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.

Why do you think prep school acceptance rate is not high?

@Redapples81 i think that it is safe to say that no school is everybody's first choice.

Even SPGS, I am sure, gets rejections - factors like distance, personality fit, scholarships offered by other schools, experience during admissions process, etc, play a role.

Unless I got it wrong, my impression was that the map showed the girls who have accepted the places and are already at City, not the offer places.

@Redapples81 100 places.
@Mamabear12 my dd had her interview early in the morning yesterday, coldest day ever, felt like. The email said "doors do not open before xx hour". we came 20 min earlier to avoid traffic and I was dreading how she will sit in the cold and freeze. There was a nice lady outside 20 min before doors opened - welcomed my daughter with a smile - really started our day off great! What more can I say!

I don't know why but it is just a objective observations based on published number from a few prep schools (you can check on prep school websites)

I guess competition is high in the overlapped London postcode catchment between LU GL SPGS NLCS SHHS FHSS and etc

CLSG is very urban and limited open space may be another factor.

And I don't know if the high proportion of state school also a negative factor for some parents too..

@QuiteAJourney no, of course, I wasn’t being entirely serious! But I think it might be fair to say, it ranks pretty highly on many peoples wish list. I suspect they don’t use their WL much.

@FriendlyMom yes the map is the girls already in the school (see most of them are from the proper London postcode areas)

In terms of historical offered and acceptance number you have to go to individual prep school website to find out.

when I look at the websites of popular preps (the ones I know of), for both CLSG & G&L, I see numbers like 12 offers - 3 accepted. I agree that because of my limited knowledge, my sample set may not be very accurate. It’s completely possible that I am missing out on seeing the data of real feeder preps to a school and there is no way of knowing the intake from state schools.

Interesting. One private school parent I know made a comment about Emanuel being state school heavy as well. Do you know if that is the case?

Interesting. I never thought to look at other schools secondary offers and acceptances. Going to do that today!

I know that distance is the main factor for CLSG to not be top of the list for prep school girls in our area.

@Workhar "there is no way of knowing the intake from state schools."

in open day CLSG mentioned 40% state and 20% on bursaries. One of the highest schools in London I believe..

Ah! Yes, of course, good to know. Thank you.

Distance & the fear of depending on underground & trains (atleast in the current scenario). I know some of my friends prefer suburban schools or at least schools in a family friendly area. It all boils down to personal choice I guess.

Did CLSG ask everyone to differentiate between 2 posters yesterday?

Thank you. It truly is impressive. I meant that there is no way of knowing the offer to acceptance ratio of state school students.

@Mamabear12 Emanuel is and has been for the last years, 50/50 in state/prep intake. It was publicly mentioned at the open day.

@Workhar "Did CLSG ask everyone to differentiate between 2 posters yesterday?"

Two pictures, yes.

@Workhar I imagine that the state school offer to acceptance rates might well be higher.
who knows. Trying to second guess whether one is going to get an offer is painful. Just hope we get something.

Mine had to talk about one. But hers was last week so they probably had different qs.

This was us with older DC who was going through the process at the time. He ended up with offers from very academic schools. Because I kept him busy by giving him more work when the schoolwork ran out by 10.30am as I had a full time job. I took reasonably frequent breaks to help him go through ones he got wrong and marked for him in the evenings. His state primary hadn't even realised he was academic. His yr 5 teacher clearly didn't even know him. They did not support applications though as the head was anti private. We managed to get references from his yr 6 teacher as head would not do it, We moved dd at the same time as didn't want the same experience for her. However lockdown definitely helped dc1 and he would be at his local comp if it wasn't for that time

@QuiteAJourney "experience during admissions process, etc, play a role."

Want to know others thoughts on how you take the exam / interview context and process experience in your decision for school preference.

I do think schools exam/interview format and content kind of reflect the emphasis on quality of the candidates they are looking for. But I'm still not sure how important to base on that to determine DD is fit for a particular school.

I am not that familiar with the school but I think that the girls that get an offer from it may also be getting offers from other schools with similar academic standing (or superior), closer and/or with better facilities/outdoor space. The figures quoted above seem to indicate that. I think that even for quite competitive schools offers end up being (initially or via waiting list) close to double (or above) the actual places.

I agree that the offers to places ratio is very difficult to guess - looking at prep offers / acceptance gives an indication but it is never exhaustive, and there is no data for state acceptance ratios. That is why the secrecy of some schools is so frustrating.

Even at a more basic level, whether your DC has been treated like a number or like a person is key! If I school cannot bother when they are trying to "attract" you, it does not bear well if/your DC joins the school.

Echo comments on PHS assessment day leaving a great impression. Staff all very warm and friendly and made a real effort to be welcoming. Assessment on the day was as per the email with no scary surprises thrown in!

@Mamabear12 , Emanuel is going for 50% state and 50% private, including from the French bilingual state primary schools.

Kids who have guaranteed places have also been invited to attend. I think the aim is to make it a fun experience. Do you know how many places they are going to have? There will be a lot from Radnor house prep and the guaranteed spots from dukes, so it might not be that all are accepted.