Is anyone else waiting for 11+ results from Guildford High School (GHS)?

[EducationComesFirst]

The school said they would post them today. The wait is unbearable )))

My daughter is in year 8 and when we got her results it was the last weekend in January so that would be 25th of January...so slightly sooner!

To those who sat received outcomes from GHS in the past.. did you feel the outcome was aligned to your expectations? Or is it rather unpredictable?
Asking because the process of this school was pretty unique in the way that everyone is invited to the assessment day and also I am not sure if the CEM test on its own is a good indicator of performance. For example, SPGS 2nd round tests girls rather aggressively after the first round of CEM test. CLSG also has a written test after the CEM test. So a couple of layers where girls need to do well to be selected for interview or get a place.

I’m grateful for my daughter not having to go through a process like SPGS’s. I’m not clear how GHS make their final selections but they evidently feel the CEM test is sufficient academically.

The downside of it is that if you’ve blown the entrance exam then you’re just there to make up the numbers on interview day, without realising this. I’m sure many would prefer not to waste their time.

@durness the SPGS 2nd round day was actually not as bad as it sounds, DD enjoyed it, had a good taste of the school, and any academically able child would be able to handle such a day.
CEM test is already pretty time-pressured and tests all areas needed but I just wondered is it sufficient to even pick academic scholars from it. And worried about the predictability as well as we're approaching results day for GHS. Maybe they're in some way less selective considering a relatively looser part of the process, but doing something great to be almost in part with those other schools? I don't know.

I’m sure I’ll be singing the praises of a remarkably efficient, challenging examination approach should my daughter be successful. Or cursing an unnecessarily compressed, pot luck process if she doesn’t get an offer!

Haha same here @durness good luck to our DDs!

GHS has no choice but to be less selective than SPGS as fewer girls apply due to the location and also the fact that junior school girls have automatic entry. The Deputy Head academic talks a lot about the value added at GHS - clearly all girls are bright but there is definitely a wider range than you might think and yet they get great results. I know lots of girls who have sat for GHS in the past and I think they have a good system and know what they are looking for. They clearly want a mix of girls, with different talents and care a lot about girls doing their personal best. I think they do an excellent job of this.

I'm not sure I would describe the SPGS second round "aggressive"! Rigorous, robust, stretching for sure. But it's also a lot of fun (and people shouldn't think it's scary! My DD absolutely loved the SPGS assessment day). And as another poster mentioned, plenty of schools have some form of academic assessment for the second round (City, NLCS, WHS, PHS...)

Personally I think CEM alone is a pretty superficial test to use for assessments, but it clearly works for GHS - together with their assessment day - as they get incredible results.

I suspect a key difference to the London schools - as someone has pointed out - is that far fewer girls are applying to GHS so they can manage an assessment day with all candidates. I would be surprised if that didn't play quite a big part in their decisions. That just wouldn't be feasible at a lot of London schools where you have close on 1000 (or even more at co-eds) applying.

Any definite date that the results will be out? Thought of ringing the school did cross my mind. Noticed two suggestions in this thread, wondering which is more likely.

Last year we got an offer from ghs on the last Friday in Jan (26th) just before 5pm via email. As I thought it was funny admissions working at that time I thought they would have clocked off for the w/e. Suppose it gives time to process the info with the girls over the weekend.

Good luck I hope your girls get where they want to go

The pool of girls available for GHS is definately decreasing, and I would suspect that the benchmark to get in to maintain numbers will slide as the amount of girls in the catchment reduces, due to either affordability or birth rate numbers.

GHS have always invited way more than they need to when it comes to 'we have space now would you like to apply' - given they charge for registration etc. These fees will be keeping their admissions departments running and by inviting and rejecting a good number of people they never had the intention of accepting in the first place, the smokescreen of selectiveness and academia is maintained. Sorry, my take - plus that of friends who are there, or who have applied, some multiple times.

Don't get me wrong, they get amazing results. But with the pool shrinking and there being other schools out there doing 'well enough' academically, whilst not having the 'hot house' rep - that still lingers - they will need to broaden their net, instead of creaming off the top.

This will undoubtedly filter through to results in good time. Given I'm a cynical cow, lol, I image that's why the last head left, she saw the future was coming and bailed at the peak - albeit into another UL role!

@AndreaKnowsBest isn't that what any school does?

I did always wonder how GHS has consistently shown good results for many years. They do cream off the top but there are many more schools in London that has a larger pool of kids applying and maybe even more competitive to get a place. Many families I know would prefer schools closer to London that is in a more commutable location. Or is that really London-centric thinking..
Has GHS actually had enough applicant pool to cream off the truly top academic girls? Or do they really add value in that way, getting somewhat less academic pool of girls to a top standard? Either way they've been doing a good job.

@suedenimwow any chance you can DM me as have a question for you.. (sorry to hijack thread)

Most schools do, but in this area they've always enjoyed being able to pick the high performers, given their reputation for good results. It's self fulfilling.

I've lived in the area for 20+ years and I can assure that they are not adding 'top 10 uk school' value add to their kids. If they'd cracked that formular, they'd make more money selling the technique than ever being a school. I'd be more concerned that they don't actually know how to 'add value', as you'll see from many MN threads, posts and local chat. Girls being 'persuaded' it's not the school for them was common just a few years back, but, I guess with tightening numbers that luxury is fading for them.

They're certainly doing a good job of attracting the brightest pool to begin with, the risk is, if they broaden their net, that USP won't last forever.

GHS isn't really a massive deal for londoners, most come from the area, surrey and some from London.

As a teacher (in another school) and a parent I don't recognise the description in the last post. They absolutely do know how to add value and the teaching is excellent. It is so far from a hot house and pastoral care is excellent.

Maybe I’m being slow but this doesn’t make a great deal of sense. All schools charge for admissions. It makes no difference to GHS’s coffers whether anyone continues to participate in the process thereafter. Have I missed something?

I know a lot of people who have applied there before, and groups of parents (who know each other) that have all been invited, multiple times, for a singular in year place that pops up from time to time.

Each time parents are paying the £ fees for the assessment. It always has struck me, and others, as a mini cash cow on the side, with one in year vacancy suddenly generating a good chunk of income in the process of being filled - and if one was cynical, with the candidate they always knew they would take out of that group getting the place anyway.

From my own experience and of those I know, there is a different perspective out there too. Every coin has two sides, your view is valid, and is your own - but for other kids and families, what I posted is valid to them.

@AndreaKnowsBest yes I agree. Your view is valid, as is mine. I just think that it is very easy to label academically successful schools as hot houses. Our experience has been very far from that, no homework at all in holidays, iPads handed in. No homework in first three weeks of this term in year 7,8,9 - instead a research project which teaches pupils valuable study skills. Summer exams before May half term not after, a very well planned wellbeing programme etc. I know and have worked in hot house schools and I suppose I just feel it is important to share this perspective.
No school is right for every child and no school is perfect. For us, our experience of GHS has been very positive.

My DD is at GHS and our experience has been overwhelmingly positive - it’s a lovely, supportive and fun school, with excellent teachers, and I’ve only ever heard the ‘hot house’ label from assumptions of those observing from the outside. The girls I know throughout the year groups all seem relaxed and happy and ex pupils that I know also talk very fondly of the school.

Good luck to those awaiting results this weekend!

Do you think the results will be this weekend?

@geoma sorry, not sure actually - it’s usually last weekend of Jan so was thinking that but Interview day was only 2 weeks ago so perhaps another week? Don’t panic if you don’t hear this Fri!

That's great and I'm pleased you've had a good experience. But I'm sure we all know people with differing views on GHS, and one can't ignore that, especially given that everyone knows everyone within the surrey bubble.

Far from supportive happiness, I personally know multiple families and girls with first hand or friend experience of hot house environmentals.

Tests, where if one does badly, they go under rhe radar and pretend that it never happened. Peer pressure to success and a general feeling, especially as girls get older that weakness and bad marks makes one weak.

There's plenty more examples too, and these are not fabricated examples either, but very real and very representative. I feel it important every year to remind prospective parents that they are signing up to a 'brand name', where the brand alone simply fuels obsessional parents who want their girls to achieve, highly, at whatever cost.

The pressure to aspire to Oxbridge comes from a culture and self fullfilling peer pressure to get there or simply fail.

Guildford doesn’t seem to send many girls to Oxbridge; it doesn’t seem to be a priority for them.

@AndreaKnowsBest Do you have any direct experience with the school? Did you or a DD apply? It’s more difficult to give weight to opinions that come third-hand. And with a school like GHS it’s not likely to influence others to adopt the same view, unless there is cause. And that cause tends to follow a rejection of admission.