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

@Stircrazyschoolmum DD is looking forward to the taster as well - the Science part is right up her street! Sorry her interview didn't go as well as you'd hoped - I suspect a lot of the girls will be similar this year.

Has anyone heard anything from Streatham & Clapham about the Creative Writing? I thought it was supposed to be around now? We did get a toy bear sent to us last week though!

I sent SCHS an email about 5 mins ago asking them.. we have the WT the day before so it would be good to know what they are planning.. I’ll let you know if I hear anything!

I should have added she's done her Jags interview and writing task as well so we're now off until January

@Stircrazyschoolmum, sorry to hear about your DDs experience. Sometimes these things just get too overwhelming, and they should factor in technical challenges. Lots of TLC and hot chocolate after the taster session....

My DD is excited for the taster session as well, started now, but I’m out at the moment. She also loves science

@Oceane11Plus, I’m envious you are all done, we have 2nd part of Sutton grammars this weekend and next week ISEB, and that will be it for us too, until results days in February. We’ve got 2 sports scholarship assessments as well at some point.

Interesting a colleague whose DD did the ISEB, told me exactly the same thing as your DD

Thanks for the support guys. My heart sank when we logged in for the taster and couldn’t hear the host at all, but it seems to have sorted itself now. The history teacher is doing a fine job and she is beaming!

@WarmAndco3y I’m sure your DD will be enjoying it. I might sit in on the science myself - fish and chips for tea.. a greasy treat! Best of luck with Sutton second stage, it feels like a busy time!

@Oceane11Plus I can’t believe you are done! I really hope you get to escape and relax a bit. Feb is such a long way away. Good to hear consistent things about ISEB. I will feel far happier when that part is out of the way.

Hang in there everyone.. xx

@Oceane11Plus - I also cannot believe you are done! I was so grateful when you started this thread as found last year's very useful even though I was just lurking. Now I'm hanging around MN waiting for updates on this thread to sort of kill time through the process and share my stress!

We've got SPGS pretest tomorrow, ISEB next week then 3 paper exams in the actual secondary schools (can you believe it!) the first week in Jan plus a fourth if she makes the grade on tomorrow's pre-test. It feels like such a slog, especially keeping her going over Christmas.
Lucky you to be done. Kick back & enjoy it....but don't desert this thread!

Best of luck for tomorrow @PatoPato

We stuffed with fish and chips and getting ready for the GBBO final. Lots of baking planned when this is all over!

@Stircrazyschoolmum sorry to hear your DD was upset after the interview, although it probably went better than she thought. The main thing she was chatting and contributing to the conversation. How much can they expect from 10/11 year olds!

@Oceane11Plus glad the ISEB went well. Our DD now done with that too, although she wasn't very confident - a pity as counts for 3 of her schools... verbal reasoning seemed to be the issue, although not sure why as that's usually her thing. Anyone else had feedback on it?

Very envious of those who have finished for Xmas! DD still has LEH to go - hopefully not burnt out by then!

And goodluck @PatoPato for tomorrow!

@PatoPato wishing your DD the very best for tomorrow

@dazedandconfused11plus That’s very interesting, DD also said VR wasn’t that straightforward (and that’s normally her strength). I think with this ISEB pretest it’s very hard to decipher what the outcome could be from DCs feedback given the test is adaptive. I am going to stop thinking about it until January, when I will start being very stressed about making it to the next stage or not!
Good luck for those sitting the SPGS pre test tomorrow. I wouldn’t worry too much, from past experience they only cull a minority at this stage, say 20%, and most make it through the next stage (written exam). That’s really when things becomes challenging!

@Oceane11Plus I'm restraining myself from asking any more details about the ISEB as don't want her to think I'm worried, and knock her confidence... so can't really tell what happened exactly! Either it was genuinely really hard for her or she did well on the early questions and the adaptive element kicked in. I think the proxy for knowing how it went will be getting to the next stage for WHS, as I understand they are only/mainly looking at NVR and VR. Such a long time to wait! At least Xmas to distract us all...

So glad I found this thread my DD also did the Jags interview, creative writing which i scanned and sent and yesterday evening the tester history and science lesson all of which she found good. She will be doing her ISEB first week of December.

I have also applied to Emanuel and as I can see on here many have already been interviewed. We have heard NOTHING from them aside from receipt of payment from paypal on registration, we have nothing (we also sent the school report ). I am starting to panic as I can see online that interviews are between 2nd of Nov and 11th of Dec but information would be sent 2 weeks before hand, I also know many from DD school have already been interviewed. Would calling them be too pushy? Do they interview everyone or is it possible to register and still not be interviewed? Any help would be great. Thanks.

@Jess1011 glad your DD enjoyed JAGS - I thought the experiments worked very well online - with lots of ‘don’t try this at home’ caveats!!

If you have paid Emanuel registration fee, and submitted the report you should have had 2 receipt letters from Debra at minimum. Yesterday she sent out a generic one with videos on the exams. It stated they have extended interviews into the Xmas hols and Jan - I can only imagine they have been inundated with applications as they no longer cap them and they are an alternative to ISEB.

Not pushy or unreasonable to call if you haven’t had these three emails. Definitely not in your junk folder?

@Jess1011, I agree with stir... call them. Welcome to the thread

My DD enjoyed the taster class too. She was talking about it over dinner

Thank you for responses. DD was more excited about the the Science. Initially she was exhausted and was reluctant to take part but it all turned out good.

I have emailed Emanuel after checking junk mail and confirming that we received nothing except the payment receipt which was from paypal. I will call them on Friday if I receive no response.

Just received a response and thankfully I sent out an email as apparently an email was sent to us which we hadn't received for an interview. Thankfully the interview is next week so we have not missed it phew!! I cannot wait for all of this to be over.

Phew!!! @Jess1011, something similar happened to a boy at DS’s school a few years ago when he did 11+ exams.
He lived in a flat with pigeon holes/mail boxes and the letter had gone to a neighbour who didn’t pass it on to the mum until the day before the interview. Meanwhile the mum was fretting about an interview invitation and had almost given up. Really stressful time!!
All the best to your DD

Just catching up and just found myself shouting CALL THEM to @Jess1011 and have now seen that you've had a reply...thank god.
Isn't it crazy that we are all having to second guess whether getting in contact in such circumstances might be seen as pushy. I would have been the same....not wanting to make a fuss.
Very glad you emailed them - good lesson

It is terrible. Panic set in when DD kept coming home saying so and so had their interview with Emanuel already. Of course it was silly for me to wait this long before contacting them but I kept thinking it was my panic over the whole situation and the response would come.Also did not want to appear pushy particularly as their website is full of information. So glad I contacted them now, we have also received the interview material, zoom link and instructions. To say I am relieved is an understatement. Good luck to all your girls and thank you for responses.

Thank goodness you checked @Jess1011 !!

Complete paranoia but can I confirm (if anyone knows) that as far as WHS, PHS and Alleyns are concerned, other than receipt of registration we shouldn’t be doing anything this side of Christmas? I think all three use ISEB as first filter before inviting to second round?

Alleyn’s have given ISEB dates. 28th November and 5th December. I don’t know about the others, sorry.

@stircrazyschoolmum yes that what I'm assuming re PHS and WHS (and G&L). The wait is already sending me loopy, January is soooo far away!

That's correct re PHS. They will "write to all applicants in January confirming whether or not they are invited to an interview on January 25th". G&L will also email in January.