SW London Private & Grammar: applying for year 7 in 2023

[QuiteAJourney]

Following up from
www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4716365-sw-london-private-grammar-applying-for-year-7-in-2023-part-iii?page=40

Sharing the journey

"Good / Top" school I only meant in erms academic selection competiveness..., there are a lot of other nonseletive good schools in London.

@Sugar118 is this a boy or girl? There are a few single sex schools which aren't mega competitive in that neck of the woods. Is Kingswood house a boys school or mixed?

Great advice @QuiteAJourney. Totally agree re disregarding league tables and focusing on finding a good fit for your DC. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: "There is no best school, only the school that's best for your child".
@Sugar118 Is this for 2024 entry?

We have certainly not found the admissions process at G&L to be impersonal at all. We are currently living abroad, which has been an added stress, and G&L admissions out of all of the schools we have dealt with has been the most helpful and made the process very straightforward.

You are dead right ...
@Sugar118 are you London based and, if so, with easy access to CJ?

@Sugar118 Dunottar would be another one to look at and Caterham.

At open day of a top South London indie, we asked a teacher about the school ethos. The music teacher, who has been in the school for 2 years, had no clue!

Caterham is a good addition to the list. Similar, according to our prep, in terms of competition for entry, to Epsom or St John's. It gets really good reviews as an excellent all-round school.
Also worth noting that different types of entry exam might play to different strengths, as do other elements of the selection process.

@Sugar118 If interested in girls schools, Worth checking out Woldingham - we absolutely loved it. Direct train from CJ.

Other potential girls-only could be, depending on location: Sutton High, SCHS, Notre Dame on Cobham or Old Palace of John Whitgift

"Never look at league table" sounds a bit generalisation. I would care less about exact league table position but consider league tables in tiers/groups as indication of academic aspect of the school. This should be one of the main factor for making such important decision.

I think the point, as has been discussed on here at length, is that pretty much all the schools being considered on this thread are in the top 100 in the country as regards league tables, many in the top 50, so there's not a huge amount academically between them, bar a small distinction in the raw intelligence of the children they take at 11. So choosing a school that's number 1 or 5 or 10 over a school that's number 20 or 30 or 40 purely because of its position in the league table is a bit pointless.

What would be really interesting, of course, is if all schools published value added data (like primaries / preps used to do PIPs, but seem not to any more). The only school I've heard of that does talk about value added is GHS, but I've not heard a single London day school mention it yet!

Good luck to all those DCs interviewing this weekend - Harrodian and SPGS, I think. Hope all go well!

@LondonMum20222 Many thanks 🙏

There is little difference academically between school ranked 5 and 15.

However, one should think twice for the reasons, for example, choose an offer from school at rank 50 over a school ranked 5. There are many factors to consider without a doubt. Placing the child to the right bucket of school according to his academics ability is as important as other factors.

The fact is that nearly all the selective school use academic ability as their main selection criteria. The higher ranking, the higher level of popularity and higher number of applicants. It feel a bit silly to say such parents conscious endeavour is pointless.

As per value added, in state sector there is progress 8 score, but again it is usually considered together with attainment 8 score (derived from Gcse results). When choosing the right school. There are benifits, as in fact exercise by most selective schools in their selection process, to have the right academic level of students study together as cohort.

I thought all SPGS interviews got over last weekend?

@QuiteAJourney and everyone else interviewing at Harrodian good luck! Look forward to hearing about it.

@pme how do you know which is the right level of academics for dc? It is hard for me to understand this, as my dd goes to a state school, so top of her class would be different when comparing to the top of top private schools. I guess if she gets offers, I could ask her ranking in the cohort for the exams? I just want to make sure we select a school that is challenging enough for her, but not too academic (unless she is academic🤔). But, I find it hard to tell, because her current school is too easy for her, so she can just coast along.

Good to everyone interviewing! Let us know how it went.

Is this the last weekend for interviews?

@SamPoodle123 If your DD got an offer from the school, it will mean she meets the academic standard.

As suggested previously by some parents in the thread, asking feedback (including academic ranks) before accepting offer is a great idea.

Thanks 🙏

Forgive my ignorance, but can someone please explain the concept of value Add in private secondary context? Is it benchmarked to CAT scored on entry? Many thanks.

.... and it is a wrap!!

After almost 4 months (DD's first interview was in the first week in October!) we are done with exams / interviews / assessments for the 11+ process.

Now off to celebrate with a family meal and a day of DD-led activities in Central London.

Londonmum202222 you are absolutely right, what is truly valuable in assessing the school is the value added, which looks at the scores from tests taken in yr 7 when DCs join and compares to actual GCSEs and then takes GCSEs vs actual A levels. Some of the top schools by league table can have negative or minimal value added. There is data on the Dept for Ed website but is patchy for Indep schools.

Queens Gate actually has a page in their propectus and mentioned it at their open day which I found impressive. They were top 4 in the country for value added at GCSE and top third for A level. Havent seen any others mention it but perhaps a question for offer holder events ?

Congrats! Enjoy the celebrations. Such a long process.

@LondonMum20222 thanks so much!