SW London boys, 11+ grammars and independents

[Jumpalicious]

Hello, I know there’s an excellent thread for the girls. Not sure if there’s one for the boys? Anyone want to come on board? I know we can’t divulge details of round two grammars since there will be late sitters, but was thinking more of a support thread. Any takers?

Another DS with a cancelled June induction day here. They still get a day in September, so hopefully it'll all be ok in the end.

I'm guessing the schools probably had to figure alternative induction plans out for last year's new intake too, so have had a chance to reflect on what seems to work best.

Our school cancelled the parents / children open day scheduled next week, instead have chosen to offer small group tours, webinair for the group before end of term. Also an induction day for thr yr 7 before the school starts, so the new entrants will have some idea of school before the upper years begin.

Hello, wondering if anyone who went through it last year can offer help with our predicament : Epsom college has made us a waitlist offer but the email states that the wait list isn’t held in any particular order, and that they will only be in contact after place confirmations are made by offer holders ie after 7 March. DS does have another offer for a school slightly further away from us at the moment but EC would have been our preference. We have to confirm acceptance of the offer we hold by 7th March.

My questions are:
If not held in order, how do EX make their offers and how will we know what chance we have of being made an offer eventually? If at all?

Does this mean we may have to accept the other school’s offer and pull out if EC offer does come through? That seems a horrible thing to do given another child may well be WL for the school we have and could lose out?? Not to mention we would lose any fees/ deposits we pay?

@Thisonesfortheroad I think the reason some schools say the WL are not in order are that many on the WL may not be keen on a place anymore, so they often prioritise in terms of who really wants to come. There probably is an order but they don't contact people one by one in order if an offer comes up because many may have other preferences. They highlight the people who seem to be keenest, so do express EC is your first choice. We are holding an EC offer, in their terms it says if accepted in writing, there is a 14 day cancellation period, you may have the same footnote in the offer you do hold, check, if you send the acceptance form on March 6th you should have 14 days to cancel without losing your deposit. Hope you get positive news soon!

@Thisonesfortheroad

This is just our experience but a certain schools pick up from same school category with same gender from their WL. For example when a state boy declines offer, another state boy will be picked up from WL. This is due to maintaining balance between state and prep and girls and boys.
And the recommendation to the Admission by WL children’s head master/mistress of primary school is also important and I just heard they tend to pick up the recommended child from WL if no order in WL.

Some schools’ WL start moving after the 1 March so I think you can wait until your so called back up schools’ deadline.

This is just an example and hope it makes sense. Good luck.

@Hanahanna hi, could you please tell me more about the recommended child that you mention above? My son had a disaster in his entrance exams and we are relying on the recommendation from his prep school head. I wasn't sure how much influence the prep school head would have and I know we only have two days to wait but it has been a long few weeks.

@Mylife2000
Sent DM.Thanks.

Thanks @swgeek and @Hanahanna makes absolute sense. Have let EC know we are keen to hear back from them. DH and DS have since been the offer holder event for the other rival school and came back really positive which helps too.

*to the offer holder event

(Typo, sorry)