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?

@GrammarHopeful @BookShark ditto... pleasantly surprised as I was about to bribe the Postie to hunt down a yellow hampton box!

We’ve got box and interview! No correlation then ;-). Well done everyone!

@GrammarHopeful I'll have a root through data and see what I can fathom out! I am sure I read somewhere if you pass for WCGS there's a good chance you'll get in so am not crying just yet.

@PitNicking There are some schools that are still dragging out exams. Eg Kingston grammar is in jan, etc. Thankfully tho, most schools have finished with exams, which I think is wise, since yes - otherwise all very drawn out!

DS still has two exams to go in January. It's feeling very drawn out, although on the flip side, we won't have the intensive January exam period we were expecting thanks to sitting ISEB for some of those schools instead. DS is just bored of it all now - I think we must have done every past paper possible!

Ok received it all now. DS is eligible for SGS, but not Wilson ( DS did not meet English threshold) and DS got an interview for Hampton ( and no box :-)). we just want to hear about Tiffin really :-( shall we ask them to change their process? haha

@Sterou did they actually tell you that info about the threshold? We simply learnt that he’d missed the pass mark by a point. Also, missing the English is quite likely where my child went wrong. In that sense, remain hopeful for tiffin since their English paper sounded very different, with different sections, so perhaps more chances of doing ok... a friend has since told me her son passed to wallington, Sutton, tiffin, but not Wilson’s...

@Jumpalicious she won’t know if her son has passed Tiffin - we don’t find out until next March.
Can I ask what the box thing is about for Hampton? DS has a 10plus offer so we aren’t following exactly the same process

Ah ok / i just saw what it was!;) we didn’t get one of those 😁

@JustJuice187 sorry: friend has son in year 9. This is not current info! Making the point that you can fail some but pass others, in this case, her son failed Wilson’s but is currently at tiffin. No doubt because the format of the tiffin exam suited her child better. It’s often luck of the draw too, a case of tiny differences in marks, by the time onto stage 2, perhaps.

The box thing seems to be sent to all kids at some point in the process. Unless they sat their exam at Hampton, in which case, they seem to have got the box on the day,

@Jumpalicious

In order to be eligible for a place at Wilson’s a candidate must have met all four of these requirements:

· the required standard in the Selective Eligibility Test

· the minimum threshold in the second stage English test

· the minimum threshold in the second stage Mathematics test

· the overall pass mark of 475

Unfortunately your son did not meet the minimum threshold in the second stage English paper.

It may help you to know the following information about your son’s performance:

Minimum threshold standardised score in Second Stage English - 175

@Sterou It sounds like your DS did very well in the SET and stage 2 maths if despite not meeting the required standard for English, he still got above the pass mark for Wilson's and passed SGS.

From another thread : very insightful

www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/11plus/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=61489

@TeddyDidIt
Having thought about your comment. DS strength is maths so that would make sense, he must have done very well in the maths round 1 and 2... do we know if SGS and Wilson share the same scoring methods? ( the paper score rather than the ratio round 1 and 2). Follow me here ... in the thread I shared from 11+ forum above, the analysis showed that SGS had to offer up to rank 500 to fulfil its cohort, leaving sadly 300+ students with no place .. as we are in the dark about DS ranking, having visibility of where DS failed to succeed (English) it would be interesting to work out if he is in the top 500 ranked for SGS ... extrapolating my thinking here .. arrrrggg

@Sterou My understanding is the schools apply the same method of marking and just use the results differently - both by putting different weights on the tests and setting their own pass marks. The second stage English especially is quite labour-intensive to mark, so I doubt this would get done by each school individually.

The boys who pass stage 2 for either school but don't get a SGS or Wilson's place do have very good chances of getting a WCGS place.

I know my child's score, since he just failed Wilson's. I imagine, therefore, that he won't be in the top 500 of SGS - and won't get a place at SGS - or have there been children who have failed the second round of Wilsons, and still passed to SGS?

It's really tough since he is very very good at maths and always has been, from a tiny age! Maybe his written English let him down... but nonetheless, I would have thought his maths might carry him (and we didn't get a note saying he'd not got the right mark for English). Really not sure what happened.

Ultimately, 600-odd children scored better than him! On that basis, no Sutton grammars right? Or maybe a chance with WCGS (tho we are outside of Sutton, and I know they award places to locals first).

Funny thing is that he actually scored really well in both of the Sutton Mocks - got very high scores (in both maths and English). Goes to show, doesn't it!

Ug, so near and yet so far. It now means that I'm concerned he won't get into anything!

Yes @lookhappy I know boys who have passed SGS and not Wilson's but still got an offer from SGS.

The numbers include many of the same boys who passed Tiffins and St Olaves, many who will end up going to the nearby indie schools, plus some who were taking grammar exams all over the place to hedge their bets.

Only 15 WCGS places are reserved for Sutton children. 25 Pupil Premium and 110 rank order.

If he passed two of the three, there's definitely still hope.

Just to share my experience. Four years ago my DS passed for SGS but not Wilson’s . We weren’t given any score He got into our local comprehensive on offers day ( where his elder brother goes). He went on the waiting list at about no 35 and we are out of area so I wasn’t hopeful, but by the end of the summer he was at number 2 and he got an offer on the second day of term. So especially if you are in area there is certainly a chance he’d get into SGS ( which is an excellent school).

Question on Hampton - everyone I have spoken to seem to have an interview in Jan ... has anyone got stats- I guess first year on ISEB?
When do we find out about academic scholarship? Before or during / after interview ? Thanks

@Sterou Good point: how are they even able to offer scholarships based on the Iseb since I imagine there will be clumps of similar marks? Not sure how many have been invited along. But it can’t be easy for them to do endless physical interviews, so being invited must have some positive meaning? Btw: Which day have you (or anyone else doing Hampton) been offered? School week or weekend?

My DS also has an interview at Hampton but I know of others who have been advised they have not been successful - so they are definitely screening out candidates based on ISEB score (though no idea what their threshold score was to be invited to interview).

RGS Guildford on the other hand are interviewing every candidate who has applied regardless of ISEB performance.

Re scholarships, I think the original info from Hampton said that boys who achieve highly in ISEB and impress at interview will then be invited back for a further scholarship interview, and any offers of academic scholarships will be made based on that combination of ISEB score and interview. I’m guessing they will make the scholarship interviews quite rigorous to enable them to differentiate between similar high ISEB scores? It’s a good point though that there may well be larger groups of boys clustered at similar mark levels.

Have to say I’ve been very impressed by the efforts made by both schools we have applied to so far. All very efficient and doing the best they can in these strange covid times. DS went to Hampton to sit the ISEB and they made a real effort to make the boys feel welcome and relaxed. Yellow box was a definite hit but his favourite thing was the little Hampton branded bottle of hand sanitiser they were each given and allowed to take home, can’t get much more 2020 than that

Good luck to everyone for all their applications!

Hello! Anyone know when Whitgift are sending out decisions on interviews?

@Jumpalicious - any day now, friends mentioned interviews start 6th

@Jumpalicious

Hello! Anyone know when Whitgift are sending out decisions on interviews?

They said they would send interview invitations mid Dec to mid Jan by email Those not getting through to the interview stage will get letters in the post

@FlyingPandas ISEB + CAT scores and HT reports have possibly driven interviews at this round. CATs may carry a heavier weighting towards GSCE potential?