Page 31 | SW London Grammar and Private year 7 entry 2024

lolo99 · 2023-09-27T18:31:09+00:00

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 · 12/12/2023 21:05

minipie · 12/12/2023 20:13

Quick question re offer holders days (should we get that far!) - do parents go?

Yes! I highly recommend going! It was decisive for us.

minipie · 12/12/2023 21:35

Thanks! Right now I don’t feel like I know enough about each school - have only been to fairly stage managed open days.

QuiteAJourney · 12/12/2023 22:03

@minipie the offer holders day are interesting and very different to the open days - they are staged to a point but most give plenty of opportunities for interacting with staff and pupils. Crucially, your questions are likely to be more focused and you know that you have an offer, which somewhat changes the relationship.

We only went to the offer holders' days for the schools that were still in the running (some we rejected without attending) and I think that most people do the same ... so you get a feeling for the potential cohort.

PreplexJ · 12/12/2023 22:20

During the offer holder day, you might run into the same group of parents and kids at different schools (we did) . I think it is a wonderful opportunity to discuss candid opinions on different schools with these parents, who are more relaxed and discreet than in a normal open day event or before the exams.

minipie · 12/12/2023 22:44

Thanks! They sound very useful indeed. Just hope we get some!!

Roundstone · 12/12/2023 23:21

what was the debacle last year?! IPS our top choice so relieved to hear it might be slightly easier, not relived to hear of a debacle! Emmanuel we loved but we would be completely reliant on train and having had the nightmare of trying to sort DC who was reliant on tubes to get to school this past year, I do NOT want to revisit the fun choice of morning off work to drive them/Ubers costing a fortune week after week....

Roundstone · 12/12/2023 23:23

Sorry meant to include previous posters message on "last years debacle" for IPS

QuiteAJourney · 12/12/2023 23:29

@Roundstone IPS misjudged their offers
and ended up going beyond waiting list and offering to DC that has been given a straight "no".
Many applicants, including people with offers, less than happy with the selection process (opacity, lack of engagement). It was one of our favourite last year but, by the end pf it, it had plummeted in our list (and quite a few of our friends went on a similar journey).

Roundstone · 13/12/2023 07:38

Yikes Quiteajourney that sounds like a registrar's ultimate nightmare

CocoC · 13/12/2023 07:44

Better that than other round though surely… gave people some happy news, rather than having to withdraw offers (if they can even do that!)…!!!

QuiteAJourney · 13/12/2023 08:19

@CocoC both scenarios present challenges. When schools over offer they end up with bulk years (and parents not very happy as it puts a strain on resources) and/or exploding offers (basically an offer not guaranteeing a place if there have been enough acceptances) with the anxiety that generates.

If setting the bar too high / underoffering, by the time you go through the waiting list and beyond people have already taken other offers, so you end up lowering the bar quite a lot (those with original offers not happy either) and/or a small year group (with the subsequent impact on finances).

PreplexJ · 13/12/2023 09:03

All the cases I heard about exploding offers and withdrawal, the schools set the T&C of the upfront when issuing the offers. If is always up to the parents decision to take up the offer or stay put for risking losing the offers.

SamPoodle123 · 13/12/2023 09:20

minipie · 12/12/2023 21:35

Thanks! Right now I don’t feel like I know enough about each school - have only been to fairly stage managed open days.

Offer holder events help give you a feel for the school, plus an idea of the cohort. We didn't view the schools until the offer holder events. But dd pretty much had her mind made up from her research on the schools. She also watched videos she found online. Actually, forgot she had also done a sports camp at her first-choice school previously (not via the school, but gave her an idea of the facilities).

SamPoodle123 · 13/12/2023 09:21

PreplexJ · 13/12/2023 09:03

All the cases I heard about exploding offers and withdrawal, the schools set the T&C of the upfront when issuing the offers. If is always up to the parents decision to take up the offer or stay put for risking losing the offers.

This made me nervous when I heard about exploding offers. But was assured they make this clear on the offer letter if it is done. But I doubt it would be done again with all the negative feedback.

W8alphamum · 13/12/2023 10:10

I just received an email from CLSG for the second round and interview this morning. Does anyone know how many students sit for the first round and go through the second round?

Lolakath19 · 13/12/2023 11:00

For clsg between computer test and paper test probably 80% will go through.

farfallarocks · 13/12/2023 11:07

Great to hear so much positive news on here! Anyone heard back from St Dunstan's re 2nd round? It is on 8th January so imagine will have to be before they break up?

MrsEverdeen · 13/12/2023 11:44

Lolakath19 · 13/12/2023 11:00

For clsg between computer test and paper test probably 80% will go through.

Congrats on getting through to second round of CLSG! Two years ago, when my older DD took it, we were told somewhere that 800-950 took the initial exam, and 350 went on to the second round, about half of whom got offers, with another 75-ish waitlisted. I can't remember where we were given this info - I just checked and it wasn't in the letters. I think it was on their admissions page but it's not there now. Hard to know whether it's out of date or whether they're being less transparent? Anyway, I believe it is definitely far less than 80% and much closer to the actual numbers they're looking for. Congrats!

(Sorry quoting the wrong post and don't know how to change it!)

Brugmansia · 13/12/2023 13:20

farfallarocks · 13/12/2023 11:07

Great to hear so much positive news on here! Anyone heard back from St Dunstan's re 2nd round? It is on 8th January so imagine will have to be before they break up?

I think it's friday.

Ilikelists · 13/12/2023 13:47

@lolo99 Congrats on latymer second round. If you ever feel like sharing what you did for preparation I know many lurking on this board would be appreciative.

Toolongawait24 · 13/12/2023 14:08

Last year as well, CLSG called back 380 for the written exam in January, but they never indicated how many write the first exam. The conversion ratio gets better at this stage. The written Maths paper last year was tougher than the sample papers according to DD but the English was like the sample. She got the offer at the end.

PreplexJ · 13/12/2023 14:47

CLSG last year about 700 first round? , 380 second round exam+interview, about 200+ offers for 100 places (see below thread on the discussion last year), so it is lower than 80% filtered by the first round pretest. Agree with @Toolongawait24 definitely watch out the maths paper, the real one is more time pressure than the CLSG sample paper online.

SPGS second round happen one day before CLSG, last year about 500+ first round, 80% through to second round written exams, 400 ppls of which 1-2 groups are international. About 200 candidates selected for final interview for 120 places with approximate 150 offers. The papers difficulty is on par with what SPGS published on their website.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4716365-sw-london-private-grammar-applying-for-year-7-in-2023-part-iii?reply=123206114

Page 37 | SW London Private & Grammar - applying for year 7 in 2023 (Part III) | Mumsnet

Continuation from https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4697901-sw-london-private-grammar-applying-for-year-7-in-2023-part-ii?page=40&reply=122...

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4716365-sw-london-private-grammar-applying-for-year-7-in-2023-part-iii?reply=123206114

MrsEverdeen · 13/12/2023 15:47

Ilikelists · 13/12/2023 13:47

@lolo99 Congrats on latymer second round. If you ever feel like sharing what you did for preparation I know many lurking on this board would be appreciative.

I hope you don't mind my answering a question posed to someone else. Hopefully it's helpful.

My DD got an offer from LUS two years ago. For exam preparation, she did sample papers from Latymer Upper and Manchester Grammar School which we'd heard were very similar papers. She also practiced with sample papers from CLSG (where she also applied) and SPSG (didn't apply but we used their maths papers in particular).

She didn't go to a prep school and she didn't have any friends applying in 11+ as she was at a straight-through school outside the traditional British system. I looked online at what is considered 'creative writing' and was shocked to see how un-creative the creative writing part is expected to be! Essentially it's descriptive writing with formulas like the 'power of three' etc. that need to be in there to get the ticks.

For interview prep, we just practiced conversations as she wasn't particularly good at articulating her opinions then. We did go through each school and have her think of a couple things she liked about each in case one of them asked. Nothing prepped or rehearsed, just more getting her used to elaborating on things and showing who she was.

The LUS interview consisted of, if I remember correctly, being shown a close-up picture of something and being asked to try and work out what it was. The focus seemed to be on seeing how the children approached the task, what questions and ideas they had, and so on. Then a general chat. The interviewer picked her up at the table in the chaotic dining room, and brought her back. She'd fiddled so much she'd broken her mask and the interviewer was teasing her for that, making it clear to me that the interview had gone well. She left thinking that the dining room was beautiful and really, really wanting to know what the picture was of! It was a positive experience for her.

Good luck to all the kiddos going through it now. It is so stressful watching such little kids go through such a brutal sorting process but ultimately I think the kids are more resilient than the parents as we want to protect them so much from all this! So good luck to all us parents too!

Original poster

lolo99 · 13/12/2023 17:17

QuiteAJourney · 13/12/2023 08:19

@CocoC both scenarios present challenges. When schools over offer they end up with bulk years (and parents not very happy as it puts a strain on resources) and/or exploding offers (basically an offer not guaranteeing a place if there have been enough acceptances) with the anxiety that generates.

If setting the bar too high / underoffering, by the time you go through the waiting list and beyond people have already taken other offers, so you end up lowering the bar quite a lot (those with original offers not happy either) and/or a small year group (with the subsequent impact on finances).

What a nightmare for the registrars. I would be interested to know how they do it in order to try and get who they want and the numbers right.

OP posts:

Original poster

lolo99 · 13/12/2023 17:19

MrsEverdeen · 13/12/2023 15:47

I hope you don't mind my answering a question posed to someone else. Hopefully it's helpful.

My DD got an offer from LUS two years ago. For exam preparation, she did sample papers from Latymer Upper and Manchester Grammar School which we'd heard were very similar papers. She also practiced with sample papers from CLSG (where she also applied) and SPSG (didn't apply but we used their maths papers in particular).

She didn't go to a prep school and she didn't have any friends applying in 11+ as she was at a straight-through school outside the traditional British system. I looked online at what is considered 'creative writing' and was shocked to see how un-creative the creative writing part is expected to be! Essentially it's descriptive writing with formulas like the 'power of three' etc. that need to be in there to get the ticks.

For interview prep, we just practiced conversations as she wasn't particularly good at articulating her opinions then. We did go through each school and have her think of a couple things she liked about each in case one of them asked. Nothing prepped or rehearsed, just more getting her used to elaborating on things and showing who she was.

The LUS interview consisted of, if I remember correctly, being shown a close-up picture of something and being asked to try and work out what it was. The focus seemed to be on seeing how the children approached the task, what questions and ideas they had, and so on. Then a general chat. The interviewer picked her up at the table in the chaotic dining room, and brought her back. She'd fiddled so much she'd broken her mask and the interviewer was teasing her for that, making it clear to me that the interview had gone well. She left thinking that the dining room was beautiful and really, really wanting to know what the picture was of! It was a positive experience for her.

Good luck to all the kiddos going through it now. It is so stressful watching such little kids go through such a brutal sorting process but ultimately I think the kids are more resilient than the parents as we want to protect them so much from all this! So good luck to all us parents too!

Show quote history

Thank you for responding. We did similar. Just lots of practise with papers that I felt were of a similar level to LU. @MrsEverdeen did you accept the LU offer? What other schools did you go for? I hope you don't mind me asking what you chose in the end and what swayed it.

OP posts: