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

This all feels so unfair and stressful.. anyone with half a brain could have predicted a COVID surge in Jan that would put exams at risk.. Given a significant proportion have sat ISEB for one of their choices I wish the remaining outliers would use the data already available and then run a session for those that haven’t separately..

Yes, eggs all in one basket worries me, but I think there is enough background data on the children (reports, school performance etc) to process those who clearly had an off day.

Sorry.. just ranting!!

@PatoPato sending you a hug.. 4 exams next week would blow my mind given the current uncertainty..

@Stircrazyschoolmum I totally agree with you. Most kids have already sat ISEB which is pretty comprehensive as it covers all the main areas. Together with school reports this should be enough information and remote interviews can help to make decisions on the boundaries or in cases where school reports have not been sufficient. To be pressing ahead with these exams in the manner suggested by schools like SHS is show a complete lack of empathy regarding what people are having to contend with during this pandemic. They are demanding that the girls each have access to THREE devices in order to sit the exams at home - what normal family has 3 devices hanging around bearing in mind that some families will have both parents working from home and secondary school children trying to access (frankly more important) online lessons at the same time?! Then there is the problem of ensuring decent wifi bandwidth for the duration of the test and a quiet space to work. It all seems quite wrong to be honest, especially when some poor kids from deprived backgrounds can’t even get access to one device to keep up with their gcse and a level learning....I can imagine what the headlines would look like in something like the Daily Mail...

@Iateallthesmarties894 3 devices? That’s bonkers! Big hug! I agree with you on the lack of empathy.. I wonder how it will impact those with multiple offers at the end... if we weren’t so local to Emanuel I think I would’ve pulled DD.. she already hates them for ‘messing up’ her Christmas!

I feel like crying - FHSS have just emailed to say they have cancelled next Friday's exam and will be going on primary school reference and online interview alone.
I am so disappointed it hurts. I just wanted her to have the chance to show what she could do (and justify all the bloody hard work she's put in this year)
Also the primary school reference was written before her stellar mock results. Would you email these in or is that mad, deranged mother type stuff

@ PatoPato big hugs to u and I can fully empathise how distressing these changes are .

Does your school send the Year 5 GLscores along with the reference ? Those will give a reflection of the academic abilities on top of the written report

@PatoPato
I would send across anything you have that will show the ability of your DD. A lot of children have worked so hard in lockdown and their Y5 report would not reflect this.

@PatoPato I would be steaming in your position as well. How on earth can they select on that basis alone, given that, unless the school have asked very specific questions to be answered in their references, they will be of varying degrees of usefulness.

Bloody hell, what a shambles.

Talking of shambles, we still haven't received our SCHS creative writing assignment in the post, a full month after it was supposed to be sent.

@PatoPato I expect FHSS will offer the vast majority of those who have applied, so please don’t worry. Nobody from our (very mixed ability) prep has ever been rejected from FHSS and this is the same as woldingham, where I saw on another post they have basically offered to all who applied this year. It’s such a shame that our girls aren’t getting to show their revision has worked, but I expect schools in the ‘second tier’ will be more lenient this year for sure - especially given the upcoming recession. All schools need to fill their places. I think SHS and schools like SCHS will also be generous with offers this year - the whole landscape of independent education has changed this year. Have a look at offers of places that you can find on prep school sites (e.g. The Study, Roche, Ken Prep, Holy Cross). It’s very reassuring to see how many offers are made compared to actual places. Even somewhere like WHS/PHS make lots of offers compared to those who accept places, according to the prep websites. Look at the number of offers made by SHS, WHS etc here: www.thestudyprep.co.uk/page/?title=Leavers%27+Destination+School+Offers&pid=50 - this really reassured me/DD when starting this process. This one from Holy Cross also shows number accepted - e.g. SUrbiton offered 20 places and only 1 was accepted. These schools must be making around 20 offers per place to get full year groups. Even somewhere seem as highly selective, like LEH offers 14 with only half accepted. www.holycrossprepschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Destination-of-Leavers-2020.pdf?_gl=1136f8hw_ga*YW1wLWFVc05iMTVGUkplT1ZVaVczLWVoV0VxMkJsWmlpQ0k0MmNzdDdDSDFPWmxoc2liTjB1SEdpRUxyUXBKV2xYTDc.

Oh FFS - Ibstock have now also pulled the on-site exam on Tuesday and will do some version of it online. I'm literally stomping around the kitchen in a rage. Am going out for a fat 2 hour run to burn off some of my anger. I just cannot believe how shit these last minute changes are and it reflects very badly on these schools (with me right now).

@Corblimbea - thankyou for your wonderful message which I skim read in my rush to punch out my last message. I'll read it thoroughly when I've calmed down!

@PatoPato get out on that run.. I’m just back from a 2 hour stomp myself and it does help! I’m so sorry you and DD find yourself here. As others have said, I think you need to supply each school with a mini CV for DD.

• Atom print out if you have one
• Mock results
• Wandsworth Test results (if applicable and out in time)
• Any extracurricular stuff (music grades / lamda etc)
• Any awards / other achievements

It might be overkill / unnecessary and they might not even look at it but it will make you feel you’ve done everything you can.

Also, make sure you have a full understanding of what’s in the interview. Will there be mental maths or weird thinking questions. (What would you do if you found a penguin in the bathroom etc) Practise with DD on a zoom, get her to do it with an adult that’s not you that might ask questions she is not expecting..

If you have sat the ISEB I’d make them aware of that too.. they could pay to access it if there were any borderline candidates.

Hopefully, @Corblimbea is right.. all our Woldingham candidates got offers.. here to hand hold though as I completely appreciate it doesn’t make the uncertainty any less stressful! xx

Just thinking.. if you have a first choice (and I realise this is hard if you haven’t visited them) then I think I’d make that very clear to them.

Gavin Williamson has just announced most Primary schools in Tier 4 will go back as planned next week. The full list of areas / schools will be published on Gov.uk later today...so guess this may mean any paper exams still scheduled with no changes yet (such as Emanuel, will still go ahead before they schools reopen again)? I would rather they don’t and had really hoped it would shift online or otherwise. I suppose anything could happen over the next few days and there may be public backlash???

@MumsRule20 , there is a possibility that at lot of London / LBRUt primary schools will be on the closure list for next week. See a possible list on The Staff room thread. It makes sense if United learning who own Surbiton High and have direct Govt access got a sense of the proposed list and so cancelled use of prep schools for sitting exams
next week.

Wandsworth is on the blacklist so that’s Emanuel screwed too..

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/948580/Contingency_framework_implementation_guidance.pdf

UPDATE: to above - the list of areas has just been published where schools won’t open as planned and most London Boroughs are on there from what I can see - so scrap my last comments. All still in an unknown flux!!!!

Been watching the LIVE news updates as they discuss and publish from the Commons...

www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/coronavirus-news-tier-4-announcement-covid-restrictions-oxford/#update-20201230-1508

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-55478521

Wow, I can so many schools scrapping the entrance exam if they can't make the move to online.

That list is bizarre. Kingston has a higher rate than Richmond and yet isn’t on there!

@NoToMisogyny , the rate in Twickenham is over 900 but yes I was surprised too.
What to schools like Claremont Fan do now? They are open next week but those sitting the exam come
from all over the area.

Neither is Lambeth and it’s level pegging Wandsworth in cases..

Lambeth is just bizarre - it's pretty much been mirroring Southwark and Wandsworth for case numbers for ages.

Maybe they’re considering the levels of disadvantage? But surely the same would apply to Tower Hamlets (and others)

Just thinking as it says:

“ Secondary schools and colleges will continue with a staggered return but with one week’s delay, providing face-to-face education for exam year groups from 11 January and the return of all students on 18 January. Vocational exams scheduled for the first weeks of January will go ahead as planned.”

This might mean that the schools will still accommodate the exams as planned if they are not affected and won’t be closed as such...

@Singingrain1223 Claremont were one of the wiser schools that did their 11 and 13+ Entramce exams in December . I wish our other ones had !

@After8itsgrownuptime , that's good news, I'm glad you have 1 out of the way.