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.

If it makes anyone feel better DD is now in y11 and DS in y9 and all the schools did the 'exceptional number of very strong applicants blah blah wording' when they did the 11+, regardless of whether it was good news or bad news! ( except Ibstock which said nothing..)

Actually, I think I remember the line of "We have had a large and strong field of applicants this year.." in one of the emails :) But that was it. One school mentions more candidates have been asked to interview then there are places. I wonder if schools will over offer more then usual, as they must know more candidates are applying to more schools!

Yes, I was thinking perhaps the schools say this every year.

Do you think state heads are kept in the loop at all by the secondary heads?

I imagine they are used to seeing all different personality types. How they perceive them, I would not know. But from what I have read about interviews, it seems the schools are supposed to know how to put the child at ease, so they can get to know them. It seems they are confident they will know if your dc is a good fit.

@Workhar
my DD1 sounds exactly like your DD. Mine is a little grumpy too! She got into a super selective so I wouldn’t worry at all! They take great pains to balance cohorts with loud, shy and everything in between!

@SamPoodle123 with schools interviewing hundreds of candidates and such huge number of teachers deployed towards conducting the interviews, I worry that some personality traits can easily be underestimated or misjudged. It becomes a game of luck. Let’s hope for the best.

Haha…thanks. Mine loves to frown but is too polite to frown in public. Only her family has the front row tickets for witnessing her unique antics.

Two of my DD very dear friends are doing it too and all vying for the same places. Obviously while you of course wish every success to all; it will be very sad for my DD if she is the one without a place. I feel sick thinking about it.
my DD got four interviews - but two were for schools everyone gets one and the others the odds are way lower than 50% get offers. If I had to guess, it would be something like 15-20%.
So much is down to luck. If the interviewer likes your “type”, has had a bad day, is hungry, whatever!

Agree but I honestly think being shy might be an asset.

I suspect they are.

Yes. They said the same in my DD1 year.

Yes, this is what I was thinking, they must try to balance the cohort. Although, how would they know as they are selecting how many of which personality type they have selected?

But the heads just keep it to themselves I assume?

Also, I would say that the state cohort might be not as strong this year. Many state school kids really suffered educationally during the lockdown and so I suspect are much further behind. Much of Year 6 has been spent going over ground from Year 4. It’s the total opposite to the prep schools probably

Think so! Time to start reading things into faces/gestures/reactions!!

Maybe a spreadsheet of some kind? And the interviewed just puts in a crude summary of personality?
im making things up now. But cohorts are balanced!!

is it true that senior schools like to compulsorily select atleast (if not more) a set percentage of girls from state schools? Apologies for the confusion if this isn’t true.

That is what SHOULD happen, but of course who knows. I suspect the state intake is far less than the prep one.

I assume it is true, it is difficult for PR if senior school has no state students

Yes probably. But what interests me is whether the ratio of prep v state applicants is mirrored in the ratio of prep v state offers.

Yes coming from the state sector has definitely been a challenge-with a less than satisfactory state school provision during lockdown. One thing it did do is focus our minds about how our child was doing and what we wanted for them going forwards. Amazingly they have had 5 interviews from the 5 schools we've applied to ( 2 super selectives- one with an academic scholarship interview thrown in) so I wouldn't say being from state is a 'disadvantage' per se, but it's certainly been a slight mountain to work out exactly what level our child needed to be at (zero advice or support from our primary which is normal but tough!). Loving this thread and it's giving me such good insights! Good luck to all your children- it's so tough!

@Redapples81 think this need to look at per school basis, number state vs private applicants, bursaries applicants, historical acceptance rate etc

@Redapples81 I think all kids suffered during lockdown. The differences are probably more around the time and ability of parents had to work with their kids. My kids were in preps but myself and DH were both working full time (to pay for the preps) and didn't have the capacity to keep on top of school work. It was a horrific experience which I hope never to repeat.

I agree with others that the comments being made by schools on the cohort being strong are standard lines used every year. Some schools might have strong cohorts but I doubt all do. The challenge for our DC as I understand it is more around the volume of applications.

State school applicants may be far lesser than prep applicants. Possibly a rumor, I have no way of verifying but a school teacher told me that she feels that if a child is truly bright & deserving, it’s easier for her to enter a prestigious senior school or a prestigious university from a state school, rather than from a fees paying school. Maybe because applicants are fewer and perhaps it’s easier to get noticed by the admissions?