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?

@RM46 not an LEH interview, but we had an Emanuel one online (they were all online) and it was surprisingly OK - I’m sure the interviewers will take into account that it’s online so a little different for the kids. They can still make good eye contact and in our interview they covered an amazing amount in 20 mins! Hard not to listen in at the door though…

@SkaterGrrrrl our DD was a state primary school and started at LEH 2 years ago. In her form are more private than state primary girls but not by a huge margin. I never once thought that coming from a state school put her at a disadvantage. She has been thriving at LEH from day 1, was voted form and sport captain, is in the A team for lacrosse (which she had never played before) and netball. So have faith! Best of luck and success to your DD

Lovely message Sabdav11Plus. Your DD sounds as if she's absolutely flourishing there.

@SkaterGrrrrl. My DD was also state primary and got offers to every school she applied to. She found all the schools very welcoming, warm and kind in their processes, overall a very positive experience. Most importantly she is now very settled out her new school, bounces out of bed each morning! She has a mixed range of friends from both state, indie and junior school, all very accepting and a wide range of interests. I’ve never felt her background held her back. Your DD will thrive!

Thanks @SkaterGrrrrl 🤞

@ stircrazyschoolmum

Good luck to anyone waiting for their DDs GHS results.... hopefully by tomorrow you should have heard !!

How did all the DDs find the LEH interviews ?

@PricePoint my dd did LEH interview two days ago ...she said she was happy with it ...showed her pictures to choose from and comment on and some asked standard questions like achievements etc ...I thought it sounded gruelling but she seemed happy ...who knows ..with only approx 70 places and 270 interviewed the odds aren't in her favour ...would love her to get a place but for now will focus on hopefully getting a fall back option ...

@PricePoint @Benny12 my DD did her LEH interview on Thurs, had to be online as she’s isolating having tested positive for covid. She felt it went fine, I (listening outside!) thought it was quite gruelling and not the “general chat” that was indicated in the letter we got scheduling the interview. A few standard questions like how would your friends describe you, tell me about yourself but then tell me your LEAST favourite book you’ve read and why, debate the pros and cons of school uniform, then she was given a question to prompt more of a philosophical discussion! She had pictures to look at and discuss too. I thought it was quite a tough 20 minutes!! She was quite relaxed about it though 🤷🏻‍♀️ Agree the odds aren’t great given the number of external places they have, let’s see…

@RM46 yes i agree ....it was gruelling ...not sure what to make of that really ...whether thats a good sign or a bad sign ...or were all the interviews like that ...god im back to over thinking it again ...

@Benny12 I think they must have all been like that - a friend’s daughter who did hers in person mentioned she’d been given a question to debate around fast food. We were told the online interview would be exactly the same format if she’d done it in person.

thanks @RM46 for the reassurance ......

I think they rotated what they used to interview the girls. Best way as they about mumsnet 😉

Am sure that either way the girls did the best they could. The way i see it is that is another type of experience for the girls, something theu can always draw on in the future. The process is tough and am guessing it needs to be for some schools who want to stay at the top of what they perceive as important tables.

As a parent its difficult to watch your child go through all of this but in reality the girls have been amazing, its the parents who have wilted !!!

*know about mumsnet

@PricePoint agreed! My DD has coped a lot better than me!!

Some people received GHS offer already, is it earliest one?

@Mum201014 it is due today or monday as GHS posted their offers at some point yesterday

How did your DDS find LU interviews yesterday?

@Westlondonmom22 - I think some have been postponed until next week so it’s probably best if we don’t way too much about them at this stage.

…that was meant to say “say” not “way”…obviously…Would be interested to hear your thoughts a bit further down the line though @Westlondonmom22

@Broccolimagic where else did your dd apply to?

@Westlondonmom22 quite a range but none of the all girls schools, so not much overlap with many of the people in this group. What about you?

@Broccolimagic then we will not have any overlap we did mainly all girls.

@Westlondonmom22 welcome to PM me if
you’d like to talk about LU interview.

So I'm thinking we'll hear from Claremont and Surbiton High this week, KGS and Radnor House next week. Anyone expecting differently?