SW London Girls' Private & Grammar - applying for year 7 in 2023

[EmotiveBubblez]

i myself have been looking for this thread and have been unsuccessful. Saw a couple people mention it over the past day or so on the 2022 one.

so here we go, albeit a bit late.

has everyone visited all the schools on their lists?

how many schools are everyone applying to?

what schools are you applying to?

how is the preparation going?

i know some exams have taken place, how did they go?

wishing all the whirls good luck with preparation and exams, hope we all find the right schools for our daughters.

Very happy to be open - whole point of this exercise is to help and support each others along the way ... and sharing information is key to that.
Of course I do not know if we have gone down the right path - only time will tell. But I remember last year reading posts from those people that we open about their options, thinking and ups and downs and found them both refreshing and informative. So hopefully we can collectively do the same for others...

I've been lurking on here for a bit. Hi everyone! I am the owner of a DS. I'm hoping for KGS or Tiffin but have applied to some (too many) others as well.

It's a bit stressful and I'm feeling guilty about all the time he'll have off school for all these exams and interviews!

Hi Kindergarten cop- Great film!

We have ended up applying to six too!
6 exams plus one group assessment and one short online exam between early nov - 9th Dec.

If you get through the 5 of the schools have interviews. One in Nov. Other 4 in Jan. One is online and guaranteed regardless of exam performance.

@KindergartenKop welcome and join us on the 'journey'!
If your DS is through second stage for Tiffin that is already a good sign!
KGS seems to have been very popular this year (I think about 1/3 of our prep must have applied). We did apply too but I am not holding my breath.

@KindergartenKop welcome!! We also applied to KGS for our DD. I think it's a bit of a stretch for her but we would be so happy if she got a place, or even an interview to give her a boost for the next lot of exams.

We have gone for 9 schools, which I know is probably too many but we've panicked a bit due to DD being a bit hit and miss with exams. Three are ISEB though.

We have a jam packed exam weekend at the end of Nov and then a mid week one and then another busy weekend at the beginning of Dec.

DD1 went through the process a couple of years ago and we're definitely finding it more stressful this time around.

Good luck to everyone, it's nice to be sharing the journey on here! x

@QuiteAJourney He said the 2nd round was very hard though, so I'm not holding my breath!

@secondaryquandries I now think 6 is too many but it's too late! I have a second child in y3 and will probably play or differently next time. In September I was paranoid about not getting a place at all though!

@confu5ed , we are in a similar place to you re: number of schools and approach. We have 8 schools, 3 being ISEB.

On a different topic, any experience / insights on WHS tests? I know that they have both NVR and VR. Do they allocate a time to do all NVR and then all VR? Or do they do timed subsets within each category? My DD can get quite panicky on some times of NVR and tends to 'compensate time-wise' with the others where she is more comfortable.

we have gone for:

3 exams for the indies - 1 next week, then beginning of December and then mid December.

2 state banding exams - tomorrow and next week.

we have gone for scholarships too.

@confu5ed I have found it tricky to really work out where my DS sits in the cohort. State primary just tells you that they're reaching 'expected' or 'above expected' standard. But what does that even mean? What are KGS looking for? Or other schools?

We are applying for Radnor House/Kneller Hall among others. Is anyone else looking at this school?

@KindergartenKop We are also at a state primary and also applying to Kneller/Radnor. DD is dyslexic (recently diagnosed) and I really liked Radnor for that reason. Did you have a look at the external area at Kneller? I was a bit surprised at how much work is required and how long it may take and that has put be off a little, but the general ethos of Radnor still really appeals to me! We have gone for such a range!

If it's any help at all, DD1 was doing well at State Primary and got plenty of offers from really good schools. If your DS has got through to the second stage of Tiffin then I would say that is a really really good sign that he's going to do well in the other schools, just from experience of DD1 and her year going through the process.

@QuiteAJourney when DD1 sat WHS it was ISEB and I don't think it is anymore? It's not one we're applying to this time around. So sadly I don't think we have any insights that would help.

@KindergartenKop state school parent here. Difficult to judge anything. My daughter is exceeding but has found NVR tricky.

the state schools don’t cover VR or NVR but the two state schools we have applied for are testing for NVR - it doesn’t make sense.

indies also test for VR and NVR .

is anyone going for scholarships?

@confu5ed , thanks for the reply. Not ISEB any longer - the website does not give much information beyond saying that there will be NVR and VR, so wondering about format.

@kindergartencop I agree that through to the second stage of tiffin I would think would = an offer at KGS and most other private schools. But that may be wishful thinking as my son sat tiffin and didn't get through to stage 2!

Hi all, my DS is sitting 6 exams. He's done one independent exam so far and the rest are in Nov/Dec and one in Jan. He passed for Tiffin but also found the second round hard @KindergartenKop It seems most found it hard. People in the exam with him said the same and left questions in the maths.

@Daydreamscometrue I did tell him that it being hard was the whole point! I wouldn't want him to be in a competitive school like that if he's right at the bottom ability wise so I'm not going to be distraught if he doesn't pass! Although the ££££ back in my pocket would be nice!

@confu5ed I haven't seen the new site for Kneller, only visited the Radnor site. I wouldn't send him to Radnor as it is because it's a bit small, he needs a bigger pond. The expansion is therefore attractive to me and it seems likely that most who apply will get a place because they need to fill the school. Additionally, we have another child so our outlook is probably a 10 year one rather than 5-7 years so the redevelopment is less of a concern.

Trouble is it's a long bus journey from here. It's probably an hour in bad traffic. Is that unfair on a Y7 kid?

@KindergartenKop I said exactly the same to my DS about Tiffin second stage. It was always going to be hard. I think it's because he found the maths and English equally difficult. It would be incredible if he was offered a place on allocation day though. We're looking for bursary places with the indies which makes it even more difficult. His sibling is on a bursary at a selective indie but got Tiffin as her state school offer.

From some children we’ve met on tours they do seem to travel a long way. The sites not too far from stations would they work? (If SWR behaves grrr)

@Schoolapplicationjoy the trains would make it too complicated. Bus stop is 5 mins from our house and then direct to Kneller Hall so it could be worse, it's just the traffic can be awful in about 4 places along the way!

@QuiteAJourney My friend's daughter sat WHS last year and is now in Y7 there. She said the NVR is in timed sections and that she left a few out in the first sections but made up time in later sections so went back and answered the ones she left out. She also has friends who didn't manage to go back and finish and they still got through to the next round. Not sure about VR

The traffic is one of my concerns. Trains would work for us but they are unreliable. If that ends up as the school I think school bus for at least the first year

We were told by our head that max journey time should be 40 mins, but every student we meet on senior school tours seems to travel an hour so I think it's pretty standard in London.. Obviously the shorter the better, but I think an hour is quite common.

How is I think a 45 min commute would be right at the upper limit. We're hoping for 30mins or less and all of the schools we've applied to bar one are within this. One is possibly just over, could even be 45mins in rush hour.

@quizaddict many thanks