SW London Private & Grammar - applying for year 7 in 2023 (Part II)

[QuiteAJourney]

Continuation of the thread
SW London Girls' Private & Grammar - applying for year 7 in 2023

www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4643252-sw-london-girls-private-grammar-applying-for-year-7-in-2023?page=40

Looking forward to continuing the journey with all of you!!

@Daydreamscometrue I think they communicate on whether they have progressed to interview on w/c 16th Jan. Everybody says that it is one of the most difficult to predict.

Ours last year was online shortly after the written exam so can’t recall but they must have interviewed everybody who got through to the exam. 15min, one person interviewing. Apparently lots of general questions about what you like doing, best and worst subjects and then something philosophical and some pictures.

I would love to know the answer to this too! I don’t think it’s by school, as at our school the candidates are all on different days. Surnames? I’d love to know the interview to offer ratio. I know I’ve asked this before but the closer offer day gets, the more curious/obsessed I become!! It’s been a long haul and the thought of my DD coming away with nothing after all her hard work makes me feel physically sick. I suspect we all feel the same.

@QuiteAJourney a few from our school have applied. We considered it but thought it would be one exam too many. DS enjoyed his interview at KGS. Questions were about him and the interviewer came to chat with us afterwards which was unexpected. She asked if we had any questions which was sweet but we didn't. How was your experience?

I know what you mean re: exams. We were doing ISEB so luckily not an extra exam.

KGS was a nice experience all round - I think they were very good at making the kids and parents feel as at ease as possible.

What is everyone's top choice if offered? Or still to decide? Ours is kgs.

Some WHS insight from a few years back - not sure how accurate it is for this year's process though.

I seem to recall that all candidates to the second stage got either an offer or a place on the (long) wait list. The idea - I think - is to soften the blow for those candidates far down the wait list. DD was extremely fortunate to receive an offer, but wait listed friends were told whether they were top/middle/bottom third and then could adjust their and DD's expectations accordingly.

DD really enjoyed the activities day. Best of luck to all at WHS tomorrow.

However, DS is completely over the exams. He is tired, grumpy and has no motivation. He has one left (St John's) this week and is refusing to do any prep (fair enough - very little to be achieved at this stage when he's so fed up). Oh well 😬

@NellyCortado , thanks for sharing your insights on the WHS process. Really useful and kind of you.
Good luck for St John's - the exams after Christmas are quite tough, such a long and protracted process!! Will he be done after that?

Regarding 400 being called invited for WHS 2nd stage, is it possible that WHS maybe losing its top 150-250 applicants to schools like SPGS, Tiffins, LEH etc? (I also know someone who preferred Putney High over WHS). Maybe that’s why they have to over offer to fill their limited seats?

@NellyCortado we have St John's this week too and also struggling to keep momentum. Almost there though!

@secondaryquandries I'm trying to avoid DS having a firm favourite but I think he is most keen on Epsom. I hear they had record applications this year, with more boys applying than girls, so don't know what his chances are. I also love St John's.

@QuiteAJourney sometimes you may be surprised. My dd seriously thought she bombed the Putney exam. She said she failed it. She was not upset or anything after, just said not to expect an interview invite from Putney because she bombed the exam. She was confident about the other two exams she had to take. And we ended up getting an invite back to Putney to our surprise.

@Workhar They definitely have to over-offer, like other schools, but I would surprised if they end up offering more than 2-2.5 times the number of places ... they have quite a reputation and have quite a pull in terms of desirability.. probably not dissimilar to KGS, PHS, Hampton, ...
Quite a few of the girls that get through to second round might get offers from the schools you mention, others may not or might have not even applied to them or might prefer WHS to them (the opposite might be true - for instance, we live as close to PHS as to WHS and, in our area, one is as popular as the other).

@SamPoodle123 , I know what you mean. As you say, just a question of 'wait and see'.

@PreplexJ @Fillin34 the time allocation is probably completely random and not associated with exam results as these timings were sent a month ago, remember, in the original email about the exam (I think it was either in the pre-test email or the one after).
I have a suspicion that the taster class the girls had right after the exam was part of the assessment/interview, since they were given a task to do and afterwards did a quiz?! So it could well have been a way for the teacher to see how the girls work together, etc.

Emanuel is also the last school we are waiting to hear from. We only applied to 4 schools and I wish we did one or two more. Most applied to 5-6 it seems and my dd actually said she likes taking the exams (but how could I know she would actually enjoy them lol). I hope we hear from Emanuel on Monday....but who knows.

Is there anyone on here that knows when Emanuel emailed last year? It seems every year the schools follow the same. Putney told me last year it was Friday, Jan 7th and this year it was Friday the 6th. Someone said last year Godolphin was also a Friday.

Agreed. Don't think WHS suffers against LEH, SPGS etc anymore than any other school. There isn't that much crossover with SPGS as you'd think due to locations. Lots of girls at WHS live within walking distance and would prioritise that over a lengthy tube journey to SPGS, G&L etc. Also may regard the town centre location a bonus over the LEH campus.
The PHS/WHS is a funny thing. Often parents and DDs strongly prefer one over the other but there are a surprising number of families with girls at both as one or the other didn't get into the one their sister was at!

@11plusdoneanddusted I completely agree.
That was very much our thinking - we did not apply to SPGS, G&L or LEH and preferred WHS to PHS so ended up not applying to PHS when looking at keeping number of exams manageable (although both of them are very close)...but know lost of people that applied to both and the preferences are probably split 50:50

@FriendlyMom dont think the taster lesson is an assessment at all. I understand some parents may overthink it but we got assured by some one it is not on the day...

Do you think it’s more to do with the adaptive nature of these tests? The successful candidates end up facing harder questions?

@PreplexJ the reason I thought so is because LU has "half day of immersive learning activities in small classroom setting" (quote from the email) plus 15 min interview - and this is clearly on the second stage/interview assessment day. Difficult not to draw parallels, but you are right - I may be overthinking it.

A lot of prep school girls in West or SW London apply SPGS, GL, LEH and WHS at the same time. Not because of the location but just the league table mentra... Well, which one to accept is another thing... So schools have to over offer a lot..

Yes, I think so. When I posted my worries after she took the test, a few others mentioned something similar with other kids. I was still unsure though, as you can never know. But for example, the girls we knew who said the exam was easy or it was okay....they ended up not getting to the next round. But my dd also said something similar in regards to the London consortium test, that she knew she did well, it was easier, much easier then Putney....so then I freaked out because it is also adaptive and I was told saying an adaptive test was easy is not a good sign. But she got to the next stage at Godolphin as well......so really I think it is so hard to tell with kids giving feedback on how they did on the exam.

Emanuel is the only non adaptive test, so it will be interesting to see how she does. I really wish we could see their scores for all the exams!

re the WHS interview, my daughter took it two years ago during Covid so it was online and I was listening in to most of it from behind the closed door. It was a group setting with about 8 girls online at the same time. The teacher introduced himself, set them a task (in her case it was to decipher a treasure map of something with a large number of clues) and from then on the teacher stayed quiet and didnt say a single word until it was all over and he introduced the next activity (reading a graph if I remember correctly).

The girls had to lead the treasure hunt themselves right from the start. I thought that was very tough as one girl had to start talking and leading a group with 8 other strangers over zoom. I was so impressed though, with my own daughter and all the other girls, they all did really well, helped each other with suggestions and ideas of how to decipher these clues - no one took over, everyone participated and had a say, no one was over shy.
Not sure if it will be the same this year, but most important points that struck me at the time was that a girl should participate and not be shy from giving her opinion re deciphering the clues however silly she thinks her ideas are (none were verbal clues, more like pictures, an invented code language, signs etc), she should obviously not interrupt another girl when speaking, should make sure that she listens to others' opinions, validates them or even contradicts them if she feels she has understood it differently. All of this happened on our interview and it worked so smoothly.
It wasn't an easy task, by far the hardest (and longest) interview to manage from all the ones I listened into, however I was seriously impressed how well they all did.
Im assuming that this type of activity is easier and more fun when done in person compared to getting on a zoom with 8 strangers so im sure the girls this year will enjoy it.
My daughter was offered a place with academic scholarship but sadly turned it down. I do love WPS and still wonder whether it was the right choice.

Is anyone doing anything for interview prep? I find it impossible really to do with my dd. I wanted to try to just have a little practice round, but nope, could not get past the first question..... I know they say no need to prep, but I feel it is good to have a little go at answering some questions. I am guessing if it was someone else asking the questions she might be more willing then me asking!

@ViolettasAria thank you. If you don’t mind sharing, did you turn it down for one of the popular Hammersmith schools?