Part 2: SW London Girl's Indies 11+ Pandemic Panic!

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www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3962084-Upcoming-girls-independent-SW-London-schools-11-exams?pg=40

Hello all, this thread continues from the previous "Upcoming Girl's Independent SW London Schools 11+ Exams" thread set up by @Oceane11Plus.

@PatoPato cleverly noticed, message slots were running low for the epic long thread as above, so all chat now continues here...

[Post edited by MNHQ at OP's request]

Well done @Trialsat11 your DD is doing amazingly with interviews!

@dazedandconfused11plus thanks a lot . The number of applicants this year is just adding to the anxiety of how many final offers will be made.

Im pretty sure the ISEB introduction has made people apply to multiple schools and there will be a lot of movements on the waitlists

Thanks @stircrazyschoolmum. I had almost given up hope after the first pretest debacle but this forum was such a big support.
She has cleared all our other schools after that and I'm hoping that she manages to convert some because these interviews raise their expectations so much and this is a strange year !

@tr0ubled welcome to the group! DD is also doing a sports scholarship application for Wimbledon and had the interview this morning - seems pretty odd to be doing it as a discussion but these are odd times. The teachers that interviewed her were lovely and friendly though so it was an enjoyable experience. I doubt she will be offered the scholarship but I am hoping it might make her more memorable before she goes into the scary sounding group interiew/task! 😂😂

@Yossahughes my DD has her WHS group interview tomorrow! Trying to image what it will be like online and get nervous... Has anyone heard any more about it? Particularly thinking about how many girls might be in a group. 5 or 6 max?

@dazedandconfused11plus and @Stircrazyschoolmum thank you both.

@Trialsat11 well done to your dd, that’s amazing. Wishing her all the best.
For those with interviews tomorrow, all the best.
On sports scholarship assessments, it’s seems like JAGS is the only school doing the postponement to next year thing. I wonder if this will be a deciding factor swaying people to other schools. A scholarship in hand being better and all that. I know it’s not usually a substantial discount with JAGS

@littleblackbear I dread to think how many girls are involved!! DD is quite extrovert so I think she might enjoy it but I just hope she doesn’t get too overexcited and shouty 😂

@Stircrazyschoolmum yes sort of caught up in the Emanuel exam fiasco although I think luckier in that DD sat on the 15th not the 9th so at least she didn’t have technical hitches during the exam, it must have been so unnerving for those kids.

@WarmAndco3y Emanuel has also postponed sports scholarship assessments for the moment.

Thank you all for the welcomes and best of luck to those with interviews coming up, and congrats to those with a few under the belt already!!

Did WHS ask for any pencil or paper in their group interview ?I have checked my mail but just wanted to be sure I haven't missed anything as it is 45 min

@EITEL

Exactly *@DrRamsesEmerson*. At state schools you get no prep for the eleven plus and this on top of several months of homeschooling. It’s just not a level playing field this year. I wonder if this will skew the proportion of state/private away from the 50/50 they claim to have. Makes me mad. The lack of transparency is infuriating.

grammars will be full of private school kids this year .. it is a scandal

@Tr0ubled, we didn’t apply to Emmanuel. That’s interesting. Have they postponed until 2022, as well?

[quote EITEL]@blackheathdad, yes it is a scandal. What makes it so frustrating, is that in other walks of life, there is usually some kind of independent body you can air your grievances with and make a formal complaint. With the eleven plus entry to independents there is no such thing so basically you just have to suck it up. Hard to do when your child has worked her arse off![/quote]
the 11 + exams have just been ignored by the media and gov

Hands up who's trying to listen in on the WHS team assessment
Guilty

@PatoPato thanks for your honesty! Any insights? DD is in y5 and will likely do WHS next year, although I hope under different conditions! This year must be tough. Good luck everyone!

@JavaTeak thanks for sharing! we are not but that is interesting to read.
as my concern is the lack of accuracy and reliability of the ISEB results (in not giving a picture of what a child is actually capable of), this is reassuring tp know they are looking at the big picture.
the fact kids can't show their workings, they can't go back to previous questions... really is a downside. without mentioning the secrecy surrounding the point system versus the difficulty of the questions, and how scores can spiral up or down quite quickly.
thank you

@sanam2019 - there are a lot of girls due to sit it today & tomorrow so I don't want to spoil it for anyone else and get my post deleted by MN which has happened on this thread a few times. I'll come back when the process is over & elaborate.

I can say that DD was in group along with 4 girls, a fab, fun lead teacher and an observer. I wished I'd had that info last night as DD hates huge group video calls and felt sick with nerves at bedtime
She loved the experience & is literally bouncing up and down in the kitchen right now
It is useful to have a pencil & paper to hand though this was not mentioned in the email.

Not wanting to get ahead of myself but also knowing that many of us have a big long wait coming up before we find out the results, I’m curious as to whether or not anyone has already got a firm idea about what their top choices might be? With boys schools there really does seem to be a universal packing order of desirability but I’m not sure it’s the same with the girls schools - maybe as there is so much more choice? I know that personally for me I am more concerned about my DD having more local friends than I was with my DS and so location is a big factor for me....I’d also be interested in finding out why you like a particular school - some of us may have to make choices without actually seeing a school so it’s good to get some views?

[quote montlieu]@JavaTeak thanks for sharing! we are not but that is interesting to read.
as my concern is the lack of accuracy and reliability of the ISEB results (in not giving a picture of what a child is actually capable of), this is reassuring tp know they are looking at the big picture.
the fact kids can't show their workings, they can't go back to previous questions... really is a downside. without mentioning the secrecy surrounding the point system versus the difficulty of the questions, and how scores can spiral up or down quite quickly.
thank you[/quote]
it isnt just secrey re the exams .. the whole process is too secret

what also concerns me are reports given to private schools from state schools. I assume the state schools are basically lying about the amount of education they gave in the first lock down thus giving the wrong impression to private schools. a state school kid getting the same mark in an exam as a private school kid is a far superior result. state schools should have not been allowed to keep their reports secret

@Yossahughes we do have a firm top choice, and a very close second choice that we’d also be delighted with. There are things I love about all the schools we’ve applied to and I know DD would be happy at any of them, but for various reasons after the top two there are some downsides to the others, mostly to do with location and commute and in some cases I don’t think the facilities are as good as our top choices.

It’s hard though because DD has only been able to see two of the schools we applied to (we applied to 7) and I’ve only seen 5 of them. If we find ourselves making a choice between schools which aren’t our first or second preference it’s going to be really tough to just go off the website. I was really hoping they might still be able to hold offer-holders days before the acceptance deadline but I think that’s extremely unlikely.

@PatoPato glad to hear your DD is having fun. Very reassuring! A group of 5 sounds manageable. How is your tech holding up?

We tried a test run of teams last night (not something I’m familiar with) and had major delays when trying to share pictures/slides or use the whiteboard. I’m going to reboot the computer today and make sure it’s had all its updates as our wifi is ropey at the best of times..

Hoping it won’t be a repeat of our JAGS interview that glitched repeatedly..

@Yossahughes, I remember it was painful to make a choice with DC1 and at the time we were able to see all schools (several times actually) and attend all offer holders events. How to make a choice this time without having visited several schools? My DD progressed to interview stage with all the schools she applied for but she likes all of them and doesn't know which one she likes more. I have my priorities for her, she has slightly different ones, each day that change...

@Yossahughes I have no idea at all which was not the case with DS 2 years ago. DS is at the perfect school for him but it's a long distance albeit on a cosy school bus. I definitely want DD closer.
DD has not visited any of the schools. I've only visited a few of them. Our impressions are being heavily coloured by our experience at interview but I'm not sure that's a fair measure of the schools themselves.
What I'm trying to get to grips with is whether the schools we've applied to live up to their reputations. @slipstitch1's comment about PHS only taking or suiting a certain type of girl is not the first time I've heard that. Our teacher said it to me 6 months ago implying DD was not that type but she recently U-turned and said it would really suit DD.
It's the grapevine negatives about each school that I mull over as they are all great schools.

@Stircrazyschoolmum - the tech held up! Yesterday's FHSS glitch was definitely their end. There was one girl who could not read the screen share so the lead teacher pasted a copy of the sheet in the group chat which worked for her

@PatoPato whew! That’s good to hear!

@Yossahughes we also have almost daily swings between preferences. I think we’ve pretty much discounted co-Ed (and they might discount us!) I like all the GDST schools. But JAGS has a far bigger campus.. journey times all pretty similar for us.

I’m not sure I’m brave enough to start listing preferences until I know where we have offers!! (If any!!)