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Original poster

SW London Private and Grammar - applying for year 7 in 2023 (part V)

995 replies

QuiteAJourney · 30/01/2023 18:43

Following from our previous threads, including the latest (link below) www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4723610-sw-london-private-grammar-applying-for-year-7-in-2023?page=40

Looking forward to continuing the journey together

OP posts:
UKUSMum · 30/01/2023 22:30

I can’t imagine my DD knowing how to answer how she’d get to a school we don’t even know she’ll get an offer from! Presumably bus or tube is a good enough answer from a 10/11 year old but yields no data for them.
However at the CLSG tour, the head did do a plea that if you’re not keen on the journey to school, please don’t apply. She said they get turned down every year by families who say it’s too far and it drives her crazy because the school hasn’t moved. ;-)
But again, I can’t imagine many kids would be thinking about the journeys and have revealing answers to that question. One of my DD’s friends would know the route, but he lives in America and happens to be obsessed with the London tube map. Maybe they should ask him to weigh in when they make their decisions?!
Good luck everyone - not long to go now.

MomFromSE · 30/01/2023 22:32

I don't think it matters on an individual level. I now people who've gotten offers from miles away and then moved.

I agree though they probably do factor it into their conversion rates.

sugarcookie5 · 31/01/2023 08:26

Good luck everyone!!!!!!

NellyCortado · 31/01/2023 08:26

@QuiteAJourney thank you for the new thread! Looking forward to sharing the next (and most nail-biting) part of the journey with you all

LondonMum20222 · 31/01/2023 09:41

UKUSMum · 30/01/2023 22:30

I can’t imagine my DD knowing how to answer how she’d get to a school we don’t even know she’ll get an offer from! Presumably bus or tube is a good enough answer from a 10/11 year old but yields no data for them.
However at the CLSG tour, the head did do a plea that if you’re not keen on the journey to school, please don’t apply. She said they get turned down every year by families who say it’s too far and it drives her crazy because the school hasn’t moved. ;-)
But again, I can’t imagine many kids would be thinking about the journeys and have revealing answers to that question. One of my DD’s friends would know the route, but he lives in America and happens to be obsessed with the London tube map. Maybe they should ask him to weigh in when they make their decisions?!
Good luck everyone - not long to go now.

I completely agree it's ridiculous to expect 10 year olds to have this info to hand! They're probably applying to 4-6 schools, all in slightly different locations. As if they'd have all this information off the top of their heads.

I know some schools say that you shouldn't apply if the child's journey time will be more than an hour, but I'm not sure if that's ever born out in offers. We were shown round by at girl at one of the schools who says that and she definitely travelled more than an hour to get to the school.

(I'm not saying that travelling more than an hour to school is advisable - just that it clearly does happen in some cases).

SamPoodle123 · 31/01/2023 10:00

UKUSMum · 30/01/2023 22:30

I can’t imagine my DD knowing how to answer how she’d get to a school we don’t even know she’ll get an offer from! Presumably bus or tube is a good enough answer from a 10/11 year old but yields no data for them.
However at the CLSG tour, the head did do a plea that if you’re not keen on the journey to school, please don’t apply. She said they get turned down every year by families who say it’s too far and it drives her crazy because the school hasn’t moved. ;-)
But again, I can’t imagine many kids would be thinking about the journeys and have revealing answers to that question. One of my DD’s friends would know the route, but he lives in America and happens to be obsessed with the London tube map. Maybe they should ask him to weigh in when they make their decisions?!
Good luck everyone - not long to go now.

That is interesting. Perhaps the parents that apply to CLSG do so thinking they can make the travel effort if they do not get into a school of choice closer. I can see how the schools might be interested in this, as a dc is more likely to accept the spot if they can get to school easily. But that being said, some might be willing to travel longer if its their first choice. Or like a pp mentioned move closer to the school if they get in.

On another post when people were talking about silly responses dc gave during interviews. One pp said during SPGS interview they asked her dd what she liked about the school and the dd answered that its practically on her doorstep. The dd ended up getting an offer. The pp was using it as example of a silly response to make, when it actually was probably a good response!

SamPoodle123 · 31/01/2023 10:02

I think, if we applied to any faraway schools with the intention to move if we got an offer, I would make that clear to admissions. Otherwise, the dc might not get an offer if the school things it is way too far to travel.

LoveMyADHD · 31/01/2023 10:20

Genuine question , how do people cope with the waiting ?

sometimes I find myself rocking back and forth in the sofa ! Absolutely zero work for at least a day! This is unbearable 😫

EweCee · 31/01/2023 10:21

I did prep my DC to bring in to the conversation (if they could) that they could cycle/ walk to school for our first choice school! Doubt its factored into the school's decision making on offers, but it would really help us logistically and it would be the deciding factor for us out of our remaining 3 schools we're hoping to get offers from.

EweCee · 31/01/2023 10:21

@LoveMyADHD I am seriously distracted and finding working on top of this a challenge!

SamPoodle123 · 31/01/2023 10:29

Yea, I find I am thinking about this a lot. I guess it was the same when waiting for exam results....not that we get the results...but if dd made it to interview round.

Toolongawait23 · 31/01/2023 10:51

One of the schools in NW London, actually interviews parents to figure out how likely they are to accept an offer; some of DDs friends had applied and their parents got asked in many ways about where that school ranked in the list etc. This is a good example of school getting to know the family not just the academic potential of DC; on the other hand do parents have a priority list of schools to action in the event of multiple offers (fingers crossed!)

Toolongawait23 · 31/01/2023 10:53

Also agree the wait is too long! They should drip feed results not send everything on one day; they could all have the same acceptance deadlines

crazymama123 · 31/01/2023 10:58

Really struggling with the waiting! Out of interest, if any of us are lucky enough to have more than one offer, then what do you think are the most important factors in deciding which school to go to? I'm genuinely struggling to know how we'd make a decision (which we may well not have!), but we don't really have a top choice.

I think this is my list of priorities, but interested in other's views; 1. overall vibe (does it feel like child would suit the school - although this is hard to tell from the limited visits we've had!), 2. commute, 3. academic results (how important do you think this is?), 4. facilities etc. How will you make decisions? I'm really worried about making the wrong decision and regretting it...

secondaryquandries · 31/01/2023 11:10

@crazymama123 it is such a big decision. Which schools are your top three and where do you live? Our favourite is KGS. It is the closest and the best fit culturally for our son I think plus it's his favourite. It also helps to make the decision easy, that it is very successful academically.

Original poster
QuiteAJourney · 31/01/2023 11:13

SamPoodle123 · 31/01/2023 10:02

I think, if we applied to any faraway schools with the intention to move if we got an offer, I would make that clear to admissions. Otherwise, the dc might not get an offer if the school things it is way too far to travel.

There is currently no scope in the (pretty formulaic) application documents to add that information.

I just think that if the schools want that kind of information (e.g. distance and travel arrangements, other schools applied for) they should ask for it upfront and not ask for it in the context of an interview with the child (especially one labelled as aimed to getting to know their interests and personality). Not saying that they should factor it in for individual decisions but, if they want it to calculate their acceptance ratio, ask for it upfront and explain what you are using it for.

The more transparency in the process, the better.

OP posts:
BrightLight04 · 31/01/2023 11:19

Radnor House has missed their own deadline in sending offers. I dug out their email from 29 Nov:

We will be emailing final outcomes by Monday 30th January, with a deadline for any offers made to be accepted by the 2nd of March.

Original poster
QuiteAJourney · 31/01/2023 11:23

@crazymama123 It is rather tricky. There are also other factors - to the ones that you mention I would add curriculum (e.g. which languages, sciences taught separately or not), co-ed vs single sex, scholarships and (access to) extra-curricular activities. Of course, some factors matter more than others but, at least in our case, it is being within certain parameters - e.g. on commute, being over 1 hour makes a difference, but not really if the difference is between 30 or 40 minutes.

We plan to sit down as a family and look at any offers together, assess pros and cons on all those dimensions and consider which matter most to us. And, of course, use any offers day to re-assess, including travelling to the school by public transport during a 'normal' day.

OP posts:
SamPoodle123 · 31/01/2023 11:27

Toolongawait23 · 31/01/2023 10:53

Also agree the wait is too long! They should drip feed results not send everything on one day; they could all have the same acceptance deadlines

Yes, agreed. I am really hoping Putney emails on Feb 6th!! They said early mid Feb though, so it seems more likely the 10th...but I am hoping. The rest of our schools said the 10th....

99I · 31/01/2023 11:28

BrightLight04 · 31/01/2023 11:19

Radnor House has missed their own deadline in sending offers. I dug out their email from 29 Nov:

We will be emailing final outcomes by Monday 30th January, with a deadline for any offers made to be accepted by the 2nd of March.

No one has heard from Radnor or CFC yet?

EweCee · 31/01/2023 11:36

We're waiting on CFC still, but not Radnor.

EweCee · 31/01/2023 11:37

As in, we didn't apply to Radnor not that we've heard from them already!

Yarnie · 31/01/2023 12:01

Long-time lurker, here, prompted to answer because (despite my best efforts) I’m rehearsing the “how will we decide if we get multiple offers” scenario. We have one offer in hand and one of the schools we’ve applied to is an IB-school - so that’s going to be a big crux point for us. The big school/smaller school and level of academic challenge are other big decision points.

LoveMyADHD · 31/01/2023 12:03

BrightLight04 · 31/01/2023 11:19

Radnor House has missed their own deadline in sending offers. I dug out their email from 29 Nov:

We will be emailing final outcomes by Monday 30th January, with a deadline for any offers made to be accepted by the 2nd of March.

I do wonder though if they already emailed the “Yes”

maybe we re the “no”?

Dallasdays · 31/01/2023 12:05

Re Radnor, they did say on the most recent email after the assessment day that outcomes would be emailed by Friday 3 Feb at the latest...