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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

1 waitlist offer for London Indie 11+, any positive stories?

74 replies

berry1212 · 21/02/2023 15:28

Hi,

My DD is on a waitlist for 1 school, got firm 'nos' from two other London independent secondary schools and a scholarship for our back up school (which is fairly easy to get into). Was anyone in this position in the last few years and got offered a waitlist place?

Looking for some positive vibes and reassurance. It's a middle tier school academically and our first choice.

I feel like we could have helped her prep more. Our approach was light tutoring (twice a month = 2 hours tutor time), practice exam papers in between + atom. She started prep 5 months before the exams. We also decided not to tell her how much work to do per week or sit with her to go through questions (she would troubleshoot incorrect answers with online videos or during her tutor time). This was intentional so she could take ownership as well as come out of the other end of exam prep with some useful study skills for secondary school. I am now questioning if we did her a disservice with the highly competitive nature of secondary school applications in London!

We are going to be doing this again for our younger daughter in a few years so would also love tips on how others balanced a sensible amount of prep with getting firm offers for children who are academically in the middle. It feels like children who are either over-tutored or naturally at the top academically get the firm offers - what happens to everyone else?!

OP posts:
TeenagersAngst · 21/02/2023 15:31

No direct experience but we are sitting on three offers and will therefore inevitably free up two spaces to go to waitlist children. There will be loads of movement after the deadline. When does your preferred school ask people with offers to reply by?

TeenagersAngst · 21/02/2023 15:31

There's also the state school announcements on 1 March - so some children will choose that over private if they get the school they want.

Original poster
berry1212 · 21/02/2023 15:33

Offers acceptance date is 6th March.

OP posts:
SuperGinger · 21/02/2023 15:35

My DS got seven offers we turned all but two down straight away

LIZS · 21/02/2023 15:38

TeenagersAngst · 21/02/2023 15:31

No direct experience but we are sitting on three offers and will therefore inevitably free up two spaces to go to waitlist children. There will be loads of movement after the deadline. When does your preferred school ask people with offers to reply by?

That is not necessarily true unfortunately. Schools tend to over offer knowing some will have a choice offers and turn a place down.

Original poster
berry1212 · 21/02/2023 15:38

@SuperGinger I'm curious why you applied to 7 schools (or more perhaps?). We applied to 4 and am wondering if we should apply to more when we go through this again in a few years.

OP posts:
TeenagersAngst · 21/02/2023 15:40

@LIZS I didn't know that - what do they do if everyone accepts and they're oversubscribed? Isn't that a risk?

mdh2020 · 21/02/2023 15:41

If you are waitlisted you will almost certainly get a place. They know how many people turn down offers every year.

LIZS · 21/02/2023 15:43

They have a bit of flexibility on numbers if that happened. I remember one SE London school got caught out at 11+ a few years ago and ran an extra form but took fewer at 13+.:

SuperGinger · 21/02/2023 15:43

We just did, but with hindsight. It was too many we would have done four, there were three we had no intention of him attending.

With my DD, currently year five, I think we will just do two.

PatriciaHolm · 21/02/2023 15:44

We are going to be doing this again for our younger daughter in a few years so would also love tips on how others balanced a sensible amount of prep with getting firm offers for children who are academically in the middle. It feels like children who are either over-tutored or naturally at the top academically get the firm offers - what happens to everyone else?!

Well - realistically, it's going to at least partially depend on which schools you applied to. At some, the loveliest, best prepared "academically in the middle" child is never going get an offer, because academics are far more highly weighted at, say, SPGS, NLCS, etc. So were you genuinely realistic in your choices?

It seems that the number of applications made on average is going up. Chances of a wait list place will again depend on which school - some will over-offer more than others - and also how realistic it is for local-ish girls to get to a grammar, which some parents may be waiting for on March 1 as an alternative.

Original poster
berry1212 · 21/02/2023 15:45

Interesting. I guess schools could use their offer acceptance rate from the last few years to have a guesstimate on how many people might accept offers this year and then over- offer based on that data.

OP posts:
Original poster
berry1212 · 21/02/2023 15:51

@PatriciaHolm we weren't realistic with one school, it's a top academic school but since it's a stone's throw away from where we live we took an approach of 'let's give it a shot'. The other three are middle tier schools, which were based on my daughter being near the top of her class academically since Year 4, without any tutoring.

OP posts:
Original poster
berry1212 · 21/02/2023 15:52

sorry, I mean the other two are middle tier schools plus our back up.

OP posts:
Original poster
berry1212 · 21/02/2023 15:56

@mdh2020 I hope so! That would be great.... I know our daughter will be more than fine at the back up option too and my worry is quite petty and coming from a very privileged place - somehow I know this whilst also finding the wait of not knowing tough!

OP posts:
redrobin75 · 21/02/2023 16:01

Unfortunately being top of any class state or primary is no indication of getting a place at a middle or top tier academic school.
It would help if you could name the WL school, some have a tendency to go to WL, others rarely do.

UKMum2021 · 21/02/2023 16:02

mdh2020 · 21/02/2023 15:41

If you are waitlisted you will almost certainly get a place. They know how many people turn down offers every year.

I thought schools tend to over-offer already

GrassGrows · 21/02/2023 16:04

We have no offers at all, not even WL! DD should have done well but it turns out she can't cope at all in exam conditions.

We're desperately hoping schools have under-offered... If MN is anything to go by, everyone has gone crazy this year and applied everywhere, and are holding ten offers

Steppen · 21/02/2023 16:07

Are your kids at a state primary or a prep school? If at state being top of the class will mean very little. I'd do weekly tutor sessions from year 4.

CloudPop · 21/02/2023 16:10

any chance you could move your younger child into a school now that has a secondary? Then they get prepped as part of their primary education

Original poster
berry1212 · 21/02/2023 16:12

@GrassGrows uh, sorry to hear that. Do you have any back up options - state or otherwise? My daughter had one of the worst viruses just before one of the exams and has a bit of an issue with timing in exams. Her strength is also English, particularly creative writing which for most schools is the second round of exams should you pass the elimination exam round. So the exam setup doesn't play to her strengths. She's good at maths, but I think being good is not good enough!

OP posts:
Original poster
berry1212 · 21/02/2023 16:14

@Steppen my kids are in a private primary school. It's not a prep school though. The secondary school admission results are usually very good but the last two years haven't been as good as they were before - I wonder if the baby boom years are making it more competitive atm!

OP posts:
Original poster
berry1212 · 21/02/2023 16:17

@CloudPop I have actually been thinking the same! The primary school that my children we've been happy with, but the 11+ system is tough. I was thinking of giving it until September so I have some distance from being in the tick of it before deciding what to do with the younger one. She's in year 2 so I have a little time.

OP posts:
Original poster
berry1212 · 21/02/2023 16:20

berry1212 · 21/02/2023 16:17

@CloudPop I have actually been thinking the same! The primary school that my children we've been happy with, but the 11+ system is tough. I was thinking of giving it until September so I have some distance from being in the tick of it before deciding what to do with the younger one. She's in year 2 so I have a little time.

*in the thick of it

lol - typing to fast :)

OP posts:
GrassGrows · 21/02/2023 16:22

We're in guaranteed catchment for an "OK" state backup, and have an outside chance of a good one. But I think we'll phone around after the acceptance deadlines, to see if anyone wants to see her for a late place.

DD had PMT on all the exam days, which was bad luck.

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