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Secondary education

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Original poster

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

997 replies

QuiteAJourney · 09/01/2023 18:58

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.

OP posts:
ParentContributor · 09/01/2023 21:08

@LondonMum20222

just that comprehension had some multiple choice questions and hadn’t seen in either samples. No experiments to write either. I think that’s what she meant by being different to the two that she saw.

not sure I saw feedback to this year’s paper..just that generally nobody finishes the papers. But I will look again. Thanks

BlueTick · 09/01/2023 21:08

This reply has been withdrawn

The OP has privacy concerns and so we've agreed to take this down.

KindergartenKop · 09/01/2023 21:11

@SleepyRooster my son sat the boys exam and said it was REALLY hard. It's a different paper but it's definitely normal to have found it challenging!

Is anyone else on here waiting for Tiffin Boys results on 1st March? Will you take the place over an independent school place?

Original poster
QuiteAJourney · 09/01/2023 21:16

@BlueTick many thanks for the kind message.
Interesting what you mention about the processes in previous years. It seems that lessons have not been learned.

OP posts:
woohooho · 09/01/2023 21:17

This reply has been deleted

The OP has privacy concerns and so we've agreed to take this down.

Jane Lunnon's intake has already done A levels. She'd been there for a while when DD joined and she's doing GCSEs.

SleepyRooster · 09/01/2023 21:18

@KindergartenKop
Yes, I believe it's different. I just have no idea. DD said the questions she answered were fine (perhaps...), just that there wasn't enough time to complete. I figure that might just be a very brutal way of comparative assessment... fastest fingers first

woohooho · 09/01/2023 21:19

FriendlyMom · 09/01/2023 20:41

@QuiteAJourney belated thank you for the thread - it is really nice to be in like company along this journey!

@woohooho LU mention in their email that there will be 'immersive learning activities in classroom setting' which I read as group activity in assessment format (although cryptic, gives more information than WHS, from what I read so far), followed by 15 min 1:1 interview. My dd is going there tomorrow morning also. Good luck to everyone whose DC are going to LU tomorrow!!!

Thanks- DS just had an interview so interesting to hear what they do tomorrow

Original poster
QuiteAJourney · 09/01/2023 21:19

woohooho · 09/01/2023 21:17

Jane Lunnon's intake has already done A levels. She'd been there for a while when DD joined and she's doing GCSEs.

Show quote history

I was going to post similarly... Lunnon joined in 2014. Difficult, however, to know as they would have finished during the Covid-years...

OP posts:
LondonMum20222 · 09/01/2023 21:21

@ParentContributor Thanks for that - very helpful, and a good reminder to let DDs know that they won't always get what they're expecting.

If you look at the date of the SPGS exam (last Monday?) I seem to remember a fair amount of chat about it, but it may well have all been of the "It was really hard and they didn't finish" variety!

woohooho · 09/01/2023 21:23

What I would say to everyone applying to schools this year is try to go to all the offer holder events even if you think you definitely don't want to go somewhere. It is totally different viewing a school with an offer in hand and preferences can change. And gut feel is very important ( and journey is almost the most important thing!)
Good luck all!

branchmom1234 · 09/01/2023 21:25

Also that the SPGS Maths paper was easier than anticipated; some DDs found NLCS tougher. They must have changed around the format this year I guess to keep DCs on their toes.

wonderdogs · 09/01/2023 21:26

It's really hard to say Workhar, because I only knew DD (obviously) and two girls from her school when they sat G&L. They were all offered places, but I don't know how representative that was. Sorry to not be more helpful.

FriendlyMom · 09/01/2023 21:36

Thank you @woohooho, hopefully we'll be in a position to choose!

Do all schools offer holder's events?

learning2fly · 09/01/2023 21:40

Thanks for new thread @QuiteAJourney

woohooho · 09/01/2023 21:44

FriendlyMom · 09/01/2023 21:36

Thank you @woohooho, hopefully we'll be in a position to choose!

Do all schools offer holder's events?

They should do. Ibstock didn't when we applied but maybe they do now?

VickiMent · 09/01/2023 22:04

woohooho · 09/01/2023 21:23

What I would say to everyone applying to schools this year is try to go to all the offer holder events even if you think you definitely don't want to go somewhere. It is totally different viewing a school with an offer in hand and preferences can change. And gut feel is very important ( and journey is almost the most important thing!)
Good luck all!

I would have thought it was best to give up an offer quickly if you didn't think you wanted it to allow it to be passed on to someone else.

Original poster
QuiteAJourney · 09/01/2023 22:05

@woohooho interesting, I was going to post that they only one that I am not sure about is IPS (at least they do not mention anything about it, differently to others).

OP posts:
woohooho · 09/01/2023 22:12

@VickiMent - it tends not to work like that as waitlists generally don't move until the state school offers are out, by which time the offer holders events will be done so it's generally ok to wait until you've been to them before you start rejecting offers. Obviously if you're 100% sure you won't accept some of them you might as well reject it but if you're not sure you can hold on.
@QuiteAJourney - Ibstock was all very weird when we applied . Even the offer letter! All the others said well done, pleased to offer etc etc. Ibstock just said - you have an offer and these are the school rules. Absolutely no niceties at all!

sailingsunshine · 09/01/2023 22:14

@VickiMent , the WL tend to not move until a day or so before the 1st March because the grammar offers on 1st March have such an impact on acceptance rates. If you give up a place early it may not have an impact until much later on. A bigger worry is when a school says they have a right to withdraw an offer once they are full, that's when you have to get a move on but hopefully that won't happen this year at any school. As others say the open day for offers is really helpful and it's good to make the journey on a normal school day. Journey and sports offered are so often the deciding factor when choosing a school in this situation.

VickiMent · 09/01/2023 22:26

@woohooho @sailingsunshine thanks for that info, it's very useful, At this point I can only hope that we will be lucky enough to have a few offers. I would have felt too guilty to go to more than a couple of offer holder days if this hadn't of come up.

Daydreamscometrue · 09/01/2023 22:28

KindergartenKop · 09/01/2023 21:11

@SleepyRooster my son sat the boys exam and said it was REALLY hard. It's a different paper but it's definitely normal to have found it challenging!

Is anyone else on here waiting for Tiffin Boys results on 1st March? Will you take the place over an independent school place?

We're also waiting for Tiffin Boys. I'm not sure what we'll do if we get an offer. Definitely give us something to seriously think about. It would be incredible. He found the paper the hardest he's done though.

Sweetnhappy1 · 09/01/2023 22:35

I'm a lurker on this thread. The WHS second round sounds really similar to when my DD sat it for 2019 entry. She had the group tasks plus the short creative writing task and really enjoyed the day. She did something very strange for her creative writing and I remember being really worried that she may not have actually answered the question but she did get in and is in year 10 now. Mrs Lunnon left when she was in year 7. Miss Kennedy has been excellent. She took over during the pandemic (September 2020) and has managed really well. Thread from 2019 here: www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/3347389-As-the-Tiffin-deadline-looms-is-there-a-girls-SW-London-grammars-indies-thread-yet

DS went through the process last year. Emanuel interviewed everyone online. His interview was in November and exam in December (at school). KGS was the only school to do everything online last year which was off-putting for us. Most of the exam was online with two cameras on him and then the creative writing on paper which I had to quickly email in. The interview was also online.

Good luck to all of your children. They all usually end up at the right school for them eventually, try not to overanalyze numbers.

Gumps · 09/01/2023 22:37

Place marking as impatiently waiting for LEH update

Workhar · 09/01/2023 22:48

@Gumps any idea when will LEH send the interview invites?

Gumps · 09/01/2023 22:50

@workhar it just says mid Jan on the paperwork. Must be this week surely?