SW London Girls' Private & Grammar - applying for year 7 in 2022

[SkaterGrrrrl]

I watched with interest the information and support on this thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/4177427-PART-3-SW-London-Girls-Indies-11-Results-Decisions-Panic-Over and wanted to start the same thread for South West London parents with daughters who will be applying for secondaries (independents and grammar) for places in year 7 in Sept 2022.

Where are you applying, how are the virtual open days going..... and to tutor or not to tutor?

Opens bottle of wine and waits for @Mumalsoasfriend

Yes - this is my second time through this process. Just booked the Sutton High open evening and am keeping an eye on websites for other real life events. We’ve done a few virtual ones but it’s not the same.

Hi, highropes, great to have an experienced 11+ MNer on the thread. DD is my oldest child and first one off to secondary, so I'm new to the process.

Is your youngest hoping to go to the same school as your oldest?

First timer here - we’ll be sitting for the Sutton and Kingston grammars. Nonsuch is our top choice at the moment - partly vibe and partly location. Glad to have company on the journey.

Hi all
DD is aiming for Nonsuch too. I went through the process a couple of years ago with DS and I have been all calm about it, but I'm up and down about my laid-back approach at the moment!

Hi BumbleBee and Lockdowndramaqueen.

We are applying for LEH, Surbiton and Radnor House. There are some excellent schools a bit further away, but we want to keep it local. Our state secondary isn't great; but nor is it a terrible option if she doesn't get offers from the private schools.

Dd1 is at SPGS, so it’s one option, but we’re also looking at WHS, Tiffin, Sutton High, PHS and (maybe) KGS. I don’t want dd2 to do too many exams, so we’ll go to some open days and narrow it down quite a bit.

Dd2 is at a state primary, and we don’t have a tutor, but we are doing some maths and NVR with her at home most weeks, as school doesn’t do any NVR and of she needs to know the Y6 maths curriculum which school won’t teach her until next year.

Great idea @SkaterGrrrrl ! Very similar list here, like the co-eds Emanuel/KGS/Epsom College but also looking at WHS/Tiffin. Booking an open evening at Emanuel has proved impossible so far unfortunately.

Highropes my DD1 is at a state primary too, but we are tutoring because she's had no online lessons during the lockdowns (apart from a bit at the start of this year) and I think she's very behind.

Lovely to find a home here. Thanks so much @SkaterGrrrrl

I guess I need to check here more frequently.

@SkaterGrrrrl

Highropes my DD1 is at a state primary too, but we are tutoring because she's had no online lessons during the lockdowns (apart from a bit at the start of this year) and I think she's very behind.

The same here - from state school. I feel a bit unsure for what IS/Grammar S to target as we were quite late to join this tide (vs parents who may have planned and picked up 1-2 years earlier) but only have some to consider in proximity. I heard that it's common to target 4-6 for opportunities but in this situation, we may consider trying 6-8.

Hi sanam2019, I've done virtual open days online with Radnor House and LEH (plus Q&A with the head), but I'm desperate to get in some school gates and get a feel for the vibe!

DD is at a state school and no tutor. We are putting all our eggs in one basket with the Sutton Grammars, as we are local to Nonsuch and know it pretty well (and also a decent journey to Wallington).

DD is as able as her DB (who got into his first choice grammar no problem), but it doesn't feel like the school catered for that as much with her - perhaps because of lockdown, but it always felt a bit like that. So we started prep at home in February, relaxed, typically half an hour 3 times a week. But she also reads and writes stories in her leisure time anyway, and loves logic puzzles and codes, so a lot of the things she chooses to do is informal prep (but don't tell her that!)

A couple of things recently have made me worry about her ability to cope with pressure outside of her comfort zone, so that's what I'm most worried about with this process.

We are looking for DD2 too. DD1 chose LU and will start in September.

DD2 is looking at LU, Emanuel, KGS for co-Ed and WHS, PHS and Sutton for girls only.
Few weeks ago we were able to visit Emanuel and we really liked it. However, we couldn’t really understand the academic level that they provide. Does anyone has experience with Emanuel?

I look forward to share this journey together. Last year thread prove incredibly useful!

We looked at some private schools for DD two years ago.

Our experience was that you need to make the application about a year in advance as most schools are very picky about deadlines. So now is the time to apply whether the school is private or state.

That being said, it's always important to have a number of options in case you don't get your first choice. So don't stake everything on just one school.

Most independent school deadlines are end of October ish. LU tends to be a couple of weeks earlier which often catches people out! The Grammars like Tiffin are earlier.
Been through this three times!- have a DD at WHS and a DS in Y7 LU and one who's left school. All were at state primary.
Good luck!

We are also state school, attending a weekly tutor session in a small group with a tutor who knows the grammar exams quite well. Just sat our first online mock with Sutton so we’ll see how that goes. Have a good of state comp as a back up if we don’t get the grammars.

Hi Mumalsoasfriend and pigtastic, good to have a posse together to support each other through the application and entrance exam process.

Oldandgrey it's encouraging to hear about all your kids moving over from state primaries (or are you just a brainy family )

The head at LEH in her online open event said that LEH takes 108 girls in year 7. 60-70 come from the junior school and the remainder is split about 60% from prep schools and 40% from state primaries.

I do realise it's a very academic school, and is the one on our list which will would be a stretch for DD.

@SkaterGrrrrl

Oldandgrey it's encouraging to hear about all your kids moving over from state primaries (or are you just a brainy family )

The head at LEH in her online open event said that LEH takes 108 girls in year 7. 60-70 come from the junior school and the remainder is split about 60% from prep schools and 40% from state primaries.

I do realise it's a very academic school, and is the one on our list which will would be a stretch for DD.

No- not a particularly brainy family! My DCs had covered everything they needed to for the exams. What they didn't have and friends of theirs at preps did was the endless past paper practice but that's easily done at home. Also no interview practice but I'm not sure that's a bad thing...

Plenty of friends at preps who didn't get tons of offers and plenty of friends at state who did. The schools can spot the kids that are a good fit for them.

(but possibly ignore much of that in the last COVID/IESB year! Some strange outcomes!)

"Have a good of state comp as a back up if we don’t get the grammars."

That's a good position to be in, Lockdowndramaqueen definitely takes the pressure off.

Our nearest state secondary recently had an Ofsted change from good to requires improvement. So not ideal. BUT it's had a huge injection of funding just before austerity, so has fantastic, all-new facilities in an impressive building. Nice setting too in a green and leafy neighborhood. I would say 90% of the kids at DD's outstanding state primary will go on there, so all the naice local families we know. The Ofsted rating is a worry, but as we aren't prepared for DD to take on a seriously long commute or sit loads and loads of entrance exams, it will do as a backup.

@SkaterGrrrrl

Oldandgrey it's encouraging to hear about all your kids moving over from state primaries (or are you just a brainy family )

The head at LEH in her online open event said that LEH takes 108 girls in year 7. 60-70 come from the junior school and the remainder is split about 60% from prep schools and 40% from state primaries.

I do realise it's a very academic school, and is the one on our list which will would be a stretch for DD.

There are max 48 girls coming through the prep at LEH so it is the other way round. 60-70 girls coming from state and the preps.

@sanam2019, I couldn’t book at Emmanuel either. Had a reminder on my calendar for 10am. I was busy doing something else and by the time I tried in the afternoon, all the slots were fully booked. It’s a pain that you have to click one by one to be waitlisted rather than have one waitlist for all.

@Lockdowndramaqueen, mmm… I wonder if we’re using the same tutor. Are you in the Kingston area?

Ah @SkaterGrrrrl I think my older dx has friends at your local comp. it’s so tricky picking schools. We are choosing differently for DC 2 because she is a completely different child to older dc who attends our local hood comp and is doing well - it was a great choice for them. Lots of extra curricular that match their interests.

@User657849 - we are in the area but maybe a bit more new malden side?

Thanks Coronateachingagain, that was from memory from the virtual open day event, might not have those ratios correct! So looking at your username, are you a teacher at LEH?

Lockdowndramaqueen I think anyone in the TW11/TW12 postcode knows the comp talking about!