11+ Exams - 3x schools on same date!

[roses2]

Hi, I am looking at private schools for my son in London and three of the schools have exams on the same date.

I really don't want to put him through the stress of an intensive day rushing from one side of London to the other.

Do you have to just pick one school in that case? We're only applying to 5 private schools so it's a huge write off to discount 2 of them due to exam conflict!

It's Highgate, Latymer Upper & Westminster - all top schools.

They'll have fall back dates, so arrange to spread out the exams by using those.

Yes, most schools will have a back up date. Speak to them, and see what needs to be arranged.

Thanks, good to know (sort of!). Although Latymer specifically say they don't provide an alternative date so this might be the school I have to discount:

Joining at 11+ - Latymer Upper School (latymer-upper.org)

If your child is registered to take an exam at another school on the same date, please ensure that you inform both schools and we will do our best to accommodate you. We do not hold an alternate exam day at Latymer. We have numerous sessions throughout the exam day and we can usually schedule your child’s exam to allow them to take an exam at another school before or after the Latymer exam

You can specify an afternoon or morning for LU though. They will ask about clashes.
They clashed with St Paul's and KGS when DS sat 11+. Loads of boys were crossing the bridge to sit LU in the afternoon having sat St P in the morning.

Call all 3, find out whether they have fallback arrangements for those with diary clashes, and hopefully you should be able to have at least one of them on another day.

I would think that most 10-year-olds who would be capable of a full-on academic day at a top london selective school by the age of 11 should be able to cope with 2 sets of entry exams on one day. The exams may be tough but they are no tougher than lessons will be. But not 3. So you could do one in the morning, one in the afternoon and hopefully the 3rd on a different day, but if none can be on a different day then you can drop one, rather than dropping 2.

I would let the schools know to see which school will allow an alternative day. Perhaps Westminster and Highgate will so you can still do all 3 on different days. But in the event you need to do two in one day, that is entirely possible. I would not drop Latymer because of that. I would just make sure the schools know you have 3 in the day so surely one will be willing to give an alternative date.

I would be surprised if Westminster doesn't have a fall back date. If you did Highgate and Westminster on the same day, the journey is pretty easy between the two.
I would make a list of top 5 and work your way down. If Highgate is lower than Latymer, drop that if you need to. Possibly look into UCS as alternative to Highgate?

Thanks - I emailed them and got responses back in less than 10 min.

Latymer and Highgate - no flexibility other than timeslot (am or pm)
The other is flexible and can be on a different day

This tells me a lot about pastoral care - Latymer and Highgate don't seem to value child wellbeing very much from my point of view!

Not sure about Highgate but LU have around 1400 sitting the exam on that day and current pupils are not in school. It's a mammoth effort and would be very disruptive to pupils and teachers to have lots of other sittings. Westminster will have far less boys sitting.
I think in some ways it does force parents to sit for schools they are actually keen on. So many sit for loads of schools these days with no intention of ever going there. (Not saying this is the case for you OP but will be for others). The fact that schools publish dates so far in advance allow you to make the choices.

Perfectly possible to sit any 2 of the 3 you've mentioned on one day- all quite simple journeys. Both my DCs sat 2 exams on one day.

Yea, that would put me off a school, but that being said if you do not have many options then you might just have to do one in am and pm. Some dc get no offers or WLs. Some get lucky and get into all schools. So I would play it safe and just do both, but for example do your first choice first or the one you are more likely to get a spot first.

Thanks - and yes I agree logistics for the school are also quite significant.

We're also looking at state schools (and happy with the schools available to us) so not limiting our choices too much if he doesn't get into any of the private ones.

I'm not a fan of Highgate or Latymer Op, but I think this has much more to do with the logistics of running exams for such a huge amount of kids, than any pastoral care they may receive as students enrolled there.
If anything, not being flexible on dates forces parents who are making their kids sit 6+ exams, to re-evaluate.

Exactly, nothing to do with pastoral care but the demand and arrangements difficulty for the school to have other children off school. And also its your priorities. We chose LU over StPauls exam (all academic scholarship offers from Hampton, KCS and grammars, so it was thought through choice. Lastly, my DS fully concentrated on the exams and would not be able to perform well on 2 exam sets in one day.

If you look at the Highgate and Latymer website neither are closed to pupils on the 11+ exam date - they're open. So I understand the logistics part and also ensuring only genuine applicants sit the exam but why pick the same date as other schools. They could easily pick another date to make it more relaxed for the child.

Have you ever been involved in organising a huge 11+ exams day? I really don't think they can 'easily' organise another day. This is the reason why consortium exams started.
If anything, this shows they do care about their students as 11+ exams will be taking staff and space away from students already there, and stops parents from making their kids stil 5+ exams.

LU was shut for current pupils last 11plus day so assume it will be this year. Would be logistically impossible not to be.

It's not a new thing. Lots of the
SW London schools often have exams on the same day. It used to be worse when they were all in early January. There probably aren't that many DCs applying to Highgate and LU so that wouldn't be either schools first choice in ensuring no date clash.