SW London Grammar and Private year 7 entry 2024

[lolo99]

Not sure if this thread has been started but if not, I would like to share experiences, tips and generally talk about schools and their pros and cons and processes to ease the anxiety and pain for us parents :)

@ash86i did your son feel like the papers from exam plus were similar level to the exams? I have seen a range of comprehension, some looking super difficult and some okay. I am just wondering the level when actually taking the exams for written. Of for example is the level of difficulty the same as the examples the schools put on their website?

@SamPoodle123 EPP are pretty good at nailing the paper difficulty and writing the exam papers closer to the actual schools’. They rely on past feedback and keep their papers pretty up to date, unlike some of the past school papers posted on their websites, which prove to be harder in reality - at least that was my impression from experience (since we share experience :)).

I think depends on individual schools and year, we didn't try EPP so not sure for that. In terms of actual difficulty vs past papers, last year SPGS is about the same as their sample, CLSG and NLCS papers are harder than the sample papers on the school website. Consortium is online which is similar level to the Atom mocks.

Though paper difficulty not necessarily translate into actual entrance difficulty, in the end is the cohort ability that take the exam as well as the final acceptance rank matters.

Could I ask a question which I really hope people won’t find too superficial or judgmental but it is to help put my DS at ease during the 11+ process. It’s about what to wear for an exam.

DS had an assessment session at a SW London school today which included a test and also interaction with teachers and other children, and the school said you can wear uniform or own clothes. This was our first assessment in the secondary school setting. We went for own clothes but was smart trousers, a shirt and jumper and some new trainers he’d recently got. We saw that 90% of the kids were in joggers, sweatshirts, hoodies, trainers etc so very relaxed. DS came out really self conscious that he’d been too smart.

Did we pitch it wrong? Am I out of touch? What are you sending your children wearing when it’s an exam. I assume an interview does warrant something smarter.

@londonlady2023 go with whatever your child is comfortable in. Honestly. I don’t think it carries any weight at all. School uniform if they are coming from school or just prefer it, but otherwise whatever they like. Same for interviews (though maybe would avoid ripped jeans for interviews). DS1 went through this 2 years ago and interviewed in jeans and jumper. Exams in joggers and hoodie. Got offers. DS2 doing same thing. Just let them be comfortable 😊 good luck with it all.

This is super helpful. Thanks so much. Our next exam is a school day so we might do uniform and not overthink it followed by a Saturday exam where we’ll definitely go more casual. Continued good luck to everyone.

From last year's experience, if the school said uniform or own clothes, most wore uniform but a sizable minority still wore their own clothes. These were most very casual, jeans, T-shirts, hoodies etc. Don't wear clothes which are too formal. I am sure the school won't mind but the kid will stand out, and he or she may not feel easy. Last year, we saw a boy wearing suits with ties which quite stand out.

The EPP comprehensions are much more difficult than the actual exam for all the senior schools my DS sat. Among the exams he sat, the KCS comprehension was the more difficult one, but still easier than the EPP. The comprehension papers of other schools (Hampton, LU, SP, Tiffin etc) are easier than the KCS one.

But don't know about girls school if yours is a DD.

Thank you. It is the boys I was wondering about. My eldest DD already sat the exams (very similar to Atom) and only one written (Emanuel). For DS we are considering St Pauls, Kings, Latymer, Emanuel and Dulwich. My dc are at a state school, so its all a guessing game figuring out which schools are realistic etc. We managed to get it right for DD so trying to figure it out for DS. One disaster though, his handwriting is so messy. He has always struggled with handwriting and hating writing. He much prefers Atom style exams over written comprehension (due to the writing).

My DS sat the 8+ not long ago and the EPP SPs exams were as difficult and very similar to the actual ones. As long as his handwriting is legible, your son will be fine, @SamPoodle123 . My DD didn’t like writing either and her handwriting was horrible. With practice she got used to the long paragraphs of writing and her hand didn’t hurt as much.
Latymer English is MC. My DD who sat it last year mentioned the English was not hard, it was the math which was harder, much harder than the mocks posted on the school website.

Yes past papers and Exam paper plus were very good practice. I remembered he said they were similar. Can’t remember the details sorry. The most important thing for us in prepping was for him to finish in the allocated time, so doing loads of papers at home with a timer helped. If you have a tutor ask them to provide past papers, older than whatever is on the schools website and do them consistently.

Also GL practice papers for VR and NVR.

@SamPoodle123 you might want to consider Harrodian, a-level results better than Dulwich and Emmanuel and the test is iseb-computer based. If he is applying to St Paul’s he will do the iseb anyway as the first stage.

Note that each paper will take about 30-40 minutes to finish, and after the that you need to take time to go through those and review.

Typical exam will have one English comprehension and writing and one Maths papers. Writing or time management can improve over practice, however to practice past papers one will allocate dedicated time to prep in addition to other activities.

Anyone else's DS write Hampton yesterday? DS said it was hard and he left some answers blank.

yes- definitely a stretch. What paper did DS find trickiest?

@SkaterGrrrrl Yes, DS sat Hampton - it sounds like there were a fair few tricky questions in a couple of the papers (one in particular). It is a combined entrance and scholarship exam so suspect the really tricky qs are aimed at identifying the scholarship candidates - fingers crossed for us all!

I reckon they throw in a couple of ridiculous questions to identify the Alan Turing type geniuses!

DS thought English ok but rest was difficult.

Think you’re spot on there @SkaterGrrrrl / wishing the best of luck to your DS. It’s my DS’s favourite school but knowing the standard of the competition I’m not holding my breath - on a good day, he’s a strong candidate (according to his school) but it’s hard to know if it was a ‘good day’ and I’ve refrained from asking about the detail as I can see it stresses him out. It’s a lot of pressure for 10/11 year olds!

According to the rankings, Dulwich is 28 for A levels and Harrodian 42. Not sure if this is a one off or not, as I have only ever seen 2023 league table. Will be interesting to see 2024. We considered Harrodian, but atm I think we will not go for it, as it is a bit of a hassle to get to from where we live. Although, Dulwich is further away, the coach pickup/drop off is a lot more convenient (1 min walk versus 25 mins walk from our house). And same travel time door to door.

@SamPoodle123 here is the link for 2023 a-levels. Parent power will publish their list next week which will be a combo of gcse + a-levels. I just thought it might be an option worth considering since it is a computer-based test and he is probably taking the exam anyway. It would mean an extra interview. https://www.londonpreprep.com/2023/08/a-level-results-2023-top-london-school-ranking/

@Ilikelists thanks for sending that link. I am a little confused as according the parent power the rankings for A levels are different (looking at Dulwich and Harrodian). See the link below.

Parent Power 2023: Best UK schools guide and league table (thetimes.co.uk)

I@Ilikelists the results from that website contains too many errors, don’t look so up to date. I would take it with a pinch of salt while waiting for a more credible source

@SamPoodle123 the list I sent is from 2023 the parent power listing are from 2022 exams. Their new list will come out soon labelled as 2024 but obviously the exams taken in 2023. Someone mentioned there are errors, I haven’t checked the entire list but looked closer at a few and it seems pretty accurate.

Regarding ranking, another angle to look at it is what the school themselves think. In one of the feedback questionnaires from St Paul's, they asked you what other schools you applied to. This is the list you can tick:

King's College Wimbledon
Latymer Upper
Westminster
Alleyn's
Dulwich
UCS Hampstead
RGS Guildford
Highgate
Brighton College
City of London
Others (please specifiy)

This may give you a hint as to what these schools themselves think as the top tier schools.

KGS email going out at close of play today 🤞