Upcoming girls’ independent SW London schools 11+ exams

[Oceane11plus]

Are there any parents on this board with DDs due to sit independent school exams in January? If so where do you stand in terms of shortlisting schools, revisions etc Are you planning to do any work over the summer?

We are still in the process of fine tuning the list of schools... We will probably end up applying to about 4/5 schools, of which 2 are in the same consortium which means 3/4 exams max.
As far as I am aware, our prep has not recommended any specific revisions for the summer, but I was still planning to make her write some maths, English and VR/NVR past papers, as 2 months without doing anything seems too much so close to the exams. I was thinking of making her do one paper a week in each subject, on top of reading and boosting her vocabulary, with two weeks in August without any paper/formal work.

Any tips on what we should be doing at this stage and over summer holidays, notably from parents with past experience, would be super useful!

Thank you

Our state primary is hosting it at the end of the month and planning to do it all in one day. They have stressed they will allow sufficient comfort breaks between exams. They are used to hosting the Wandsworth test and usually do one before break and one after. I’m guessing they will do two pairs in a similar fashion but given how disorganised they can be I’m not ruling out the possibility of it running into a second day!

Good news for us today. DD passed the first round (eligibility)of the Sutton Grammar exams. This should hopefully boost her self esteem and keep her going.

Congratulations to your DD, @WarmAndco3y. Same here for my DS, such a relief after Tiffin massacre :)

@GrammarHopeful. Thank you. Well done to your DS.

Well done to your DCs @WarmAndco3y and @GrammarHopeful, that must be a relief in these uncertain times.
I can't believe we'll be all done by next week. However it's such a long wait until January to find out whether the ISEB score is enough to get an interview. For Jags it's even worse, we will have to wait until February to find out the result (unless DCs are potential scholars).
I'm hoping we can go away on holidays around Christmas to change setting and totally forget about the 11+.

Congratulations to everyone

We have another 2.5 weeks before anything happens! Feels so late

To Warm and Grammar that is

@Oceane11Plus thank you. We hopefully finish in just under 3 weeks.
I’m hoping an invitation to sports scholarship assessment for JAGS in January, will give us a bit of a clue.
But I’m sure I’ll still be analysing things, even with that

@MarshaBradyo, thank you

Yay!! It’s really nice to pop on and see some good news!

Next week is our busiest week - although the one after is pretty busy too. Then it all goes quiet until 15 Jan. I’m keen to get the creative writing pieces out of the way - DD’s least favourite thing. Then I plan to give her (and me!) a decent break in the run up to Christmas and do lots of fun stuff!

DD's now done her JAGs interview and creative writing. I was earwigging (tried not to, but it was hard not to stay within earshot without listening) and it didn't go brilliantly to be honest - she was done in 10 mins and not especially forthcoming. The interviewer was excellent though.

We haven't really done any formal interview prep though, and in hindsight I think that was bit of a mistake, especially as it was her first interview.

@stellagibbons That's why I don't want to earwig! Knowing myself I would feel totally disheartened if I felt the interview wasn't going well by my standards, and would struggle not to burst into the room and answer the questions at her place At least you know that you have to practice now and it will serve her for the next interviews.
Anyway I wouldn't worry too much - from past experience with Jags with my and other girls we know, the interview was not a decisive factor but as everything might bear more weight for borderline candidates.

@stellagibbons

Congratulations.. Its done! That's the only way to think about it! Like Oceane says, it gives you some ammo for the next one. I was practically stuffing my fist in my mouth when DD did Emanuel.. there was a very obvious point she failed to make. That said, she came across as untutored and natural and I bet your DD did too.

Quick question on the creative writing (process not content) I gather the question comes out with the zoom invite, but then what? You manually time them 30 mins or are directed to complete straight after interview? I cant see how this can be fairly moderated.. for example.. do you point out spelling mistakes or leave them?!

Its the taster lesson on the same evening as DD's interview/writing so she will be bushwhacked by the end.. and I will be drinking neat gin...

I think all the JAGS applicants had the blanket email from Henrietta about ISEB in which she said they were getting inundated with emails about the process. For that reason, I'll ask this here before bothering her further...

Will JAGS (and WHS and any others with a Jan ISEB date) delay looking at ISEB scores until they have every girl's results?

I'm not really sure why I'm asking this, except to manage my expectations I guess!

@Oceane11Plus @Stircrazyschoolmum Yes - she'll certainly come across as untutored! I'm not really sure why I took the 'no preparation required' part of the invitation email at face value, when I'd never do that with a written paper ...

Stircrazy the creative writing instructions and task are attached to the email from the day before. It says to complete it before or after the interview or in the evening if that's when your DD has time. You then scan it and upload or post back. It says very clearly that no parental input is allowed and you have to sign when you upload to confirm this.

I think DD's creative writing went better than her interview, but it's one of her strengths so I would hope so!

I have no idea about the ISEB, I guess they'll at least not look until all the girls are interviewed.

Thanks @stellagibbons Its going to be a packed afternoon for us on Tues then! DD hates creative writing. I'm hoping the topic will be in some way similar to something she has done before and she can 'reuse' her words. I refuse to help her as its firstly unethical and secondly setting her up to fail if she gets into a school she can't cope with.

Both DH and I really like JAGS. (Most of our state primary prefer Alleyns) my biggest fear is she hates the taster lesson and then refuses to go even if after all this hard work and angst she gets offered a place.. !)

Oh well.. if we don't get an offer then the angst goes away!!

We've got more creative writing stuff coming up, then VR/ NRV to concentrate on for the Wandsworth Test & another state, then a break until early Jan for the ISEB for us (but really need to concentrate on maths then to cover the curriculum that she missed in Year 5).

DD had a WT mock today and completely stuffed it up.. missed pages, guessed questions.. I guess they all have good and bad days!

@Stircrazyschoolmum Apologies for my ignorance but what is WT?
I have been wondering the same regarding ISEB scores, when they get known by the schools. If only I could be given a hint! I am not a patient person and can’t imagine having to wait for January to find out, if not mid February!

@Oceane11Plus WT is the Wandsworth Test. It’s taken by all state primary children regardless of where they are considering for secondary. It’s real value is for those considering a selective place at Graveney but it’s also a good indicator of VR / NVR performance under exam conditions.

I'm pretty sure from reading the ISEB website that results can be requested by the senior school as soon as the test is finished but that these can take up to 5 working days to be delivered by email. Given the senior schools have to submit an online form to request access to candidates results I don't think the results will be available to the primary schools hosting the tests which is a real shame.
The website confirms that each candidate's results will include the time taken for each test element

I also think about these things at 1.25am in the morning

@PatoPato It's because I think too much about it during day time and spend too much time on MN that I end up having to do some work at night

@Stircrazyschoolmum Ah yes it rings a bell now! When DD bombs a test like that, I make her re-do it. It's unbelievable how different a score can be when they make an effort. Sometimes they're just not in the mood and want to get rid of it, but fortunately that shouldn't happen on an actual exam when they usually try and do their best.

Tiffin stage two done and dusted - such a relief DD found it ok but I'm not sure how reliable their feedback is!

I wonder if any of the schools with early cutoff dates for ISEB will let us know before Xmas if DCs are through to the interview stage? January such a long time to wait! And for Tiffin it's 1 March!

Been AWOL.
Well done to all those who have managed some assessments including interviews, we are slowly heading to the finishing line.
@stellagibbons, sometimes these things are better than we think, you are right, because we had been asked to listen out for hiccups with the interview, it’s impossible not to earwig. But as someone also said, it’s practice for the next one...
Wishing everyone’s DC the best.

Urgh...

DD's had her JAGS interview today and I've just submitted her creative writing. Her interview was definitely under par compared to the Emanuel one especially as we encountered some technical glitches. She waffled a lot and failed to mention anything much she was good at... and ended up quite teary afterwards.

Oh well, its done and she is looking forward to the taster - one more thing ticked off the list! Hope everyone else is doing OK. xx