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.

Spot on, I’d say.

The middling schools as you say like Emanuel and Ibstock are caught in between (which probably is a good thing for them).

a couple of boys in DC’s class are using them as a back ups, as you suggested, expecting KGS, KCS, Hampton or LU instead, whereas for others it’s their stretch school so yes I imagine they are both swamped.

Well done and what a relief @QuiteAJourney ! You will be able to relax a bit now for sure! All of the offers for our schools come out in Feb, fingers crossed!

My son finished the exams today too phew! Just wondering one in person interview, one online interview and three more possible interviews and we're done!!

Ibstock he said was fairly hard but not the hardest.

@secondaryquandries thanks.

DD found Ibstock hard and left some questions answered - not sure how it went as she was a bit emotional about it (it is a favourite so was quite invested!).

Now just focusing on relaxing over Christmas!

My son definitely left at least one maths question. To be honest the difficulty level is really irrelevant as if we be child found it hard then it's likely they all did!

Re Ibstock. From our indie about 4 girls and 6 boys applied of which only 3 boys passed to round 2 and none of them will accept a place as they certainly get a place somewhere else given they applied in many more schools and Ibstock is on the bottom of their preference and sort of a safety net. So the anxiety is so high that even children who perform extremely well in CAT scores have no confidence and apply in many more schools than needed (above 5). It then gets harder for those who are also very good but slightly below in CAT scores 120-130 range (mostly above 130 in maths but slightly weaker in English or vise versa).

@Geville Second that. I did not see your response to @LondonMum20222 . Spot on and the schools make some money out of this process as well…the whole system is perverse.

@secondaryquandries my DS said the same. Hard but not the hardest. He left one out and guessed a couple. Another child from his school reached 25/32 questions in maths. One of the questions in the maths paper for another school was actually a GCSE question or so my 15 year old DD tells me. I think it's definitely setting them a challenge. DS thinks there were around a 100 at his session today.

Sorry, fat fingers typing .. I meant she left some unanswered. She has since given me some context and it looks like a very time pressured and quite challenging exam.
Does anyone know how many sessions were there today at Ibstock and whether they have "catch up" like last time? I know there was a 8 am and a 9 am so have assumed a 10 am one and maybe a 11 am? Not sure...

@QuiteAJourney I think there were 3 sessions. One at 8, 9 and I imagine 10? They were due to finish at 1pm according to the invitation email. I'd be surprised if they have another day for exams. I can't imagine there would have been many clashes today. How did your DD find the English?

And this is it. The boys who have returned to second stage today will more than likely get offers from Ibstock but not take them up.

Gives me hope if we end up on a waiting list but maybe I am jumping the gun.

Last year DCs headmaster said the waiting lists hardly moved. An initial shake out on March 1 when state school offers came out but then after that, v little movement.

I agree the cat score 120-130 is a tricky one. Bright but not quite bright enough…

@Daydreamscometrue she said English was challenging (something about not finding where a comma went and some tricky spellings and definitions).

Interesting if 100 kids or so per session and only 3 sessions. That means most of the kids getting an offer or to waiting list ... or I am being too optimistic?

@QuiteAJourney I imagine they'd offer around 160 places with a further 20 on the waiting list. I say this but I'm shocking at maths so I can't be trusted 😂

@Daydreamscometrue I would be surprised if they do not offer more and/or they do not put more on waiting list. Going by last years, their acceptance rates in Indies in the area is less than 1/3 of offers....so if I was thinking that if they have 80 places or so, they are probably putting 250 people (at least) in their offer or reserve list.
I personally think that schools are going to be more nervous this year about offers so they might go more conservative on offers but with more people in reserve list and going into reserve list sooner / deeper than in other years.

@QuiteAJourney Yes that's a good point especially considering the fact that people are applying to many more schools. We only applied to three for DS and DD some years ago. It was very different in those days.

Are CAT scores only and only some form of an indication of how bright a child is in terms of his/her cognitive ability? Or do senior schools really get Impressed by 130+ CAT scores? Like if a child doesn’t score decent marks in entrance exam of a popular school but has a CAT score of 138, will that child be given a second chance and called for an interview (despite not doing super great in entrance exam)?

Above all, the most important thing at most schools is the performance on their own entrance exams.

Good question! Most state schools don’t take them, so they don’t send them, so I gather they aren’t that important.l, they are just an indicator of how they will do on the exam. Our prep school always sends them, which I have wondered if that hurts or helps the kids.

CAT scores can't be taken into account as state schools don't do at all CAT tests. My dd is at state school and never done CAT test, probably doesn't even know what it is.

It begs the question if CAT scores aren’t used, why then are they sent, by all private schools?

@Geville I imagine they're just sent with the reference as additional information to include. Likewise a state school will send along KS1 results which is likely all they'll have. The CAT scores probably come in useful if a candidate is borderline.

i agree with @Daydreamscometrue , they are part of the reference provided by schools, if they have them. Other schools may use other metrics.

Yes, this is what we've been told - that they're only really considered by schools in borderline cases. Also, that if a candidate totally tanks on the day, and the Head wants to argue their case (eg for a second round or interview spot) then previous year CATS might then be used by way of tangible proof that the child just had a really bad day but is usually a strong performer.

As you say, @QuiteAJourney, state schools will have their own metrics which might serve a similar purpose. Also, I think some state primaries do do CATS anyway.

We are at a state primary and I had never heard of Cats before reading about them on Mumsnet.

It would seem totally unfair for them to play any part, and for prep headteachers to be able to call up and advocate for their pupils using them. I would hope that the process is fair and that this sort of thing doesn't take place!

I just think the CATs are a useful guide for parents later on given the correlation to GCSE results five years later. Other than that, I have no idea how these schools actually use the results.

We're in a state primary too and I know that the only results given to the schools are KS1 results and predicted KS2 results.