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!!

Has anyone on here got an email from LU saying they didn’t get through to interview? Haven’t had an email at all either way and I wonder if the rejection emails come out later?

@Westbournemum yea it is strange isn’t it? The schools that have the results already make it such a long wait!

@Everydayshuffln it seems that is the case. We didn’t apply there, but when we did not make the first round for another school, our email came later than the friends that got through.

But that being said, not all positive emails came at once. Some got them an hour or two earlier then others. So you never know. But our email came way later then everyone else.

It's very telling, isn't it? Also, the SPGS first round results are communicated within 2-3 weeks, aren't they? It's baffling that the Consortium take so long given it's an online exam.

@QuiteAJourney thank you!

Can this be an indication that the schools actually go through each and every student’s profile and not just rank them as per the entrance exam results?

I was told by a teacher that once the registration fees is paid, the schools are legally compelled to accommodate and test all applicants. Can’t believe some schools are so rigid about their test dates. It seems more like an ego issue. No independent school is willing to guarantee a student a place and then they make life further hard by acting inflexible about their dates.

What do you mean by go through their profile? Do you mean read the school reference and look at each child in the round? But I imagine LU have looked at references pre interview invites too. Sorry if I'm misunderstanding!

@LondonMum20222 maybe? Maybe they look at the reports sent by the current school? I don’t understand what else can take them so long. If they were only looking at exam results, I am sure the advanced Atom platform has the capability to rank the applicants in a couple of seconds. This is all mere speculation from my end. I have no idea what’s going on.

@QuiteAJourney thank you :) It is a long way still... just like your name says :))

@PreplexJ , @Workhar will speak to the schools, but first let's see if we pass on to the Athena assessment ...

@LondonMum20222 I believe I read somewhere some schools indicate that they look only at exam result. Cannot remember if LU was among them.

It's all baffling. And seems to have very little regard for the emotional wellbeing of the girls, who shouldn't have to wait weeks and weeks to find out outcomes. Though don't nearly all the Consortium schools interview everyone anyway (only G&L, SHHS & FHSS don't, I thought), so I guess everyone else can just assume they're being interviewed?

Can someone confirm whether it's true that LU sends acceptances first?...

@curiousllama I think that it would be very difficult for anyone, apart from LU staff, to categorically confirm.
People are inferring from the fact that the emails received so far are for interviews. But this thread is admittedly not a representative sample.
Maybe worth a call to admissions office if no email received tomorrow (which I understand was the deadline)?

I would imagine that it would make sense to have a mailbox for the two separate outcomes, but I'm actually asking as a tutor whose student applied for LU (but started 11+ prep very late imo)

It says on the website that applicants will receive an email by Jan 16th. I assume the rest of the emails will come tomorrow. It will be interesting if this is the case for other schools as well, as the ones we applied to say something like you will receive an email on or before X date.

Even amongst the schools that send invite list based on exams - FHRP - has already sent out the invites, whilst the other schools are sending it out a while later. These schools must have different ways of interpreting the results and selecting their mix, based on the results of the components as well as reference letters if they already have them

Does anyone know much about the process for Kew House school? We applied and there was an interview/presentation in early November and then the ISEB in November. The website says results will be communicated on or before 10 February.

It seems like such a long wait - I honestly don't understand what takes so long. Does anyone have any further insight or know when they communicated outcomes last year? I think schools are missing a trick in terms of generating goodwill with parents by communicating outcomes on a timely basis....

LU state they consider the current school’s reference as part of the decision process. Schools like CLSG and SPGS also take them into account before inviting to second round, which they send invites to within 2-3 weeks. Why do schools using Atom like PHS or Consortium schools that select for second round (eg SHHS, G&L) take so long to revert? Doesn’t make sense to me.

@Dallasdays I think all the actual offers come on the same day- February the 10th. So even if you complete the process in Nov vs Jan, you still have to wait until Feb 10th

Thanks @Everydayshuffln . Their application closing date is 9 Dec and it says on my ISEB portal that the deadline for doing the ISEB is also 9 Dec, but I guess they may have some outstanding interviews to do. Just impatient for some news from somewhere!

I think the problem is that the Consortium exam has been taken very late (8 December) and some of the schools do not interview everyone (SHHS and G&L for instance). They need time to look at marks and deselect and with schools closing for Christmas holidays the admissions teams don't have time to do all this and communicate who has been invited to interview or not until after the Christmas break. It seems like a long wait but really isn't

@Dallasdays , whilst it's a long wait it's better that the results come out at almost the same time and even better when it's on the eve of half term so can't be discussed in the playground. If you get a WL offer you have to wait until the state school offers are out around 1st March to get an idea of a place so it worse to get a WL in late Jan and know you may have 6 weeks of waiting to see if it's going to turn into an offer. When they all come out at the same time you can quickly dismiss some (and then retrospectively think as a family we wasted so much time/money/annual leave on that application and spent 5 mins max reading the offer letter!)

I think what is contributing to my confusion regarding 11+ is the fact that my child really struggled with some modules of adaptive tests, while she found some modules to be ridiculously easy. Now one may argue that she did so well in some tests that the computer took her to the hardest level. But that also means that she didn’t do well in other modules which only presented easy questions? There is no end to speculation. Also, some of the parents I know are convinced that despite claiming to be adaptive, a very popular school presented the same Maths questions (in same order) to their daughters who sat the exam at the same timing. With 11+ consortium’s part 2 thrown into this mix, I feel like our girls might have been Guinea pigs this year. OR maybe on a positive note, this is an attempt by schools to cut down on tutoring and test the real potential of a candidate.

Good points @sailingsunshine , I guess it is indeed more efficient to get any offers around the same time so one can consider them all in the round together...