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 :)

I'm afraid I don't know about pass marks.

With second round and interviews, I think it probably varies school by school. I would expect though that they probably also rely on the second round in different ways depending on the child and how they did in the exam.

There must be some children who performed strongly enough in the exam they know they'll probably make an offer anyway, so they just need to treat them the same as others/maybe consider for academic scholarship/double check there are no other issues. Other children who are more borderline on the exam, they probably want to find out more about them. I would have thought they would still take a holistic approach and consider all the information they had, so the exam will be relevant.

I got that info from their website, i dont think they will ever tell what is the pass mark for non sib kids, and anyway i am not sure there is one really.
how well your DC do in the exam definitely counts a lot but then there is also school reports , references , age etc… and that also count in my opinion when they select who goes to second round or not.
so for instance a child who get 90% but bad references etc might not go to second round and if your child has less (reasonably less lets say 75 or 80%) but all the rest is great he has better chances.
maybe im wrong , its first time for me and im only learning how everything work but i m guessing its like that

I do not think that you are wrong @Wondermumof4 - it does change from school to school and there is no magic (or common) formula as to what are the relative weights of exam scores and other factors. Also to note, some schools already look at the other factors to go into second round, others not.
Key thing to remember is - if your DC is called for a second stage is because they have a chance ..otherwise, the school would not be engaging in a futile exercise of interviewing / scoring papers, etc.

@CocoC last year according to a mumsnet poster Emanual wanted a 115 in all categories to get to the interview. A well-known tutoring company told us the pass mark is generally 70% for all the Emanuel tests.

Oh thanks @Ilikelists that is good to know.
i know for sure KGS pass mark is 80% if it helps anyone has my DH asked them on the phone before registration and they said it you DC does not get 80% we won’t call him / her for interview.
so yeah it totally depends on the school.

That was the number we heard for KGS last year too.
The ratio of call to interview to offer is much lower (closer to 1) than with Emanuel (which used to interview everybody and still interviews quite a lot / more than similar schools, according to their own staff). So it tallies.

We've only been looking at this whole process recently, but it is interesting to see how varied each school's application process is and how much more involved it seems to have become, e.g. with group exercises as well as interviews.

I was chatting with my mum recently, and back when I went through all this 30+ years ago it was just exams, and then interviews at some schools for potential scholarships. Some didn't even interview for that.

It all seems a lot, but overall it seems better to be looking at the child as a whole rather than just how they performed in exams on a single day.

Anyone can compile a similar list for girls schools + co’ed?

Yes, I have heard this about Emanuel being seen as a fall-back option years ago. When we had met with our head before we did the 11+ last year she mentioned that it used to be easier to get into, but has become a lot more selective.

Can anyone put together a list for girls schools + co-Ed’s?

(Sorry for the repeat post)

I can try, but others will need to add to the list.

St Pauls
Godolphin
City, Latymer, LEH
Wimbledon/Putney/FHSS
Emanuel
Harrodian
Ibstock

I am sure there are more schools to be added...and maybe someone might have a better idea what order.

Building on @SamPoodle123 's with some tweaks - admittedly SW London - Centric and in groups as the differences can be quite marginal

St Pauls
Godolphin / City / Latymer
Wimbledon / PHS (I would say WHS more competitive) / LEH
KGS / Emanuel / FHSS
Surbiton/ Harrodian (but quite unpredictable)
Ibstock
Streatham and Clapham / Sutton High / Radnor / Claremont Fan / Kew
Thames Christian / The Hall

I think it depends on the school and their interview process. Some interviews are a lot more thorough. For example when dd did the 11+ she had group activities, creative task and interview at some schools. But G&L it was just a 15 minute interview. I think if a dc is borderline with scores, it would take more time to assess them. Longer interview process gives dc more time to shine or show how they are. I also feel like schools that do taster sessions or group activities want to show you more of their school and teaching. This is your dc time to also look at the school to consider it if its a good fit etc.

I would say:

SPSG/NLCS (incl. NLCS as it has a bus from High Street Ken and some West London parents choose it as SPSG alternative because of its setting)
LUS/Godolphin/City
SHHS/Putney/LEH/Wimbledon
NHEHS
Emanuel
FHSS/FHRP
Harrodian
St Benedicts

adding to the lists with some tweaks

SPSG/NLCS (incl. NLCS as it has a bus from High Street Ken and some West London parents choose it as SPSG alternative because of its setting)
LUS/Godolphin/City
SHHS/Putney/LEH/Wimbledon

NHEHS/FHSS
Emanuel/Harrodian/Ibstock
FHRP
*
St Benedict’s/ St James/Kew/More House/Radnor

DD did her Surbiton interview today.

Seemed well-run and a well thought-out process: Some material to look at 15 min in advance, to form part of the questions in interview, then a mix of questions to see how she reasoned about things, and questions about interests.

Came out smiling so I'll take that as a positive.

For those of you who are comparing PHS and WHS - what differences did you find? (we did a last minute application and missed the visits for both, so only going on websites!)

Do you know how many they interview in relation to how many places there are?

No idea I'm afraid.

The schools (Emanuel, FHSS, G&L) which claim they will contact you in Jan... are they just saying that to manage expectations, but do they ever let you know before Xmas?! It's maddening having to wait when others who had their exams at same time are able to let you know! Surely they aren't doing any marking between the 2nd and 8th of Jan or whatever...
If child has not got through would be so nice to know before so they can have Xmas as something to look forward to to get over the disappointment.

Very much personal view....

We visited both and are very local to both of them so have lots of friends with DDs at them.

Overall, we found WHS more relaxed and diverse than PHS on a number of fronts. Probably linked (at least partly) with the different locations and where students come from ...more of a Wimbledon / Kingston vibe at WHS, more Putney / Fulham / Chelsea at PHS (not to say that is where most of the girls come from, but it lends itself to a different vibe imho). Extra-curricular / clubs very strong in both - more focus on sports at PHS (though WHS coming up in the ranks). We also preferred the WHS curriculum (including Civil Discourse from Y7 and PPE in Y10).

Both academically strong, though WHS tends to be seen a having a bit of an edge.

Links with KC are a plus for WHS.

Location-wise, WHS in the midst of Wimbledon and close to the village, which the DDs really like as they grow up. PHS in a more residential area / more out of the way.

Overall, we just got the vibe that it would suit our DD better (we also discussed with her prep and they thought the same). It struck as an academic school which encouraged and rewarded curiosity and love of learning and was warm and inclusive.

We ended up not applying to PHS (you have to limit numbers somewhere, and there are great schools in our corner of London). My DD got an offer from WHS and decided to take it, she is now happily there in Y7.

Feel free to PM me if you have any further question.

In the past Putney waited until after the xmas holidays as well! Basically, every school my dd applied to last year waited until after the holidays (including the ones you mentioned). The wait felt like FOREVER.

I do not know about the others (@SamPoodle123 may be able to comment) but email from Emanuel with invites for second stage was on the 10th January. Harrodian was even later (16th January, despite the fact that it was an ISEB exam that DD had done in October).
Some schools let us know results a bit earlier than anticipated, but it was just 2-3 days at most.

Based on last year experience and compared to some other parents we know for London girls private day schools (and some coed), the ranking of difficulty of entry measure by the number of over offering - note this is not the ranking of difficulty of the exam nor goodness of the School.

SPSG <1.5x offers
NLCS/CLSG/Godolphin/LU/Highgate/SHHS 2x offers
PHS/LEH/WHS/JAGS 2.5x-3x offers

@QuiteAJourney os that list in order of academics/ how hard it is to get a place?
I completely agree, the gut feeling you get and the vibe of the school is the most important. It was helpful to speak to current families and kids to see which vibe and atmosphere best fits with our family and dc.