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

I've got something that's bugging me re the ISEB pretest. How much do you think the children's scores get adjusted for age? I appreciate that a child born in August can be almost a year younger than one born in September born BUT they've all had the same six years of teaching right?

I did check (as DD is summer born and took the test early) and came to the conclusion that there wasn't a huge difference in scores, from memory 1-3 points of standardised score at most, but happy to be corrected. As these tests are supposed to include a cognitive aspect which can't be taught, I guess 12 months can make a big difference, especially in comprehension and reasoning.
Taking a step back, there are many aspects of the ISEB pretest which are unfair (but so is life), for example some DCs sitting the test in one go whilst others can take it over 2 or even more days, some DCs sitting the test way earlier than others (the score improvement from having weeks or months of additional learning and practice is much greater than the age adjustment) etc etc...

@stellagibbons

Thanks - I had 4th December in my head as the deadline, but hadn't actually twigged it was going to be sent out by snail mail!

It wasn't in with the bear was it? I'm having a mild panic I might have chucked out out with the box!

No it wasn’t with the bear so you have thrown it out (or at least not with that 😬) !

I contacted SCHS this morning and they emailed the creative writing over - and we've just had a blanket email to all applicants with the soft copy so I wonder if we're not the only people not to have got it in the post?

@LittleBlackBear - what size was your writing booklet? We've printed it as sent and it seems tiny (A5 when folded size).

@stellagibbons

I contacted SCHS this morning and they emailed the creative writing over - and we've just had a blanket email to all applicants with the soft copy so I wonder if we're not the only people not to have got it in the post?

@LittleBlackBear - what size was your writing booklet? We've printed it as sent and it seems tiny (A5 when folded size).

It’s A4 x

I have DC that are summer born, and DC born in winter, and I notice a difference in all of them. It evens out as they get older, but at 10/11, there is a difference. This rings true with their cousins as well. But I can’t imagine that the summer born DC, even with the age adjustment/standardisation, will gain that much to make it an advantage.

@stellagibbons, good thing that came up on here, you wouldn’t have necessarily known something was amiss. We haven’t applied to SCHS.

Sorry @WarmAndco3y - hadn't seen your post as was busily typing mine at the time. I shouldn't have even risen (inwardly) to the age comment & been prompted to ponder it but this 11+ business is making me tetchy!

I think all these variables (date of birth, location of exam, one vs two sessions, and exam date) will all have an impact on DCs' ISEB results.

However, I strongly suspect the exam date will play the most significant factor. The extra weeks - or even months - will play a significant role due to the time conferred for additional prep. This is even more true for our 2021 cohort than it might have been in previous years, as in many cases schools announced at the very last minute a completely different format. Indeed, some schools announced in late October that they required ISEB to be completed by late November/early December - a matter of a few weeks notice!

As an example, DCs applying for PHS and G&L (2020 sitting) vs only JAGS and WHS (2021 sitting) will be disadvantaged.

Maybe the schools will take this into consideration? (hoping some of the admissions departments are reading this!!)

@PatoPato well done on getting through part one of ISEB.. I am VERY tetchy right now! DD tired and tearful.

The SCHS creative writing nearly broke us as she can’t grasp the concept of submitting something with crossings out. It’s hard for them to think of it as an exam when at home!

@stellagibbons it sounds like a good thing you flagged it.. bit of an error to get the bear out ok and miss the exam question!!

We have the Wandsworth Test tomorrow it will be nice to get that one ticked off the list. It’s also age adjusted but I don’t think it makes more than a couple of marks difference between eldest and youngest.. my summer born DS didn’t seem to gain much!

@Stircrazyschoolmum @WarmAndco3y I'm very grateful for this thread so that I picked it up! I'm sure they've sent it out, but I do think they could have sent an email to everyone confirming it was being posted out.

Good luck with the WT - DD's is on Saturday and it's being hosted at Graveney so I'm quite pleased she'll get to see the campus.

@PatoPato, I completely understand. These times really try us, having done this with my other DC, this time is the most trying, because of all the curved balls the pandemic has thrown at us.

Wishing those doing the WT, all the best.

I think we're all feeling the same. The process this year seems more binary than ever with the outcome relying on a couple of tests which can be quite unpredictable. It doesn't help that the wait to find out if they've made it to interview or final offer is so long. Sigh...

@dazedandconfused11plus I agree there are lots of variables and on first sight it looks like those in Jan have an advantage. However.. I'm not sure my DD could have maintained the pace we set for any longer than we did it.. she is shattered now! So my guess is we would've started a bit later or worked slower, plus had to battle through Christmas and potentially someone getting ill.

I think a large number of WHS applicants also apply to PHS or G&L and similarly many JAGS participants will apply to Alleyns who also had a 2020 cut off. (So did Woldingham which is a popular back up choice at our school.)

Woldingham release their offers before Christmas which will be interesting. (We've not applied.) It will also be interesting to see if the Graveney cut off changes this year - an indication of whether there is more or less interest in selective state places perhaps? Pure speculation on my part!

Thanks @Stircrazyschoolmum that's interesting. Yes, any kind of data you dig up regarding Graveney admissions will be good to dissect!

Congratulations to your DD @Stircrazyschoolmum - another one ticked off the list! We have LEH on Sunday, then done for Christmas. Can't wait!!

ISEB all done (air punch)
Maths was hard & she finished just in time. It's her strong area so I'm hoping that means some of the more challenging content got thrown in.
However, one maths strong candidate announced loudly that they'd finished the maths with 20 minutes to spare. DD rolled her eyes recounting this but was once again unnerved by it.
NVR was fine and the most similar to Atom of all 4 areas. I'm posting this in case it's of interest/use to future readers rather than just boring you all with the minutiae

It's weird not knowing the outcome of these online tests. We've used Atom heavily & I love stats so enjoyed looking at her dashboard & transcripts but I think it's time to stop the subscription now. We have a few paper tests in Jan and then the Consortium.
Is anyone else hanging on to their subscription for non-online exams?

I’ve also enjoyed looking at DD’s dashboard and transcripts on Atom learning. I’ll miss that actually. We have stopped our subscription, which will run out in a couple of weeks.
A friend says her DD enjoys it so much and it has instilled discipline and a good work ethic, so she will continue right through to year 7

@WarmAndco3y and @PatoPato, may I ask how long did your DDs do Atom for? DS (year 5) started doing Atom a few months ago, but he seems quite bored by it. I’m wondering if I should stop for a few months, do other stuff (bond books etc) and pick it up again after Easter, or even in the summer. We’ve only been doing the Atom curriculum, not the mock tests yet, as he’s only sitting the tests next year. Are the mock tests good?

Hello all ,

Have been a silent reader of this discussion . Applying to the usuals like WHS , PHS , Surbiton etc. All done and dusted with ISEB and just can’t wait for wrap up LEH .
Does anyone know what LEH problem solving will target ? Anyone who would have done previous LEH interviews and would have got some sort of problem solving

Hi - just popping in to say that in the interests of fairness, it's best if people avoid posting actual exam content on this thread.

Have been reading this post avidly so thought I’d say hello. DD is applying to PHS, G&L, LEH, SHS, FHSS, WHS and NHEHS. I know that’s a lot of but four of those are on ISEB so we figured we might as well. I haven’t actually been able to visit WHS or FHSS but have heard good things about them, although to be honest WHS is probably our lowest preference as it’s a tricky commute from where we live.
DD did ISEB earlier this week so that’s over and done with. She said it went OK but I don’t really know what (if anything) can be read into that! It’s over and done with anyway! Just got LEH this weekend and then Surbiton and FHSS in Jan.
Does anybody know much about the consortium exam for FHSS? I haven’t been able to discover much about it.

@Yellownotblue, we only started using Atom learning in October during the half term break. Our schools announced they would be using ISEB sometime just before then.
DD, likes the lessons, but I’ll say we mostly do the books.
She does 1 mock of each subject a week.

@soniamumsnet, thanks for your post, I don’t understand how my post was contentious.

Anyway, not long to go for us, I don’t know the content of ISEB as DD hasn’t done it yet. I am looking forward to a lovely Christmas break.