girls- it would be a nightmare! One of DDs friends is painfully shy and hardly said a word at the 'creative day'.
If you're thinking of applying please don't think all the girls there are like the head!
She has friends at lots of schools including all the ones mentioned upthread and all are very happy.

But I think that is why many people are spinning about WHS including the prep heads. What are they looking for at the creative day if they can get through by hardly saying a word. I just think people don’t really understand that’s all.

Don't know but I guess it may be that what they said was particularly important to the task at hand or something and maybe their NV/VR results were amazing?! DD also probably exaggerated when she said her friend didn't say a word!
I don't think it's an exact science. DD had a friend who got into St. Paul's and not Surbiton which was a surprise to everyone and there were a few other surprises as well.
We were at a state school so missed out on all the prep school head angst which I'm quite grateful for! Some of the heads must know what they're looking for though- there are tons of girls in DDs year from The Study for example.

I have to say we loved the head at PHS too, and she comes from a highly competitive sports background which my daughter loved as sport is her big thing too.

I totally agree re them all ending up in the right place. I am really happy that my daughter has now said she liked WHS, PHS and SHS as much as LEH, as she had her heart set on LEH so it’s good she’s now open to the others.

Of course it’s possible she may not get into any of those 4. will just have to see!

Ooh, I was on the thread last year and remember the angst well.

My bright, quirky, introverted, quite the 'opposite end of the spectrum' to alpha girl started at WHS last month and is loving it. She has made some lovely friends who are similar to her and of course you get a great variety of girls there.

We came from a state school. My DD enjoyed the assessment day and I don't think there was a lot of preparation you could do for it. This of course would wind up some prep schools heads because it makes their job harder. I honestly don't think they were looking for 100 alpha girls (if they were they failed!). In the assessment I think they were looking at team work and how girls interacted with and supported each other through the tasks. It really wasn't all about being loud. I got my daughter to watch the whole series of the Apprentice and she saw that the loudest people who were not great team players were eliminated relatively quickly. I think the actual mark in the VR/NVR paper was probably more important than we had realised and the Wandsworth test was good practice for this.

In the end my DD didn't get in to PHS (I have no idea what they were looking for) but did get in to Emanuel and TGS.

Everyone seemed to get in to the right school for them.

Winter, expo and sweet thank you so much for your feedback on WHS - this thread has already been useful to me!! I'm definitely going to see WHS again as I liked the campus and the commute is doable. They also seemed quite keen on STEM subjects but I think it will be a stretch for DD. She gets quite easily stressed out (perfectionist!) and I still haven't quite made up my mind whether all girls schools or co-eds offer the better pastoral care for her personality.

I feel both blessed and cursed with choice. One of the reasons for starting early was to try and visit them all twice without DD as I find the guides, time of day, weather and all sorts of other weird things can really influence how you feel about somewhere. I also agree with PP that the cohort of any girls in a year can make a big difference and 100 alphas makes my hair go white!!

If anyone on thread does (or has done) the Wandsworth test and then passed the first stage of WHS I'd be very interested in what kind of score you would be looking at? To put this in context, over the last 2 years, friends whose kids have scored 265ish on the WT have been offered Alleyns places which seem to be the hardest ones where we are owing to the co-ed factor.

I'm also struggling with some acronyms.. is there a list somewhere? I'm guessing perhaps the ones I don't know are grammars or too far west for us.. the grammars are all a fairly hefty commute from us and therefore probably off the table.

The heads all seem very impressive.. if somewhat intimidating!

(I'm doing a very bad job of lurking!!)

LEH: Lady Eleanor Holles (Hampton)
PHS: Putney High School
WHS: Wimbledon High School
JAGS: James Alleyn Girls School
SHS: Surbiton High School
SPGS: St Paul’s Girls School
SCHS: Streatham and Clapham High School
G&L: Godolphin and Latymer
LU: Latymer Upper

I think!

KGS: Kingston Grammar School

@Sweetnhappy1 PHS tests in Maths and English. So for those going for that I would advise preparing English comprehension, reading books and doing some maths 11+ papers. Same as KGS.

@Expo, yes I know. DD did Maths and English for Tiffin and got in so I wasn't quite sure how PHS was different. Perhaps on the interview.

That does seem very odd, not to get into PHS but into Tiffin, which is arguably the hardest to get into because of numbers applying! I'm just telling myself to trust the system and that the schools must know what they're looking for to suit their environment. Tbh, in interviews, if the child is thrown by something that is said or shown to them then they might not make it through when perhaps they should have. Which is hard luck, but I guess happens a lot, hence good to have a number of options.

@Sweetnhappy1 that is odd indeed. Tiffin is super tough. I would have thought more tough than PHS. Yep in the end we have to trust the system. There no doubt is some randomness in there of course. And the schools are all fab anyway. So stay calm everyone. It will all work out in the end.

So one thing that does differentiate the schools is the languages they teach and the sports they play. So WHS is hockey. PHS is lacrosse. Now that was something I made DD aware of as she played hockey in her primary school. But the other day she came home and said mum lacrosse is really fun! She now prefers it to hockey. So it is a consideration but in think they are both enjoyable. Languages - both KGS and PHS do Italian for instance. PHS not until year 9. PHS do mandarin or German and Spanish or french in year 7. KGS do 2 of Spanish, french, Italian or German in year 7. Plus Latin. So that differs quite a bit between schools. Just trying to think of things to pull them apart other than distance.

@autumnnightsaredrawingin
On links between the WT results and WHS. My DD got 160 at WT last year and got into WHS. Her friend got c.167 at WT and got into WHS with an academic scholarship. Some girls from her class who got somewhere around 150 passed the first stage but did not get offered a place at the end. Difficult to say if there is an exact science, but certainly WT will give you a good indication.

@Natalia175 do you mean 260 and 267? The Wandsworth Test is 2 papers each has a max score of 141

Yes, typos. should be read as 260, 267 and 250.

I don't necessarily thinks it's odd to get Tiffin and not PHS. A lot depends on the day, exam technique, whether something affected them, style of questions etc Tiffin also select more girls than PHS, I believe, who have a feeder school. Also, PHS interview, whereas Tiffin obviously don't. There are very similar 'surprise' stores Doug the rounds year after year

• surprise stories doing the rounds

Totally agree Thesunalwayssines and I wasn't that surprised or bothered when it happened because DD was far more motivated for Tiffin and wasn't that bothered re: PHS which probably came across at interview.

I suppose the point I was trying to make was you can't really make any assumptions based on the perceived hierarchy of which schools are hard or easier to get in to and also where a 10-15 minute interview may not suit one child, a half day observational assessment may suit.

Everyone seemed to get in to the right school for them!