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Secondary education

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Original poster

Trinity/Whitgift 2020 entry

780 replies

Breathe10 · 07/12/2019 12:31

I've read through lots of chat re 2019 but can't see a 2020 10/11+ 2020 thread. How are your DS's getting on?

OP posts:
BariSai · 26/01/2020 23:18

Hi everyone,
We had an interview the principal at Whitgift yesterday, what does this mean?
The principal was overwhelmed with our DS’s performance with the exams & interview. We don’t know what to expect, please advise us.... thanks

pinkpeony4 · 27/01/2020 06:55

@BariSai we had an interview with the Head at Whitgift for my first son and he got offered a full fee paying place. I think if you’re in the running for a scholarship at Whitgift your son has to spend a morning there but I could be wrong. Glad your interview went well and good luck

SoupDragon · 27/01/2020 07:08

They are looking for...

Children who have not been heavily tutored and heavily prepped for interview.

champagneandfromage50 · 27/01/2020 07:19

Agree with SoupDragon

Brrrr10 · 27/01/2020 07:24

Agree!

BariSai · 27/01/2020 08:22

Oh I see.... fingers crossed, let’s wait and see 🤞🏽

BariSai · 27/01/2020 08:23

Thank you guys for the advice!!

fishface1979 · 27/01/2020 09:23

My son was asked at interview if he was tutored. As he comes from a prep school and not a state school I wondered if that would mean he would be at a disadvantage when he answered, with honesty, 'sometimes' - as occasionally we have plugged gaps this way (not routinely, and we can't afford to do so this year nor the year after if he is not successful this time around; this was 10+). A bit worried now!

SoupDragon · 27/01/2020 09:32

I wouldn't worry, Fishface. I would imagine that a large proportion of boys are tutored in some way. They want to weed out the ones who have been heavily tutored for the exams and don't have the "natural talent".

Boys at this age are generally not good at lying on the spot - those who had been tutored three times a week for 2 years would have probably admitted this! A response of "sometimes" wouldn't have raised any eyebrows I don't think.

pipandpop · 27/01/2020 12:18

Do not be panicked by the comments optymisticmom! My son is a very quiet, gentle boy and interviews are totally out of his comfort zone. The head of T told me that lots of boys offered places initially lack confidence, find interacting with adults they don’t know challenging etc etc. They don’t see it as a negative and apparently lots of teachers in T identify with once being that child themselves. I would say just let your child be themselves in the interview.

JustJuice187 · 27/01/2020 12:44

Hello,

Yes, agree with others. Don't overprep for interviews. We just had chats the night before and a couple of times before that, to make sure he remembered what was in his application for T and to have reasons for giving answers. That's it. They do want the boys to be natural I think. DS1 was just himself and was offered a place. They don't have one type of boy at the school. They take a very wide varity of different types of boys - hence why we like the school.

PopGoesTheWeaz · 27/01/2020 13:05

Another vote for not prepping/overprepping your DS with answers or telling them anything other than be themselves, speak clearly. Maybe review what their application said their interests are, and what is it they like about the school. The schools understand that some boys are quiet some are loud, and there is not one type they are looking for.

They have been doing this for a while and know how to bring out the best in the boys they are interviewing -- that is after all what they are trying to do, not catch them in a trap.

On a different note, I've just read on another forum that Whitgift was thinking of stopping the IB. Has anyone else heard that? I'd be awfully surprised as it was a big part of their sales pitch I thought, but would be interested to know if anyone had heard anything about it. (Otherwise i'll ask the school directly if we get an answer.)

@BariSai DS was asked to come in for an academic scholarship assessment day at W -- they do it a bit differently from the other schools - so I think if you were in the running they'd have told you. HTH

KandCa · 27/01/2020 13:06

I would agree, well my DS was not prepped for the interview apart from what they do at the school, that according to DS was a quick 10 min chat... so we just had chats just so we would be able to convey his preferences/choices/likes/knowledge the best way at dinner time, in the car on the way to rugby on Sunday mornings, whenever we had some downtime where we had to wait for stuff... that way he would not be nervous.... Well on the day he was very nervous before the interview.... but we think it went well..... at least the interviewer seemed happy....and DS too. Fingers crossed. I thought this wait would be easier as we cannot do anything about it now but it is not....

champagneandfromage50 · 27/01/2020 13:14

My DS is at W and haven't heard a thing about them stopping IB. Would seem odd given they are the top performing school in the country for IB

PopGoesTheWeaz · 27/01/2020 13:46

Thanks champagneandfromage50. That's what I thought.

SoupDragon · 27/01/2020 14:16

On the subject of interviews, DS2 went into his W one and came out happy and upbeat. I went in and the interviewer said "He's very honest about his faults isn't he?" Apparently he had detailed them all including how he sometimes erupted like a volcano, didn't like homework and didn't focus at school 🤦🏻‍♀️

They offered him an academic scholarship. So, don't despair!

champagneandfromage50 · 27/01/2020 15:01

SoupDragon haha that's classic!

Mum232 · 27/01/2020 15:12

SoupDragon was your interview this year? My son had an academic scholarship day with Whitgift last week but if I understood there wouldn’t be a further interview for him as they spoke to us on that day.
I’m a bit confused as it’s all new for us. 😳
Do we hear anything else before offer day? Please any advice?

BariSai · 27/01/2020 15:53

@mum232 Are you in the 10 plus or 11 plus run?
Just curious about the Academic scholarship day.
Thanks

Mum232 · 27/01/2020 16:09

@BariSai I’m in the 11 plus run

SoupDragon · 27/01/2020 16:13

SoupDragon was your interview this year?

No :) don't panic. DS started university last year! :) It was just an anecdote to show that it doesn't necessarily matter what your DS says in the interview or that he needs to be "prepped".

BariSai · 27/01/2020 16:32

Thank you @Mum232, I did think that as 10 plus doesn’t have a Academic scholarship assessment day. Their performance is solely on the exams and interview.

Thanks

Mum232 · 27/01/2020 17:18

@SoupDragon thank you 😊
The wait is so much harder than I thought

SoupDragon · 27/01/2020 20:50

The wait is horrendous!

KandCa · 28/01/2020 08:06

Indeed @SoupDragon... Trying to focus really hard on other stuff....