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.

@Daydreamscometrue every girl I know (including my DD), who gave the exam, has been selected. Makes me wonder why do they pretend to shortlist or maybe it’s easier for girls to get selected because girls have a lot more choice of schools in the area.

@Workhar the most important for adaptive is accuracy, especially at the start. Does she feel it starts out easy and then gets really tricky? If yes, this is a good sign.

@Workhar from my understanding is Ibstock is easier to get into then other schools.

@Workhar they must have shortlisted to some degree otherwise they wouldn't have said. Maybe just not by much?

I know two kids at my daughter’s prep school who didn’t get invited for round two.

@Workhar I think that Ibstock used to have a 2 stage process for everybody (I think that is what you may be referring to). Going by the numbers that applied this year, I would be very surprised if they have not significantly reduced numbers for stage 2. Plus the fact that they are doing all groups by 1.30 pm and during a school day would indicate much smaller numbers (for stage 1 they had a whole day with the school available plus 2 extra, smaller, sittings on a school day).

I think the last day of term at Ibstock is 8th December and the second round for 11+ assessments is on 9th December.

Today the new Consortium exam was sat in some of the schools.
Any ideas what it was like, what was it similar to, difficulty level?

@79abbot - I stand corrected.
(obviously I should count my blessings that my DD's school goes on for longer).

I still think that they have cut down numbers significantly, though.

I was told the current Prep School Ibstock Year 6 students will be sitting the exams on the same day as the external candidates.

@SamPoodle123 yes, atom based adaptive tests are turning out really hard for her. I think they start off easy but i am not sure at what point they turn difficult for her. She struggles to complete the paper. She is struggling a lot with verbal reasoning and/or maths in various different exams. She also complained that if she is unable to do a difficult type question, the next few questions are on the same topic and equally tough. Not sure what’s going in and how the adaptive test algorithm works. Also, she keeps complaining that the language of maths word problems in Atom based adaptive tests is very confusing. Otherwise, she is a very bright student of an independent prep. Whatever the case may be, good news or not, the tough questions might affect a child’s confidence during the exam. And if the child believes that adaptive tests are meant to be tougher, they will start panicking on seeing easy questions in the exam and take it as a sign that the previous question was answered incorrectly. It’s a double edge sword. Really unfair and crazy. These are 10-11 year olds!

@Workhar yea, I know. I am not a fan of these adaptive tests! Is your dd struggling with the atom mocks or the real adaptive tests she has taken? My dd started to panic bc she kept getting these long word problems and running out of time, so she started guessing in the end. I told her for the next adaptive test to just focus on accuracy. Today, she did the Emanuel test, which is not adaptive, and she felt much more confident, was able to finish and felt she did really well. I am not a fan of the adaptive tests at all

Did anyone’s DD do the new London Consortium yesterday? If so, how did they find it?

My dd sits the consortium on December 8th and I am wondering the same...how did it go? Curious if its the same feedback as the ISEB and Putney with the adaptive part.

Not a school on the radar for most of the posters (though I think, from some private messages, that some of the people for future years might be interested) but in the spirit of sharing the journey, we got an offer from Woldingham yesterday, with an invite for an academic scholarship assessment. Really, really pleased as it introduces a completely different dynamic going into round 2.

Congratulations @QuiteAJourney !

@Daydreamscometrue Many thanks

Congratulations, that's great. Must be a huge relief to have an offer in the bag!

@Dallasdays many thanks. It does indeed.

DS too unwell to go to Claremont this morning. Coughing every 30 seconds and streaming nose. I don’t know what to do.

I’ve emailed the admissions people this morning but not heard anything.

no mobile number to call, no one I can get in touch with.

at the bottom of the email it says

“Please note that we are no longer able to make any changes to the time and date of your child's exams.”

does that mean that’s it?

no alternative date?

Should I take him dosed up with paracetamol and lots of cough sweets and tissues.

There was nothing in the email about what to do if your child is unwell on the day.

Terrified that that’s another one we can’t hope for. So so so stressful.

I am sorry to hear that. I think the best you can do is taking him to see a doctor and then take the proof to the school to see if they can do something for you.

DD will be doing various Consortium schools next year, and given it's all very opaque this year with the new exam, if anyone is able to shed any light after their DDs have sat it, I would be extremely grateful for any insights.

Most schools I've looked at have something on the admissions page of the website about what to do if your child is ill on the day of the exam (and most I've seen have said you can rearrange in those circumstances). I don't think I'd send DS in, as if he underperforms because he's ill, they won't then give him a second shot.

Thank you that’s a good idea 👍

There is a phone number. From the email click on the link to the yr 7 entry info webpage, and there’s a section on there about illness with a phone number