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?

@Pigtastic three schools that spring to mind via Wimbledon:
Kingston Grammar - excellent
Alleyn’s (more demanding with stretch than Emanuel hearing from friends at both)
LEH (girls only with strong ties to boys equivalent - Hampton

Thanks you @MrsHGWellsMrsHGWells and all others that have helped with different suggestions.

DD has now settled for sitting the entrance exams of LU, Emanuel, KGS, PHS and G&L.

We really wanted to apply for Alleyn’s but we realised that it was too distant for us.

@HighRopes I fact a DS going through the process now but lurk here, my DD went through the process a few years ago (in year 9 WHS). My DS school just says PHS are having their own exam on site, they are not in the ISEB list.

Sorry about the typos

Yes PHS exam Maths & English only, computerised on site, not ISEB.

@Pigtastic our list is similar, we are doing G&L, WHS, KGS, Emanuel. Other than KGS, will mostly be done by 3 Dec with exams, not sure if we can motivate DD to study after as KGS is her least favourite.

That’s useful, thanks sanam and sweet! I assume it must be multiple choice, as it’s online?

@uk2020 for us it was a few things, distance (Putney is much closer), it felt a lot less pressured than LEH but still highly academic, we felt that the vibe at Putney was better and much, much preferred the head. We have not regretted our choice!

Tiffin done - much better organised than a few years ago for older dd. Now for WHS on Tuesday. Dd prefers maths and English to VR/NVR, so I’m not sure how that will go.

Best of luck to you all. I’m so gad this years process has run with a sense of normalcy (at least so far!)

@HighRopes agree re the Tiffin girls exam today. Seemed very calm and organised. Dd came out calm and quite unfazed. Hope it went well for you. Feels weird sitting the exam after doing the CAF. Good luck with your next exams. We aren’t doing any private schools so that’s it for us now. Waiting for March 1st. 🤞🤞🤞

@Lockdowndramaqueen Seemed fine - dd loves creative writing and thought the maths was fine, less sure about the comprehension. That’s the bit her primary school just doesn’t really do (not to the standard needed, or with any writing nearly as complex as the 11+ exam passages). I hope your dd found it ok?

Sounds very similar to dd’s experience. The comprehension sounded quite tough in terms of timing and expectations but she found the writing and maths fine too. It’s a waiting game now.

Hope all the girls beavering away with revision are getting on ok. Big push in our household with Surbiton next week and LEH the week after. Then we're going to take a break over Christmas as Radnor House in January is going to be an easier paper.

DD had a good experience at WHS this week, seemed very well organised and friendly, she enjoyed it and found it relatively easy, although the number of girls who were there suggests it won't be easy! I am glad she had a good start though.

@sanam2019

DD had a good experience at WHS this week, seemed very well organised and friendly, she enjoyed it and found it relatively easy, although the number of girls who were there suggests it won't be easy! I am glad she had a good start though.

DD also sat WHS this week. She said it's similar to bond papers she did. I assume this is just an initial screening. Do you know how many would get invited to the second round? Good luck to all girls!

Dd found WHS NVR hard and didn’t finish either section. VR was fine, though. I’m not convinced that VR/NVR is magic bullet to make it fair between highly prepped girls and those who haven’t been tutored that they school think it is. Which is a shame as WHS our local option.

In terms of numbers, I can dig back through old threads as I’m sure I’ve seen numbers but can’t remember them. Its definitely true that anyone who get through stage 1 will at least get waitlisted. But if you’re in the bottom half of the wait list, I suspect it’s pretty meaningless.

I checked the old thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/a3347389-As-the-Tiffin-deadline-looms-is-there-a-girls-SW-London-grammars-indies-thread-yet

Best guess (3 years ago) was 700 for stage 1, 350 or less through to stage 2. If anyone has any more up to date info, that would be great.

Saw this on a tutoring website

At 11 plus, Wimbledon High accept around 100 girls into their Senior School. Of these, 40 will come from the Junior School while the rest come from a variety of state and independent schools. The ratio of applicants to offers tends to be 10 to 1, however this is subject to change and can go as high as 20 to 1. Despite not having an official sibling policy, sisters of girls currently attending Wimbledon High will be given preference when up against an equally strong applicant.

They also state that they usually cut down numbers by half after the first stage, which seems to agree with the poster above.

I’d there are only 60 places and there are 350 in the second stage, I doubt they would have such a long waitlist.

Thanks @HighRopes @1910username

Second round looks like the real deal. Probably makes sense for schools to maintain a long waitlist as the eligible girls get multiple offers!

DD is going to sit Surbiton next. Fingers crossed!

DD sat the test at Wimbledon two years ago. What I remember is that girls from their Junior School take the first round test only (though the majority will move to the senior school). We didn't know the number of candidates for the first round test, but we saw a large number at the second round. It's probably around 300-400, which seems to be consistent with what others are saying.

About the waiting list, they usually offer up to the top/middle third. But I know last year a student from the bottom third did receive an offer after Easter.

We were quite impressed by the school until the test, less so by the headmistress at that time. However, the offer holders' morning was rather disappointing. In the end, we opted for another school.

I’ve been looking on various websites to see when the stage 1 results come through. SPGS and WHS are clear (6th by letter, and 3 Dec but not sure in what format, respectively), but I can’t find anything for PHS or Surbiton - does anyone know when to expect the results? And whether they do email or letter?

Surbiton just say they give first stage results "prior to Christmas". PHS I don't know as not applying.

Thanks! I saw that, too, so I checked when term ends for Surbiton - it’s 16 Dec. So presumably before then. I was just hoping someone had got a slightly more specific answer at an open day or something.

Just to give some context re WHS and others- my daughter (now year 8) didn’t get through the first stage of Wimbledon high, but got a place at both LEH and PHS first round… it’s so random sometimes. Good luck to all your daughters.

So anyone else do SHS today? DD said English easy but Qn 43 on in the maths increasingly impossible!