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

[quote Stircrazyschoolmum]@blackheathdad. You have a valid point and I think if indie school fees are going to compromise your lifestyle in anyway then absolutely this is the right path to take (always assuming you have a decent state option). I think also, if you have a middling bright child and only uber academic indie options then a good state choice can allow your child to be top set as opposed to bumping along the bottom and this is what we did for our DS who is very happy and getting 8’s/9’s at his good state comp.

HOWEVER.. if you have a perfectionist, competitive DD who needs extra pastoral attention, or a DC who is very into extracurricular activities, one who might flourish more in single sex or one who
gets very agitated by mischievous kids, then maybe (not always, just maybe) an indie bound deliver something more tailored to their needs.. purely a personal view and actually not what this thread is all about. However, I didn’t want your query to go unanswered. State is getting really
squeezed for funds right now so it’s a very individual decision based on your circumstances, your DC and your options.. hope that helps a bit?

Ps.. purely cynically.. some academic indies will of course choose brightest kids as their GCSE / A Level output is their best marketing tool. Not saying I agree with that but it’s definitely happening.. plus they want kids to be fast learners and keep up so they have band width for multiple extracurricular activities which are also good marketing tools.. they are businesses after all..[/quote]
hello stir crazy .. all the reasons you state re wanting to go private is correct .. i just dont think the schools look at it that way

KGS has changed their exam to online now and the sample paper doesn’t come in till next week :(
Does anyone know how online paper exams work as we haven’t given one before except the ISEB . Can students skip a question and come back to it later ? Do they need to show the working for Maths on the answer sheet ?
I have so much empathy for anyone sitting the 11+ process this year . Sheer madness with so many changes !

@Trialsat11 are they asking parents to supervise the exam at home?

Argh! I knew the ones that stuck to their guns would come unstuck!

I’m wondering how late in the day Emanuel will leave it to declare something similar.. I hate the fact poor DD could be wasting precious holiday time practicing the wrong thing...

@Trialsat11 big hug to you and your DD.. and to any others in the same position.

KGS only want parents in the room at the start and end of the exams. Their staff will be remotely invigilating and it will all be recorded in case their is suspicion re cheating. All sounds very thorough and as cheat-proof as humanly possible. Although I find it depressing that anyone would even think of cheating!

About KGS moving online, where will the DC be sitting the tests now ? Is that still going to take place on site or are they trying to get them done in the DCs own schools ?
It sounds like there is a format out there, but I believe they generally don’t need to show their workings

@Stircrazyschoolmum I am with you on Emanuel. Personally, I cannot see that they will shift anything at the moment as their paper is so school specific and some things you would have thought they might have done, they haven’t (yet).

However, they did change the process at later stage for those applying for Art Scholarship. A task which traditionally by invite only has now been set to be done at home and then submitted with physical portfolio which has to be dropped off in person at beginning of Jan. Oddly, City of London did theirs via a digital submission and decided some time back and I haven’t been able to work out why Emanuel didn’t opt to do the same and make it an easier process at this time all things considered?

The whole thing is painstaking navigating and keeping the motivation at this time. Not sure how I feel about my child going to sit another paper exam at this time with all so fluctuating.

The KGS exams are going to be sat at home

It says that if your child was going to sit the exam at their school they still can. No idea what that means in terms of the process though - presumably the teachers will then invigilate but the kids will still need to sit the exam online.

@NoToMisogyny thank you ! Are they to be taken at a specific time ?
You don’t know what board they will be using yet ? Or using their own papers ?
We are not applying, just curious.

Every child was put into groups with different times/ days and those will remain the same now. I’m pretty sure they use their own papers. Won’t know more until a sample arrived next week! It’s all pretty head-spinning :-)

I don’t think the KGS exams will be like the ISEB ones. Reading the email it sounds as though the questions require a “written” answer. They can be typed in directly or written on paper, photographed and uploaded - although don’t quite me, I just read it quickly! That way they won’t be different to the kids taking the tests at their primary/ preps

Yes there’s an English and maths paper rather than an ISEB/ CEM format

Yes and I don’t think it will be multiple choice - more there will be a space to enter or upload answers (plus creative writing)

Yes definitely - no multiple choice at all. Comprehension/ creative writing for English and word problems for Maths I would imagine. Argh!

Definitely it will be not ISEB. But not really sure how they expect the students to put answers on paper noting down the correct question numbers from screen and do all this in the same time as a written paper.
Also , additional time for scrolling the screen to go back to any questions left . Just think it is very unfair rolling it out so late on the day !

DD's last exam is Surbiton. I "think" it's going to be ok...! (and kudos to them for taking a proactive approach right from the start to all this)

Does anyone know if Surbiton age-standardise the results? I have a vague recollection of LEH mentioning they do, so wondered if other schools doing paper-based assessments will be standardised??

Hard to motivate the DD with any revision right now. It's not like we can say, oooh don't worry darling - after the exam we'll go out for a meal/cinema/playdate/shopping spree/insert something actually fun!

@dazedandconfused11plus I hear you! We’ve lost all the usual bribes!! I’ve resorted to offering to play scrabble, jigsaws or baking which has just about limped us through but the novelty will wear off...

@MumsRule20 that’s interesting about the art scholarship, they did the same for drama.. the monologue had to be recorded on a usb stick and hand delivered! DD is ‘supposed’ to be sitting the exam at her primary in her bubble with Emanuel invigilators but I guess that depends on the school remaining open!

As an aside, has anyone any insider intel on when the Wandsworth Test results might be released. In borough have been told ‘Jan’ did out of borough candidates get anything more specific?

@Stircrazyschoolmum we were told W Test results by end of January

Hi All. I've been posting away on the 'will Jan exams happen' thread, repeating myself a lot as it's all I can think about right now. We've got 4 exams next week and it is SURREAL...going from this lockdown Christmas where we've really bedded down into tubs of Celebrations, tv, tech then straight into a full blown 3 paper exam on Monday next week followed by exams on Tuesday, Friday & Saturday. I do not like it at all!
I've got specific dates from all the schools we applied to for the date when they will communicate whether DD will be invited for interview. The only vague one is PHS who have said January letter for interviews on the (specified) 25th. I already can't stand the wait. I don't think I'll be able to properly relax now until this whole process is over.

SHS has advised us to sit the exam remotely though it was supposed to be held at our prep . Does this mean that they expect the schools to b closed ?
This is becoming confusing by the day . We don’t have any idea of how their online interface works and their admission office is closed up till Monday :(

Hello Trialsat11 - what date is he SHS exam? Have they just changed the plans today? I imagine admissions will make an exception if this is a late change and there will be someone to answer questions this week. Someone must have been there to send out the email update after all.

I agree, the uncertainty is only adding to the expected tension now that the time for written exams and second stages is here.

As far as I know, the written exams in SW London are KGS, SHS, Emmanuel, Dulwich and SPGS. Any updates from the others yet? In some ways it would be easier just to arrange industrial cleaning and bring the DC into the school, but I can see how some might be uncomfortable with that. I'm not a whizz with technology so would prefer DD not to be sitting an exam invigilated with a camera at home.

I expect all will become clearer following today’s 6pm Covid meet held by Johnson with minsters determining if changes to Tiers and if the Teaching unions manage to push their request for school opening to be further delayed etc. Until then those schools will sit tight, such as Emanuel still planning to host their paper exams (we are due to sit on 15th Jan). They will all have a back up plan as this possibility of second wave was anticipated months ago. This is why some schools were encouraging the ISEB was sat earlier rather than leaving it later if applying for different schools...

@dinosaurinmybelly the exam is on 5th Jan and the office opens on 4th Jan. They just sent the change notification last night .
These last minute changes are off putting and we will b looking at sample paper for a new format instead of just doing last minute revisions !

@Trialsat11 we are doing SHS and have always been planning to do it at home as our prep can’t host due to lack of space. The only info we’ve had is a PDF explaining how to set up the computer(a) at home. Have you had that? If so you’ve had all the info they’ve sent out!
The exam is a one hour maths paper which is answered entirely online, and a one hour English paper which is answered half online and half in handwriting. You get ten mins at the end to photograph and upload the writing.
I’ll see if I can upload the PDF instructions here if you don’t have them?