Wilson's/Sutton Grammar or Graveney first in CAF?

[fedem]

Hi, everyon.
My DS passed the Sutton, Wilsons' and Wallington Grammar tests and reached a good mark for Graveney that might get him an offer by end August ( maybe not first round) I am now struggling with CAF application as neither of these offers are certain.
DS is very bright but not geeky, loves reading, excellent at maths but is also funny and sporty. I did not have the chance of visting the schools. Are grammar schools very geeky and mostly academically focussed? Are they quite diverse in terms of ethnicity? He is keen to be academically challenged as he has been vey bored in his state school in the past three years, but I also want to him to explore subjects ike the arts that he no chance to experience so far and have a broad education and some fun. Any insights on these schools that can help me choose our first chioce on the CAF? Really struggling! Thanks everyone!

I agree: Dulwich to Wilson’s is not going to happen in 30 mins.

Have you done the respective journeys and looked at the number of relevant trains etc?

Are you not in catchment for Charter?

@Filthycop
thank you, we are planning to that at the weekend. I don't drive and had no chance to do the joirney by car ona school day, but 50 minutes seems far to long.

@EdgeOfTheSky
Unfortunately not, I am near Kingsdale ( taht was meant to be my first choice in the CAF..and know don't know where to put!) but K does not have catchment.

I ultimateley rejected the Sutton grammars based primarily on the co-ed issue [and to a lesser extent about diversity, hothouse atmosphere, etc] but when I was thinking about journey time my thinking was roughly:

(1) I want a 'bad day' journey time to be 1hr max;
(2) Which means I want a Google maps best estimate of journey time to be 50 mins max;
(3) The 50 minutes needs to be a train/tube and walk time, not involving buses; and
(4) Thinking about a hypothetical day on which there are no trains running, I want the Google maps best estimate of a journey involving buses to be 1 hr max.

[quote fedem]@EdgeOfTheSky
Unfortunately not, I am near Kingsdale ( taht was meant to be my first choice in the CAF..and know don't know where to put!) but K does not have catchment.[/quote]
We had a similar dilemma last year (although slightly different as we didn't know what DC was going to get in the WT as it was held after the CAF was due because of covid). While our circumstances will be different, what we ended up doing was:

1. Discounted the Sutton grammars completely as they just felt too far away for us, and a total headache if the trains go up the spout.

1. It then became a choice between putting Kingsdale or Graveney first. We put Kingsdale on location for us, a much easier journey (Graveney is 2 buses and about 40 mins from us).

1. We applied for a couple of independents as well as back up, which we were in a position to do.

When the chips fell, DC actually got into Kingsdale on national offer day which we weren't really expecting and got a similar score to your DS in the WT so would have got in by the end of the summer if we had put it first.

In the end we actually went for one of the indies, not because of academic standards (I'm pretty sure DC would have done as well at either of the other schools) but because we felt the indie would benefit her more in terms of confidence and extra curricular.

What I am thinking though (and I'm sure you have thought of this) is that you need to have a local school you are happy enough with as your sixth choice as there is a chance you won't get any of your 5 preferred (3 x Sutton grammar, Graveney, Kingsdale) on offer day so you don't want to be stressing that you've been allocated a school you really don't want while you play the waiting game.

@Skoolchoices Thank you.
We are applying for a a coule of independent schools too, just to add more confusion to the mix. At fisrt we were only going to try Inies with Kingsdlae first choice as I tought the Gammars as well as Graveney would have been a very long shopt, so was not expecting to having this dilemma now. I will DM you if it's OK

@CatChant thank you

@puffyisgood

I ultimateley rejected the Sutton grammars based primarily on the co-ed issue [and to a lesser extent about diversity, hothouse atmosphere, etc] but when I was thinking about journey time my thinking was roughly:

(1) I want a 'bad day' journey time to be 1hr max;
(2) Which means I want a Google maps best estimate of journey time to be 50 mins max;
(3) The 50 minutes needs to be a train/tube and walk time, not involving buses; and
(4) Thinking about a hypothetical day on which there are no trains running, I want the Google maps best estimate of a journey involving buses to be 1 hr max.

Thank you, makes sense!

@GordievskyF

Understood *@fedem*. I feel for you - they are such different schools and you really do get a feel when you look around. Graveney is so different from the Sutton grammars, and each of the Sutton grammars are quite different from each other really. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about WCGS.

Thank you, this is why it is so difficut without having seen them and spoken to the students. We can only judge reading other people comments and it is surely not the best way to do so.

Not much advice, just offering a bit of hand holding as we are in the same position, with same commute from dulwich. Have not looked at Graveney as was frightened off by Instagram but also the commute would be rough as no direct trains or busses. Sutton and WCGS dont seem as bad in comparison, even if further as the crow flies. Also looking at the localish indies - worried about how to make the decision of a walkable indie and commutable grammar both make offers but equally worried about no offers at all!

If you find yourself deciding between fee-paying indie in Dulwich and grammar in Sutton while living in Dulwich, imagine you get offered a job in Sutton that pays additional income equivalent to the indie school fees and ask yourself if you would be happy taking that commute (no option for wfh!!) everyday for 5 or 7 years? Many people would say yes joyfully but many would say no and many would agonise over it and decide if it's worth the sacrifice on family time. No right or wrong answer