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]

@patopato your comments resonate with me...I was really clear on both DS’ school choice and they both have a pretty long journey to school...it’s the perfect school for them and I can just about cope with the fact that their social lives take them pretty far afield....I am not sure i would be so happy about that for DD so I think location will play a bigger role. Also, many of the girls schools do seem quite similar in ethos...

I’ll add that add hasn’t seen any of the schools and seems to be quite influenced by the school videos! Her preferences seem to be dictated by what the sixth formers are wearing and how impressive the facilities look!

I’m with stircrazy on this one, not brave enough to order preferences yet. We have a reasonable offer in hand. But waiting to see what else comes through.

Speaking of which, postie has been, but nothing from our non-ISEB school. I honestly wish they had not sent the silly email yesterday. I don’t know why they couldn’t just send the results by email and put it in the post. In this era of covid, we tend to leave our mail for 48 hours before opening it ( I think we might break the rule for this). What is more frustrating is that the school is less than 10mins from us

Oh well, if it doesn’t come tomorrow, we’ll call on Monday as suggested in the email.

Also can I suggest we try not to make this supportive thread a state vs independent school argument/divide. Every individual has been affected one way or the other and as lots of people have said, there are independent schools that have been way below par and state schools that have been very resourceful. It’s a difficult and challenging time for everyone

@warmandco2y oh no!! That’s so annoying to be stalking the postbox and nothing arrives!! So frustrating! They don’t make this process very easy for our nerves do they!

Just wondered if anyone knows how many KGS are interviewing and if it will be like PHS/WHS where everyone will get a place/waiting list!

@Corblimbea , sorry I can't help with this year but in the past KGS hasn't used their waiting list that much. 3 years ago they had the "exploding offer " paragraph in their offer letter, it's since been withdrawn but due to their limited school space they can't put on a bulge class so they are careful with offers and small WL movement.
Best of luck to your dc, in the past the interview has been very straight forward - 3 words to describe you, favourite book, hobbies, why do you want to come to this school etc.

DD had 2 completely different interviews today .
A short very informal LEH and a long 45 min WHS . She quite enjoyed both but they were left with a smaller group in WHS as the internet connection failed for some of the girls . I’m just worried how it would have affected the group dynamics as they still continued with the process .
Nail biting times continue !

Good luck to everyone’s DC waiting to hear about Alleyn’s interviews today. It’s my DD favourite but I think also the hardest on her list to get into.
It’s going to be a long day!

@trialsat11 I thought the LEH interview was very short and straightforward too - I am wondering how they will ever be able to differentiate between the girls and if so, on what basis?

@Yossahughes I got the impression that they have already made a list based on the entrance test scores and the interview was more to assess the values and personality of the girl . Quite unlike what I had heard of the LEH interviews from before ..

@trialsat11 you are probably right....which is quite hard on the girls as if they don’t get picked then they will be left to think that their personality is lacking. Coming to think about it, the one area of the interview were they pushed quite hard was trying to find out (in a roundabout way) what other schools she had interviewed with....I.e. you must be getting quite good at interviews now...how many have you had? Etc They are clearly also using it as an opportunity to gauge the likelihood of a girls accepting a place so they can get their offer numbers right..

@Yossahughes I wouldn’t read too much into that as LEH already asked upfront in the application form about other schools . Also , there were no direct questions asking the priority which points to more about it being a normal icebreaker . It is quite difficult to gauge but I think they will still b looking at the cumulative total of the entrance test , reference and interview

@yossahughes LEH didn’t ask my daughter anything about other schools/interviews so I don’t think there’s a deliberate campaign to try and divine preferences. Your dd’s interviewer must just have picked that to chat about.
My DD’s interview was a pretty wide-ranging conversation from reading to hobbies to what makes a good learner. It didn’t seem structured at all. There was one bit at the end about Theseus’ Ship which thankfully we’ve talked about before so she had things to say about it!

@flossietea maybe I am reading too much into it - I had always thought it was urban myth that they asked kids what their first choice school was and where else they had applied so I was just a bit surprised that they would waste time in a short interview talking about it. I was probably also thinking about how cagey the headmistress was when asked about how many offers were made.... Oh well, I guess we will have to wait and see how it all pans out in February!

@Tr0ubled good luck hearing today 🤞🏼Agree it is going to be a long day! The Registrar clearly said she’d email this evening....

WHS done! I tried not to listen too much but they sounded like a very nice group, no tech issues. Well balanced discussion and no one ‘taking over’. DD said ‘I wish all my lessons were like that!’

@WarmAndco3y has your post been?!
@Tr0ubled and @LittleBlackBear, yes, it’s going to be a long day! I’m not holding out much hope as the odds are literally halved when it’s coed.. fortunately not our favourite so the pressures off.

@Trialsat11 we had an email from WHS this morning stating there were tech issues yesterday. I wonder if they will have to run some mop up sessions next week? If you are worried I’d email them..

Hope everyone else is doing ok.. is results day 11 Feb for most folk? Seems an age away!!

Most schools have a strict ranking according to test results and the interviews I believe are to rule out anyone who isn’t a good fit. A couple of years ago DD was asked at interview what school her elder sibling went to. She answered honestly that it was their nearest rival school (both GDST). I thought an offer was unlikely but she did get one, which we turned down for the rival school

No postie yet. Usually comes around 11:30, but no sign yet, today, typically.
Feeling a bit under the weather today, so I’m stalking him on my phone ring app.

Yes, all the best to everyone expecting to hear from Alleyn’s today.

11th Feb is main results day for us too. And then grammar allocations 1st of March, I believe

GWS @WarmAndco3y I’m not sure I know what a phone ring app is? Perhaps I need one for 11th!!

We have a ring doorbell. So can see what’s happening and communicate with vendors via the app. It also records activity so you can view the history
I just flick on it every so often while I’m in bed feeling sorry for myself
I’m just glad DD is oblivious to the fact that this letter has been posted. We were not expecting the results until February

We are done done done!!! Yipee!! DD just came out of the WHS assessment and was buzzing with excitement - she really enjoyed herself. I decided not to eavesdrop as I probably wouldn’t have had a clue what was going on. There were 5 girls in the group so not too overwhelming and plenty of opportunities to speak - although she did say that one girl didn’t say a single word throughout the whole 45 minutes which is quite sad and shows that this sort of assessment doesn’t suit everyone.

@PatoPato Interesting. Maybe some of those CAT scores have changed (in terms of Atom scores)? If you click on this link you see the suggested CAT/Atom scores required for various schools. E.g. CAT of 128 for St Paul's (6-8 less on Atom), City 125 and Godolphin 129. Assuming scholarships only awarded for those with 135+?? atomlearning.co.uk/advice

@WFHWTF L. Rognoni at Atom provided me with these in October. I felt they looked a little low at the time but I was more interested in the differential.
St Paul's is not the Girls' School nor is City CLGS - that line on the link you provided refers to the boys' schools. They split the schools in a similar way in their seminar

This is the video transcript of the Atom ISEB seminar which some might be of interest for anyone going through this next year. Attendees were sent the link afterwards.
vimeo.com/468916518

Does the CHS send the offer letter and the bursary letter separately? I received the offer letter but it doesn’t have anything about the bursary we applied, does it mean that our bursary application got rejected?