PART 3: SW London Girl's Indies 11+ Results, Decisions & Panic Over?

[MumsRule20]

WELCOME TO PART 3!!

Previously…

PART 1 started by Oceane11plus in July 2020 for the SW London Girl’s 11+ 2021 cohort (pandemic year).
PART 2 continued the journey (exam pandemic panic).

Both Part 1 & 2 quickly reached the MN quota of 1000 posts!

Will PART 3 be our final episode? Keep supportively posting as we make our final decisions on offers, WL movement & starting Year 7 (hopefully post-pandemic)...

When do JAGS need to know?

Alleyn’s is Friday - just going to double check though ;

@Colapip thanks for the feedback .
My DD is enthusiastic about LEH but I'm thinking about the commute .
I think she is perhaps signing up for very long days without understanding the impact but finding it difficult to convince her otherwise
She is very interested in drama and feels LEH does really well in that
I don't think there is much difference in the schools academically
@Flossietea@dazedandconfused11plus any views on which can help please

Eeek! Does this mean you’ve been offered a waitlist place at LEH too @trialsat11? Congratulations!

OK I saw both schools (I’m a keen bean who went to open days in year 5, which turned out to be very fortunate!) and I saw things to love about both. But what made me love LEH more was the space. PHS makes amazing use of the space they have but there’s no denying it’s a smaller site than LEH. I just got such a sense of openness and light from LEH and PHS felt quite cramped and in parts pretty dingy by comparison. Some of their older buildings particularly were quite shabby inside too. Sorry if that sounds harsh. I don’t mean to be and I know it’s a lovely school and these things don’t really matter, but it did colour my impression of the place a bit.

Things I did like about Putney - the head seems brilliant. Really enthusiastic and switched on and an unapologetic feminist. The sixth form centre looked wonderful and the sixth form girl who showed us around was really lovely and confident and articulate.

Things I liked about LEH: the facilities are the best around. The music department is huge and so well-equipped (DD is a musician) and the head of music is incredible.

But honestly what it comes down to is gut feel. I know that’s really unhelpful! Walking around LEH I could just picture DD there being really happy and settled. Didn’t get the same feel from PHS, but others will feel the opposite.

Both the same time
and same location ...

@Starrynight7 - that's super tricky! I don't know either school, so I'm not able to really help you distinguish them. I guess the obvious question is whether you/DD are more drawn to co-ed or all girls?

If not, is your DD particularly into sport/art/music/drama, where one school slightly has the edge in some way?

None of this is very insightful unfortunately, but I feel your pain and am keen to help!

Starry we’re Alleyn’s but it’s hard to give insight as we haven’t seen much more than online stuff.

I know other people with dc who’ve loved it.

What attracts you to either?

Thank you! Don’t know how you ladies have tagged me! So sorry! New to mumsnet! Narrowed it down as ds is at local school and great to have dd in same vicinity!

Hi @Trialsat11 fantastic news about the Putney and LEH offers! Sorry, have been dealing with a lot of life stuff recently - fortunately all fine - so haven't had time to comment but amazing to hear the numerous updates from everyone!

Tbh, I think both are amazing schools and you can't really go wrong. Luxury of choice really! Would echo everything @Flossietea said about the facilities at LEH. I don't think there is another all-girls 'London' school in the area that has better. So light and airy, and incredible playing grounds all onsite. The connections with Hampton are also an advantage as further up the school the girls can socialize with the boys without needing to go to a fully co-ed school. And a school dog!

But Putney is a fantastic school too and I love the use of space on their site with the modern and traditional buildings. I think it would be fun as a teenager to mooch around the high street with friends. The school year group of 100 is a good size. Seems a happy school! I can imagine the proximity to central London would be useful for doing school trips and having speakers into the school. I think they're excellent for languages? And a new science, music and debating building? Well done @Stircrazyschoolmum on making your decision!

I'd say LEH and Putney might be most differentiated by the urban vs suburban location. They both have top-notch results so your daughter will be well-taught at either.

She's going to be a LAX player!

Hope that helps

@Flossietea@dazedandconfused11plus you are both such superstars helping at such short notice with so thorough details
Will come back on the thread to tell you where we end up finally

@Trialsat11 , if you have time ask the LEH registrar if you can see the drop off locations of the late bus so if your dd has to stay for a drama or sports club you can see where you need to collect her from. It's not as many locations as the normal bus route and you have to pay extra for it.
Otherwise the bus is very social and fun esp if you are on a Wimbledon route etc.

@Skatingpark97 we will be commuting from Wimbledon and were wondering if it is a minority group or there would be many from here .
Anyone having an idea of that
We have seen the drop off locations which are a 10 min walk from the house

resources.finalsite.net/images/v1600700074/lehsorguk/c7nkz0qe3kpfepuqdgh9/LateCoachRoutes.pdf

@Trialsat11, One thing to consider and that turned us right off LEH is that this year group would be 6 forms instead of normal 4 forms, which is roughly 144 girls instead of 108. That dilutes resources significantly, such as places in clubs, etc. There is nothing wrong with large year group but I heard from some parents in LEH that they did not deal well with an enlarged year group in previous years.

@Trialsat11 , I'm in Esher and my ds is on another bus route but most of his friends are on the 2 x Wimbledon routes and enjoy it and chat to the LEH girls, because it's longer they get to know each other better etc.
I know your dd is good at drama as you got the SHS drama scholar so just be aware of the late night pick ups if she is in performances but she will at least be acting with boys!! My dd is at SHS and I do find it weird seeing girls dressed up as boys when they are 18 etc.

[quote Oreo2019]@Trialsat11, One thing to consider and that turned us right off LEH is that this year group would be 6 forms instead of normal 4 forms, which is roughly 144 girls instead of 108. That dilutes resources significantly, such as places in clubs, etc. There is nothing wrong with large year group but I heard from some parents in LEH that they did not deal well with an enlarged year group in previous years.[/quote]
Agree the enlarged year group is a bummer. Also don’t entirely but their reason for it - we had so many great candidates we just couldn’t say no. Really? They have no trouble saying no every other year. Suspect they need more money for some forthcoming project but this is pure speculation.

It’s actually only an extra 30 girls though (138 max instead of 108) and split into six forms of 22/23 which is actually smaller form groups than their usual 27. So I’m choosing to see that as a bonus. And DD will just have to put her back into it if she wants to get picked for things!

@Starrynight7 @LittleBlackBear, my DD is in Y9 at Alleyn’s so happy to answer any questions you may have. It must be so difficult making a decision without seeing the schools this year!

Although Jags is all girls, they do a lot of activities with the boys at DC so they would still experience the mixed environment albeit it’s usually outside of the classroom.

As @ColaPip has mentioned, is your DD into sport? There are more sports teams in Alleyns (so anyone who wants to represent the school will do even if it’s E team) whereas in Jags, girls have to qualify to get into the school teams.

Another differentiator is that whereas the Jags fees are slightly lower, many clubs are in addition so just something to bear in mind.

Lastly, is your DD into languages? Jags have a choice of 8 languages incl mandarin & Turkish whereas Alleyns only offer 4: French, German, Spanish &Latin.

It’s a tough decision but they are both really good schools and your DD is very fortunate to have a choice!

Thank you Midnight001! Great insight. Much appreciated!

We chose LEH in the end as DD couldn’t be convinced otherwise and we felt she would be much more committed with a choice she was happier with ..
See you in September LEHer’s . Is the Whatsapp group still in play ?

Yay welcome to the LEH gang @trialsat11! PM me your number and I’ll add you to the WhatsApp.

Midnight
Our DD had the same choice last year. She chose Alleyn's.
Alleyn's seems more relaxed and less intense.
DD is into sport and joined lots of clubs before lockdown and there are sports training on Saturday morning.
She travels on the school bus or home by train if there are clubs.
Friends DDs at JAGS are really happy.

@Trialsat11, congratulations on your recent offers and on making up your mind so quickly! It is great when the child knows exactly what she wants.

We have declined all our offers, except for TGS and LUS, which are both huge year grous of 180, DD now is not sure if she wants all girls or co-ed...

I would appreciate it, if someone could offer some advice re what would DD have in LUS that she would not have in TGS, except for boys, of course?

Great to see here that the discussion has moved to accepting offers and settling down.

Hallo. Any more news about WLs?

Based on the other thread, - FHSS is done! Full.

Based on here, PHS has moved.
Based on here, LEH is having a super bulge year. This mean no more WL for them - no? (Possibly more offers were accepted than they anticipated - and they did the maths to make it work. "we had so many great candidates we just couldn’t say no" is uber marketing.)

Any news about SPGS, G&L, LU, CLSG, SHHS, JAGS, WHS, FHRP, QG, QCL?

I can give you good news that WHS waitlist has started moving. We have just received a waitlist offer from WHS now and they expect a response by tomorrow noon! This is extremely tight for us as we are also expecting to hear from another highly selective school for our WL place this week. Does anyone know if they would be flexible with the WL offer deadlines?

@Mimijoyx , they will want an answer or move on to next person, until end of this week it's a constant juggle of places across the schools. If you can't get an answer from your other option you need to consider paying more than 1 deposit. You need to email your other option and say you will pay the deposit immediately if offered
tomorrow morning. Well done to your dd on getting the place.

@TomorrowOnce

Great to see here that the discussion has moved to accepting offers and settling down.

Hallo. Any more news about WLs?

Based on the other thread, - FHSS is done! Full.

Based on here, PHS has moved.
Based on here, LEH is having a super bulge year. This mean no more WL for them - no? (Possibly more offers were accepted than they anticipated - and they did the maths to make it work. "we had so many great candidates we just couldn’t say no" is uber marketing.)

Any news about SPGS, G&L, LU, CLSG, SHHS, JAGS, WHS, FHRP, QG, QCL?

LEH has started to move their WL. I heard from a few friends today who were offered spots. A bit of a shocker that they've expanded the year. I'd be more than a bit disappointed to have the year group be that big if I'd already signed on.