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?

Congratulations to those with offers and scholarhips (wow!). And comiserations to those waiting or not getting an offer from a place they very keen on. Much has yet to happen (I think) and I'm hoping everyone's DD will get a place somewhere that feels right. Let's see where we all are by the evening of 1 March when the last round of news will be on the table; I could do with a pacemaker.

DD got a yes from SPGS and PH. It's a happy shock. DH and me need to do some serious maths now. We know what the fees are but I am concerned about the 'extras': text books, expected trips, sports kit, etc. I've heard estimates of c.10% of fees. Anyone with DDs already at SPGS, G&L, PH, LU and the like: does this reflect your experience? How much do you have to add to the termly fees? @HighRopes? Could I appeal to your experience?

Congrats @HighRopes and @shorepath
for spgs offer. No for us from spgs.

Radnor House results just received here - I know there's at least one other on here trying for Radnor. We're on the waiting list, which I'll take her off as we've discounted Radnor. Just the KGS results (tomorrow) to go - that one still my favourite but DD already has an offer from her favourite ....

Congrats shorepath. I see what you mean about the maths! I hadn’t clocked SPGS fees til now. OMG!! We are moving in from an out-of-London prep which is less than half the cost of some of the London schools.
Anyway this is useful ammunition for persuading DH that PHS with a scholarship is as good as it’s going to get!! Thanks and good luck with your own negotiations. Also interested to hear from more experienced members of the thread how much the extras add up to in real terms! Now back to work…

School bus is another £400-500 per term 😰

My experience at LU is that the extras are somewhere between 5%-8% of the total yearly fees.

@squirrelofsw19 if you account for 10% you will not be far off.

I haven’t had a ‘normal’ year - but lunches are included. Textbooks aren’t, but that saves money as I then buy them secondhand (rather than school buying new and billing me).

Sports kit is a lot cheaper secondhand, and there are cheaper options eg Decathlon for football boots rather than the posh lacrosse ones, getting a generic black swimsuit not the school shop one. I think, getting the minimum and secondhand / cheaper options where I could, it was around £300. The required dress for the auditioned choirs is pricey and there’s no way around it.

Trips have been limited because of covid, too, so it’s been £40 for theatre tickets or £60 for an outdoor activity day, and I don’t know how much more it would have been normally.

The coach service is extortionate and (I think) limiting, so we don’t use that. But I am paying child tube fares for the commute.

Fab. Thanks. Good intel everyone. My Scottish ancestry loves a good bargain at Decathlon. Will start hunting down purple replicas alongside taking out a second mortgage!

Thank you very much @HighRopes and @PricePoint. Sorry @Peachy939; I hope you get an offer somewhere which will really work for your DD. It's so hard to know what 'the right place' is (we'd have to pick this conversation up again in eight years' time).

HighRopes: you mention secondhand. That's music to my ears. And Decathlon is where we get sports kit now (when it's not secondhand) so it's good to know that could continue to work.

Any idea of what the total yearly amount for books would be at SPGS?

I'm worried about trips: so many independents speak of impressive trips that are not 'compulsory' but that the vast majority of students sign up for. I had a bit of a sock with examples given by PHS and LU. I suppose these trips may be what pushes extras up to the c.10% of fees mentioned even if one gets everything possible secondhand and does not do (m)any payable extracurriculars.

Just got Jags offer! So pleased as we got a rejection from Epsom, which was really starting to worry me!

hi @SkaterGrrrrl ...sorry been swamped all day and just checking mumsnet now ...DD was upset tbh ..she thought she done well enough for an offer ...oh well it wasnt to be .. distracted her by going to surbiton offers day today ...it was her favourite originally but she seems less wowed by it now ...we have a SWPS offer too and she seems more keen on that ...im leaning towards surbiton myself and was quite impressed today so am in a quandary !! any advice from you ladies much appreciated !!! oh and well done on the offers everyone !!

I echo that, well done to all the hard working chickens of SW London.

If like us you've had a mixture of yays and nays, it's hard seeing them being turned down, isn't it?

Agreed the coaches are exorbitant, the Surbiton one is £380 per term for our route when DD could get a London bus for a couple of quid. I do think it's safer for her than public transport ( must stop doom-scrolling artickes about upskirting).

articles ffs

DD got an offer from Radnor today, which we will decline tomorrow to free the place for someone on the waiting list.

Good luck today everyone! Here’s hoping we all end up with something that is going to suit our children. Fingers crossed.

Good luck everyone - today is the day for many of us. We are waiting for Emanuel, WHS and SCHS. Huge congrats to the offers and commiserations to the Nos. Have learned so much in this process - mainly that so much is beyond our control. Having been rejected by the back up school and offered by the school I thought no chance, nerves are frayed!
Deep breath!

Good luck everyone!! We are waiting for KGS and Emanuel here. DD absolutely not bothered, if I don't tell her after school I am quite sure she will forget to ask!

Swgeek - absolutely the same. No stress on DD’s part at all. In fact, She’s more than happy with the local state option where quite a few of her classmates are going.

Yes good luck everyone. We are also waiting on WHS, Emanuel and KGS but pressure off as already have the offers from DDs top two.
@SW17cleocat that’s so odd isn’t it?! Agree it’s the unpredictability in the system that makes us all apply to more schools than we want to. Anyway sounds as though Epsom missed out there- huge congrats on the JAGS offer with the bonus that you don’t have to pay Epsom’s huge fees!

WHS post arrived before email

Hi there, I've been following this thread as DD also applied for some of the schools mentioned. We were rejected from Alleyn's, have just got a waiting list place at FHSS and await Emanuel this morning. I was just coming on to plead that people with multiple offers accept one as soon as they can and help those on waiting lists. We are really worried we won't have a place anywhere!

For all those feeling stressed, may I tell you our story in the hope it makes you feel better.

DC1 went to a London private school that many parents would give their right arm for a place. DC2 was rejected by all the schools we applied to, bar one, which was considered a B/C league private school by many London parents.

Both DC did very well at their respective schools, got identical, very good A level grades and ended up at the same very good uni. I look back at all the ruined Christmases (ruined for me) and wish I could tell myself to get less stressed.

G&L, CLSG, Latymer Upper are all out. DD fortunate enough to get offers from all 3

Thanks @jeanne16, we’re sending our daughter to the less academic school we’ve been offered because we think they’ll get the best out of her in a nurturing environment.

Your message reassures me we’ve not made a mistake.