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.

One thing for sure is that results can be a bit random and performance on the day can vary. DD1 didn’t score that well on the WT and got into WHS. DD2 scored 150 and got a scholarship to WHS. WHS are quite explicit that the VR and NVR scores form the key deciding factor. My take is that a very strong performance or a very weak one in the creative assessment could rule you in or out if you are marginal. My DD is introverted and quiet and certainly would not have been the loudest in her group. Of course they want a mix of personalities and certainly that’s what you find at the school, but you really need to focus more on getting your test scores as high as possible.

Thanks for those numbers RE Wandsworth test/WHS, really interesting...

We’ll find out her WT results this week, so will keep you posted. She’s doing the Woldingham assessment in a few weeks, anyone else doing that one? Good practice for the others I think!

I don’t really understand the WT. Isnt it 141 max per test so 282 max. @Jimjam68 do you mean your DD who got a scholarship got 250? I put one of mine through the WT and they didn’t score well but got into KGS. But we did up the ante between the tests.

Hi all just joining for the ride
Daughter sitting woldingham In November then a mix of girls/co Ed in jan. haven't quite finalised list yet! Scattergun approach here. Success really depends on which daughter turns up on the exam day - the one that is motivated and on the ball or the one that doesn't read the question/judges success by the number of lines she has written

@Expo sorry yes I mean a score of 250

Hi - I did all this last year for the third and final time, thank god. I guess people might not have the dates for PHS or G&L interviews if you’ve been allocated one of the pre-Xmas dates? If it’s any help at all -

PHS - they let the girls chooose one of three pictures to talk about. It could be literally anything - a photo or an oil painting, whatever? I think they are just looking for a response, so do tell your DDs they there’s no right and wrong here. Think about the story in the picture - what is is trying to say; how it makes her feel; are there people in it and what is their mood / expressions; what media is it in eg watercolour/ oil / photo; what style / colours; what period; does it remind you if anything else? Apart from that, they asked “if you could choose your perfect day, what would you do?” Here they are not looking for a description of how you would sane the world, but they just probably want to get them talking and expressing imagination. There was the obvious questions of, “Why would you like to come to PHS?” (make sure your DD can identify something about the school she likes); “What are your favourite subjects?”, “What do you like doing in your spare time?”

At G&L they go in groups with other girls from the same school (if any). They are given three or four pictures and asked to comment on them and order them in whatever way makes sense to them. So this could be historically maybe; or by colour scheme perhaps - whatever makes sense to the child as long as they can explain it. Then it’s a general chat as above. Also, if they see you are also applying for St Paul’s Girls, they ask if you got to the interview stage there (!). In fact most schools ask what other schools you’re applying for and sometimes they will ask which is your preference. It’s ok to say you will decide once offers are in but you do very much like this school because you can really see yourself fitionf in there. But if it is your preferrred school, definitely let them know! G&L are very friendly - gave them all biscuits, asked if they were all ok. Even checked how's how parents are finding the whole process!

Happy to give any info as to SPGS interviews too and also FHSS, although obviously these won’t be until Jan. Also have DC in LU, but in upper years now.

people might now have the dates (sorry should check posts)!

Good luck everyone!

My daughter refused to practise NVR so I thought we would screwed up LEH then it turned out G&L had it as well, we didnt know what they would test on the day. She had offers for both so I guessed maths and English were heavier weighted. Unfortunately on the day she visited SPGS she decided she didnt want to sit for it. I almost begged her to try then she didnt answer questions during her interview so nothing I could do. She is now very happy with LU, 30mins door to door for us so great for her with 5 hours swimming in the school, 2 hours morning chamber rehearsals and 4 hours or something Hockey on the weeks with match. Very minimum homework so far.

When DD did PHS they interviewed everyone and followed the format described below but I think they've changed their process now and only interview some after the exam?

Yes PHS have changed the interview process for this intake and now only interview following the exam, so not all girls would get an interview.

Thanks @Cos1ma for the interview info. Coming from a state school I have no idea how to prepare dd for interviews - tbh I don't want to prepare her as such because she needs to be herself but I'd like her just to have some sense of what to expect. I have no idea how she would respond in an interview setting - she is quite quiet, but she's also passionate about many subjects so I'm hoping the interview taps into those so they can see the real dd.

@Greenleave - your dd sounds determined and sure of herself, probably the ideal student for LU. Hours of chamber music, choir and hockey (with a load of art thrown in) would suit my dd down to the ground so LU is definitely one of our favourites. Good to hear she's enjoying it. I've heard that LU is more challenging in the early years as the dcs aren't so cosseted as perhaps in other schools but that it's a great school for fostering independence and creativity as they grow.

Apologies, I hadn’t realised PHS had changed this year. I makes sense really as they must have been interviewing about 800 girls! I think the Consortium schools are still interviewing everyone through? I think G&L interview about 1000 - god knows how they make sense of it all. At least their exam is over and done with quickly.

In terms of interview prep, we didn’t do any. Dd watched Newsround at school as that Y6 teacher liked to use it as a calming end of day activity, but she didn’t have any interview practice or prep other than me reminding her to be polite and remember that they wanted to find out about her, and they couldn’t do that if she didn’t say much! I have, over the years, encouraged her to speak for herself rather than have me speak on her behalf to people like librarians, shop assistants etc because I think its important that a child is able to speak to adults they don’t know, but that was a life skill thing rather than interview prep.

For WHS, the feedback I got was that they basically rank the girls on their VR and NVR combined score, and you can get bumped up or down a bit by the assessment day. Dd was another of the anomalies - WHS waiting list but no offer, but got SPGS. Which she’s just had a fantastic first half term at, so it worked out well in the end.

Someone told me PHS have had a bit of a dip in GCSE results this year? Could be just a one off, I don’t know?

Givemesomewine: being on public transport on her own daily has been transforming her as she was used to the daily short walk to her primary school on daily basis( so much more confident). However there were choices for both bus and tubes for the short trip and there were so many friends on the similar/same route so it has all been good. She was overwhelmed with so many choices in terms of activities, really it just isnt enough time in a day to do them all. The thing about 5 hours swimming club in the school is a great adding to her who already does many hours with her swimming club over the weekend. She was amazed at the level of her friends with regard to swimming in the school. As a relatively sporty girl, she welcomes Hockey as well, there are more than couple of hours training plus weekend matches. The string chamber is great as well.

All these schools mentioned here are all amazing to be honest, eventually I am sure the girls will love them all. It seems stressful for us more than them at the time. My daughter was more worried, stressful with regard to her swimming galas, auditions to the RCM or RAM much more than the 11+ exams because in Southwest we are spoiled with choices(and potentially because she had KGS 10+ offer already at the time). I dont remember anyone in last year thread ended up with no school in their favorite list.

autumn Thank you for the acronyms.. there were definitely a couple I was unfamiliar with on there!

Are the WT results out today? Best of luck to anyone waiting for the postman!

I think we get the WT results later this week- I think how it works is the schools get sent them and then pass them on?!

Keen to see her result as although it won’t affect us directly as we’re not doing Graveney, it would as I said before be good to see as an indication for WHS.

Good luck to anyone else waiting!

I don’t know about WHS as mine never applied there, but I do know that the Girls Consortium exam is similar to the CAT tests that most primary schools use at least yearly to gauge underlying ability. It could be worth asking the school for these test scores over the years. I was told last year that for G&L, they need to be 132 on average, if that’s any help.

Thanks for starting the 2020 thread. I’m in the same boat, except we are currently on an expat posting in Asia and only recently decided to come back to the UK next summer. Cue frenzied registration with SW schools in the last few days. I will take DD back to London in January to sit the assessments in person.

I think DD is amazing (but of course I would say that ☺️), I suspect I will find this process more of an ordeal than she will - she loves being tested.

Not being in the UK is both a blessing and a curse- we don’t have to contend with the school gate madness, but equally we don’t really know how DD ranks relative to other SW girls. We’ll find out in February!

Thank you to everyone sharing their wisdom about last year, it’s really very helpful for those of us with limited access to information.

Dd got through to 2nd stage TGS - she's really happy! Can anyone whose dd sat Tiffin last year provide any info about the format of the stage 2 tests - is there creative writing for instance, and is that part of the comprehension? Thanks!

WT results are out. Mine got 241.

So, in percentage terms that’s 85%, so a good score but way off the mark for Graveny, luckily we weren’t aiming for there! Now will need to do lots of practice before WHS first stage..

Congratulations to those who got through the first stage of Tiffin too.

That's a great score autumn. Just found DD's results lurking in her school bag!

228 here. Not sure where that puts us in terms of WHS Stage 1 and Consortium exam.

Cola- it’s so hard to know isn’t it? I’ve just said to mine that she did really well, but if she really wants WHS she needs to make sure she keeps up her practice over the next few weeks. It’s a fine balance! In a way I think it’s good WHS is so soon and then they tell you, because if they don’t pass that first stage you can forget about that school and move on. Good luck to your daughter with it all.

Well done with your results guys. I think it is nice to know.. if that makes sense?

I know WHS is a bit different (and I don’t know timeline so forgive me) but with DS there were loads of children who were off mark for Graveney but got into really well suited indies (both co-Ed and SS) I found the WT (particularly NVR) a real brain jam.. my DH and I are both uni educated but still struggled with many questions and we weren’t doing it under pressure!!

Is WHS the first assessment? I don’t think anyone so far is doing the JAGS pre-test?

Well done in the grammars too!!

The Wandsworth test seems to throw up very strange results, particularly in NVR. I know a couple of girls at St Paul's who didn't do particularly well in it and a few at WHS as well. I know lots of children don't take it very seriously and see it just as another school test.
I really wouldn't use it as much of a barometer.