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

[QuiteAJourney]

Continuation from

www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4697901-sw-london-private-grammar-applying-for-year-7-in-2023-part-ii?page=40&reply=122947087

An opportunity for parents of DC applying to private and grammar schools in SW London for entry in year 7 in 2023 to share their journeys.

London is a pretty diverse city. Just because the top performing grammars have a higher proportion ‘Asian’ students doesn’t necessary mean culturally it would be any different to a predominantly Caucasian cohort.

Lots of Asian students are from families who are several generations British.

If you’ve grown up in London or any other cosmopolitan city you’d understand this from your own friendship circles /work environment/ school experiences. Perhaps less so if you haven’t…

@Hannah297 I think it's pretty offensive to suggest that parents might want to think twice about a school because it's too "Asian heavy." By any objective standard, that's offensive.

Okay, well you can be offended then. In reality, most people would at least stop to think how their child would feel if they were in a minority and I have no doubt Asian parents feel the same way in a school. That is mostly Caucasian which is totally understandable, but it goes both ways same thing can be said for how one would feel in a school that was all French or all Russian …. No one seems to have an issue when that is mentioned as being offensive, but it’s exactly the same thing. We all want our children to fit in culturally and feel they belong. Anyway I’m sure we can move on from this to more productive comments .

@Taurus23 "culturally it would be any different to a predominantly Caucasian cohort"

Based on my observation is very different to be honest, families from different culture heritage has different attitudes on what the "right education should be" And this does last for generations even you live in London.

It is not stereotype - this is something I have to keep in mind for choosing school for my DCs.

@BlueTick QE, TGS or HBS in London have approximately 80% or more students with culture heritage from subcontinent.

Yes, I’ve heard of that I don’t know if anyone has watched the documentary “try harder” I think it’s called but it’s quite interesting regarding US college admissions . I don’t think it’s about discrimination as such but diversity goes both ways. like you said it’s a personal choice that people do often consider maybe not out loud due to the woke brigade these days , but I have a number of Asian friends who openly discuss lack of diversity in some prep schools feeling like a minority and that seems to be allowed . I totally understand how them and their children might feel and totally justified . It is the reverse at some secondaries and even the Asian families would prefer it to be more mixed to be more representative of London. A hard balance to strike, but nothing wrong with discussing it as long as everyone is respectful.

Still waiting for the Emanuel email to confirm interview date! I wonder if I should email if I have not received an email by 3pm today?

We are a part-Indian/ Middle-Eastern family and I'm not at all offended by the poster above. When my friends daughter got the class list before her DD started at Tiffin, we were laughing that more or less every surname was Indian. When another friend recently got the class list for her daughter for SPGS last year, she was saying the vast majority were Chinese surnames. There need be know value judgement in this. It's just a statement of fact.

At G&L, all DD's friends are either European or Indian / part-Indian, Turkish or Persian. The majority of girls seem to be bilingual. What I will say, is she's had some lovely holidays over the years!

We skipped the interview

Exactly the same advice at my DD's prep. It has really helped the kids and the families.

Not offended in the slightest, everyone entitled to choose a school on their own cultural preferences. That is the way of the world and for the most part that freedom of choice makes our nation better.

Just slightly sad that someone wouldn’t want to go to a school with my DD because she ‘looked’ too Asian before getting to know her…

Anyway don’t want to de-rail this thread, it’s been a huge help in this 11plus minefield.

Best of luck to all your DCs xx

@Taurus23 my DD best friend is Asian, but she did make comments on if she goes to a school with too many Asian in a school she feels a bit worry.

Her state primary class is super diversed and pupils ordinated from over 20 countries which the school always pround to advocate for I guess that is why she take a less positive view on monoculture..

“DD was sitting at second round HBS exam and felt she is not in London.”

I find this comment interesting considering the attached.

in my daughter's year at SPGS I know of a girl who was waitlisted for a place and then in the summer before year 7 she was offered a place. incidentally, she received a music scholarship from the music department in Feb after the 11+ even though she didn't receive an offer in Feb (I know someone further up the thread was asking the question whether scholarships are awarded separately to the admissions).
However, something that I wasn't expecting was that there are new girls joining the school ALL the time. when my daughter was in year 7 - three girls arrived in the October half term (presumably all were waitlisted? although I don't have that confirmed), then another joined later on in year 7, then more joined in year 8. almost after every half term holiday, there is a new girl joining. so there is a lot of movement. these girls have moved from GL, City of London and other big girls schools so i'm assuming that they were waitlisted after the 11+

@ViolettasAria interesting comment regarding the waitlist movement during the start of the year - was there movement out, with any girls leaving, for new girls to come in the middle of the year? Or did they join on top of the class number at the start of the year?

that I don't know for sure as my daughter didnt know the whole year group at that point or wouldn't have noticed if someone had left (unless this was one of her close friends or one of the girls in her actually form/class) but what she did notice is new girls arriving as the year group was asked to buddy them, help them settle in etc. this has carried on and as I mentioned, new girls seem to be arriving frequently.

Thank you, @ViolettasAria this is really helpful, regarding the movement on the WL!

@BlueTick We are still to go through it but, from seeing what happened on previous years, where all kids are going to is celebrated and there is no pecking order. Also, plenty of cases of kids rejecting supposedly more desirable options because of a better fit. My DD's prep is non-selective so dynamics might be different elsewhere

Kings College interview invitations are landing.... Extremely surprised but delighted that DS has an interview, especially after Emanuel disappointment. Good luck to all those waiting.

@NellyCortado many congratulations!

We are thrilled DSs is through to the interviews particularly as we had very little hope - he thought he flunked it!

Same here @momomamiko ! Very well done to your DS.
Thanks @QuiteAJourney

@momomamiko @NellyCortado well done to your DSs!

I have heard of a few situations now of someone getting through something seemingly harder and not getting through something seemingly easier. They are so young and can all have bad days, basing entry on performance on one day is a haphazard process. This has to be a big confidence boost!