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.

Gosh not sure that happened to my typing there! Must check, as I tell my 11 year old!

Good luck to all the girls sitting various exams over the next few weeks. I know it's all ramping up now. I'll be watching from the sidelines (in anticipation of going through it all next year) and keeping everything crossed that the girls find it a stress-free process, and that you all get outcomes that you're happy with.

Hello,

I am so pleased we found this trail. DD will be doing 11+ Next year (currently year 5) and we’re very keen on PHS, LU, IPS and FHSS. It’s really challenging to prepare for 4 different exams. We have to cover the consortium, reasoning, creative writing and really no idea what to expect at Putney! Does anyone know what to expect from PHS exam? DD is not sporty but has a good performing arts profile and loves singing, dancing and performing. She’s also very keen on visual arts. She’s academically decent but we will need to stay working from January- We haven’t done a huge amount so far as not to cause burnout.

Wishing everyone success for this year and grateful for any advice as to how to cover all basis…!

@Sugar118 , welcome! I used to lurk in last year's thread and found it really useful, so fully understand :)

I have no particular insight in the PHS tests (I think that they are, on purpose, quite opaque about it) but I think it is quite holistic, looking at numeracy, literacy, VR and NVR.

We have gone down the route of not focusing too much on the tests. I think that most DC end up facing tests that are widely different both in terms of scope and type of test, so you end up (having to) cover all angles. For instance, KGS does English and Maths on paper and then interview. WHS does VR and nonVR following by group assessment. ISEB schools do a bit of everything on computer, some of them complement it with an interview, others with interview and creative writing, others with group exercises.

Also, schools change from year to year (for instance, schools using ISEB have changed over time, other schools introduce new elements to their testing and/or interview or do group exercises and creative writing at different points) and even the type of test can change (the ISEB has changed this year).

Plus, when engaging with our message has always been that this is about learning and being well-rounded as you enter secondary school and progress with your learning and not about passing a test. [and believe me, we have had to resort to that when it comes to NVR, which is her least favourite one]

@Sugar118 Welcome to the Year 5 lurkers! (I'm the same - DD will be sitting next year). Re PHS, the website says just English and Maths for stage 1. Is your DD at prep or primary? If prep, then your head should be able to shed more light on the exam specifics, esp the stage 2 assessment. But @QuiteAJourney is spot on: all the girls will be sitting multiple exams in different formats, so you just need to cover all bases. We've been told by DD's school that VR / NVR are less of a focus for secondary schools now, so they'll do a bit on that but not go crazy. But I would advise finding out what your DD's current school are doing by way of 11+ prep as there's no point overloading them if they're already doing a lot at school.

@QuiteAJourney hiw did your dd get on yesterday?

@1forward2back , thanks so much for asking.

Difficult to say tbh. I think she found the numeracy section a bit surprising (apparently, all questions of a similar type, no word problems) but it seems that she got on with it (finished it, guessed some, not sure about others.. but that is what I seem to get with all exams). Found NVR and literacy more or less what she expected.

The overall experience was positive - she did not fret (even when confronted with something that she was not expecting) and she enjoyed the 'taster lesson' and visiting the school (and the cookie and take-away present, of course).

Wow quiteajourney see that your daughter had two exams this week! I hope you get sometime to relax for the rest of the week! What's the next one? We have the ISEB on Monday. Does anyone know if it's a set time?
Have you guys got the schools in a rank order of preference yet or waiting to see results?

@QuiteAJourney Gosh, well done to her. I know DD struggled with the maths bit too as it was a new format last year.
Great show of grit there!

@secondaryquandries , she had KGS on Friday, Sutton yesterday and is now at the SCHS doing the group exercise and creative writing. Her next one is not until the end of next week and we are making sure she gets enough rest and down time (we had a completely social weekend with no talk of exams and lots of sleep).
We have ISEB in 2 weeks. My understanding is that it is 4 slots (Maths / English / VR / NVR), usually 25-40 minutes each. It is adaptive so no-one gets the same exam.

On preferences, we have thought of the schools in terms of bands (top ones, middles ones, etc). There maybe some movement between the top ones and the ones at the upper end of the middle band but I don't think too much. We are giving ourselves some leeway. And, tbh, all the ones we are applying to are schools that we would be happy to send our DD to.

@QuiteAJourney Well done to your DD! That's quite a busy couple of weeks she's got, but it sounds like she's coping brilliantly. Sleep and downtime definitely key. Husband and I were talking last night about this time next year, and agreeing that both half term and Xmas hols would be completely work free for DD. I can't imagine that last minute 11+ cramming does anyone any good! I hope your DD gets on okay today.
My understanding re ISEB is that there's a window in which people can sit it (our DD will sit it at her prep school next year and I know they still haven't confirmed what date they're doing it this year!)

@1forward2back @LondonMum20222 @secondaryquandries thanks for the kind comments. Hopefully today will go fine.
We have another 'glut' in late November - ISEB (spread over 2 days at DD's primary) and then IPS.
On the ISEB, the timing depends on when is the earliest that the results are needed. One of the schools that we have applied for is Woldingham, and it requires the results by the 25th of November, so we are sitting the ISEB earlier than some of our friends (whose results are not needed until later on). Our primary has scheduled 2 sets of sittings, factoring which schools the kids have applied for and when they need for the results by.

Panicking! We took our current school’s advice and applied to the schools they suggested. Dd is really good at CATs for what it’s worth, and is a good student, so we have felt ok about her chances. We are not tutoring as we can’t afford it, so are flying solo.

Preparations went well over the summer (in the sense that she was happy to do a couple of hours of work per day except for two weeks of downtime) BUT every practise paper she does now is truly appalling. If this keeps going on I guarantee she won’t get into a single school.

What is happening? Is she having a wobble or has she lost her way a bit? I promise we aren’t pressuring her, neither is the school. The other children aren’t discussing the 11+ in school, according to dd.

anyone else have this happen?

@Justonecat, sorry to hear. Not sure if advice as such, but some thoughts below.
Are the practice tests that you are referring to done at the school or at home? And have you discussed with the school?
The type of test might play a role - for instance, some of the CEM NVR are very challenging to complete (30 seconds per question) but we have been told that 70% if a very good mark.
How is she doing in non-timed conditions? My DD went through a phase when she was more focused on the time passing than on the answers, with the ensuing distraction and panic. We then practiced without timing for a bit until she realised that she was hitting target times as long as she was not looking at the watch.
Maybe also worth doing some lighter / non-time practice to boost her confidence. My DD has had a couple of results well below what she usually does and we aimed to build her confidence by doing work on those topics but of an easier nature (without her realising).
Above all, continue to reassure her and support her (which I am sure that you are doing)

Just, you mentioned a couple of hours work a day over the summer. (apart from two weeks). Have you kept up that pace? It seems a lot, if so, especially if she’s at a prep where she gets lots of homework. We were more at two hours a week, at this point last year.

I'm sorry that this is so stressful. May I ask, is your DD's practise paper scores volatile and bouncing around now, or are they just uniformly lower? Also, is this occurring in all subjects or mainly a particular subject? I have seen DC's with scores that would regularly swing more than +20 points, so I think that is quite normal.

@Justonecat that sounds really tough. Could she be experiencing burnout at this late stage of the process? I wonder whether it would be worth making an extra application to a less selective or non-selective school to reduce pressure on you all.

@Justonecat Really sorry to hear this. Firstly, don't panic. Everyone has already posted really sensible responses on here, and I would follow all their advice, esp talking to the school asap, focussing on easier practice papers to boost confidence and don't do any timed tests for now (they are what sends my DD over the edge).
My other two thoughts: are the erratic scores on Atom? We're not using it as we've found the results to be really erratic on there. So I would pull back on that if you're using it.
I also wondered whether perhaps she's more anxious about it all than she's letting on? It's such a big thing for young people to go through, and unconsciously she may be more stressed out than even she realises? Again, might be worth discussing that with the school.
The Consortium deadline isn't until 11th so maybe just adding in another back-up school - just for peace of mind - would also be a good thing.

Thanks everyone for your advice. @LondonMum20222 we are actually not doing atom for exactly the reason you outline. We used atom with our other dd for her 11+ a few years ago and found the scores confusing and erratic so thought we’d try other resources this time around. They use atom at dd’s school so she has some exposure to it anyways.

dd struggles with timing and careless mistakes and I have no idea how to support her with any of it. It’s frustrating because she is usually very capable.

@Justonecat One other thought then. My DD also suffers from careless mistakes. The thing we're finding helps is rather than leave her to do papers by herself, to sit with her and do them with her, so we are making her pause and read the question carefully, effectively "training" not to rush and to check answers etc. She's found it super helpful and - more to the point - enjoys it much more than being left to plough through papers on her own. At this stage, I would just spend a couple of weeks building your DD's confidence. What have the school said?
Really interesting re Atom. It's so frustrating that they have the monopoly on so many school entrance tests when the platform is so flawed...

@Justonecat the chat with the school is crucial. Have they done any mocks at school and, if so, how is she doing there? And also, what is the relative standard of your chosen schools? My DD's teacher for instance mentioned that, although a certain (rather academic) school has challenging papers, a 70-75% mark would usually take you through final interview... used to Bond papers where 80% seems to be the benchmark, that was quite eye opening.

We always thought that aiming for realistic options is the way to go, perhaps add a stretch option, but otherwise we don’t want to aim wildly outside of our children’s comfort zones. Our older children all got in to the schools we were aiming for - it sounds very silly to describe any central London school as less academic as they are all excellent, but our other daughter is in what some would refer to as a less academic school. It’s great, it’s perfect for her and what we had at the top of the list at the time. The other exam prep process was relatively pain free.

Dd2, who is sitting exams this year, is a funny one, she is a good student who works hard and is also good at cats, but now that we are doing practise papers at home I have realised that her performance is incredibly uneven (until recently when it seems to have stabilised at an atrocious level…). The school suggested she try the Hammersmith schools as they think she would thrive so we fell for the temptation and registered her for those but now it looks like she would be lucky to get into her backup options (hate calling any school a backup but you know what I mean).

@LondonMum20222 thanks for the tips, we will try doing a couple of exams with her, that makes a lot of sense. It’s also hard to fit in the time as she is tired after school and her activities, so it really only leaves the weekends.

That’s really interesting, thanks for sharing

We did not keep that pace, from September and on it’s been mainly school homework with a few extras on the weekend, but I suppose it all adds up anyways.

@Justonecat If she's already doing G&L, I would put down one more Consortium school, just for peace of mind. Hopefully you won't need it. You haven't said yet whether you've shared concerns with the school? They will have seen this ALL before and I would be amazed if they don't have some strategies and advice to help you and DD through the next couple of months. If they're suggesting she applies to SPGS and G&L she must be very capable, so will want to help you both navigate your way through this blip.