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

@Bimbamboosh7 - the huge special delivery envelope contained 2 papers each in a sealed A4 envelope printed up with the school logo in the school colours. There were then 2 separate self seal envelopes similarly printed for the completed papers. The safety seals, which were specifically labelled for Maths & English, were also in the school colours and printed.
You'd have to be Frank Abagnale to forge any of it!
I was v dubious beforehand but hands down to them - I don't think a single parent could have had cause for complaint with the process.

@PatoPato I’m so glad Radnor house went well. Their set up sounds v similar to what Emanuel originally had planned.. I wish they had posted us the papers and stuck to it!

@patopato sounds brilliant and well thought out!

What schools are we expecting to hear from this week? I know PHS said early this week, and I WHS said 15th Jan for second stage invites in one of their pre-ISEB letters to candidates. I’m assuming LEH will have to be in touch this week as interviews are next week. Anyone else?

We are also waiting to hear from PHS, LEH, WHS and KGS, all expected this week. I think LEH sends an email first saying that they posted the letter. The rest would be just emails. Good luck everyone who is waiting!

Yes, best of luck to everyone this week. x

Is KGS this week? I wondered if they would have to delay because the exams were late - I think they finished Saturday or Sunday?

Yes results out by the 15th. They probably started marking on Tuesday after the first exam session. But still a gargantuan task with 1300 sitting this year!

@NoToMisogyny

Yes results out by the 15th. They probably started marking on Tuesday after the first exam session. But still a gargantuan task with 1300 sitting this year!

I read Mr Lehec's letter to mean there was 1,300 English and Maths papers to mark, i.e. 650 applicants. Do we know how many KGS get in a typical year (which this one, of course, isn't by any stretch)?

It's a bit ambiguous but I'd assume it will 1,300 candidates... 650 seems too low where both boys and girls are applying (we are in the crazy SW London bubble after all!)

I think the “over 1300 papers” includes 10+ applicants too, so there must be less than 650 for 11+! So that’s a tiny bit of good news! Probably still around 550 though? That’s a total guess!

Does anyone know how many sat PHS? I think (from open day?) it was 650ish for WHS.. the waiting is awful..

@dazedandconfused11plus I’ve just reread the letter - you might be right. It says “over 1300 examinations” not 1300 papers...

@Stircrazyschoolmum PHS has confirmed they will send out the results today and the anxiety has shot through the roof .

WHS typically has 900 candidates applying every year .Not sure how many it is for PHS

@dazedandconfused11plus Just re-read this again:

"Over the last few days, we have seen over 1300 examinations completed in both English and mathematics, which has been an enormous undertaking."

I am pretty sure it's 650 applicants rather than 1,300. This will also be in line with other stats I've seen quoted in the past for indies. But maybe someone more clued up could clarify :)

@Dozymum2020 but it's "examinations in both English and Mathematics", of which each applicant needs to take one each ;)

@Trialsat11 I feel physically sick.. let the compulsive refreshing of email begin..

I’m read it as 1300 applicants. But wouldn’t necessarily trust my frazzled brain at this point! But that does include 10 plus. Does anyone know how many typically apply for that?

*I’ve!

In previous years, for KGS it was 750-850 applicants for 11+ and 350-450 applicants for 10+. I am pretty sure in the above mentioned letter 1,300 number includes both 10+ and 11+ and it is a number of candidates, not exam papers to mark. They have additional 4-5 days for 10+ exam marking according to the schedule on their website. Only11+ interview invites are by 15 Jan. Let's hope they stick to the schedule.

Thanks for clarifying, @Oreo2019. I am known to overthink things!

WHS said they would get back to us after the 14th January but they didn’t my commit to an actual date....however the Sports Scholarship assessments were supposed to be on Monday and while I doubt that they will take place I think that they probably need to get back to applicants to let them know what’s going on prior to the weekend?

LEH said mid January - the test was sat at the start of December so they should have marked the papers by now (considering it was all multiple choice and very short)? Would they really resort to sending invites in the post bearing in mind the current pandemic and the fact that the post isn’t totally reliable at the moment?

It’s annoying not know when to expect answer as it leads to constant checking of e-mails and feeling jumpy whenever the post arrives !

LEH then sent an email with timings of the exam, which at the bottom said "We will contact you in early January to let you know if your daughter has been invited back for an interview. Please note that the interviews will be held on 19, 20 and 21st January."

Just trying to get my head around the numbers of applicants for KGS and other schools (I also read it as the total number of applicants for both 10 plus and 11plus). How many schools do most girls apply for? We have gone for 6 selective (including grammar). Presumably even quite popular schools need to over offer to some extent because even the most brilliant child can only take a place at one school. I'm trying to work out how likely each child is to get at least one offer! Such a weird and nerve racking time even though, thank goodness, the exams are over now for us. Good luck to all your daughters. I'm not commenting regularly but I'm following the thread and grateful for the insight and guidance.

These numbers are very frightening indeed.....I have a friend who teaches at one of the local boys prep schools and she said that last year 90% of the offers went to 30% of the boys. So basically 2/3s of boys ended up in a waitlist situation. I appreciate that it’s probably even more difficult for the boys as there are less school places for them, but it’s a scary thought...especially as applications are up this year due to the iseb making it easy to apply to more schools...