Wimbledon High School Creative Assessment Day

[AMR19]

Dear All,

My DD has been fortunate enough to get the invitation for the second round which they have mentioned in the email as ' Creative Assessment'. The session is for 3 hours and 15 minutes.

Can any of the parents who have past experience with their DDs here guide as to what happens on this day? It will be very helpful.

Kind Regards,
Anamitra.

Well done to your DD, mine is also through.

This is from the website:

“Candidates who are successful in this stage will be invited back to Stage 2, our creative assessment day. It involves a carousel of inspiring activities, to assess: curiosity, clarity of thought and communication, risk-taking, creativity, teamwork, integrity, teachability, problem-solving, numeracy. We also test literacy and numeracy in short tasks during the morning. As we do not want girls to prepare for these, we will not be giving out details in advance.”

I would also be interested in any further insights from past applicants. I wonder if it is similar to the JAGS Welcome Morning.

Ps if that’s your real name you might prefer to edit your post (press the three dots top right) to remove.

My dd did it two years ago. It was testing teamwork and with bits of maths / writing built in. She found it fun, and it didn’t need any prep.

My impression, from a chat with admissions a couple of years ago, was that they largely go on the rank order of VR/NVR marks, and the creative assessment weeds out behavioural issues and maybe bumps a girl up or down a bit.

Congratulations on being invited to Stage 2.

My DD did it last year - as mentioned above, there is a lot of focus on solving tasks in (small) groups, covering creativity, logical thinking and communications. During the day, they will also get some individual tasks - problem solving, creative writing, etc. I don't think you can do any specific preparation as such - so best advice is to tell your DD to be the best version of herself and enjoy (which seems to be the case - in fact, this session was instrumental to put this school at the top of my DD's preference list).

My understanding, at least from last year when I think that more girls were put through to second stage than on previous ones, is that the girls "carry over" the scores from first round to second round and the performance at second round is being used to shift them up and down in the list.

In case useful, it is quite clear to me that they are not after a "type" - my DD is currently in Year 7 and, looking at her cohort, it is a true mix of personalities.

Thanks both, that’s helpful.

Hope your DD is enjoying year 7 QuiteAJourney

@minipie she is really enjoying it, thanks.

Good luck with stage 2.

thanks for the clear insight.

In the individual tasks do the girls have to write on paper like are they written tests? And also do they have one to one interview with any of the teachers?

@AMR19 it is paper tests.
I do not think that there is an interview as such; my DD referred to interactions with some of the teachers, which seem to have been informal / relaxed as they move between tasks.

Thanks a lot @QuiteAJourney

Hi,

my daughter has been invited as well. I am also looking for information about the assessment day.

thank you

@Soh1984 congratulations to your daughter. I have posted some information above, including in response to questions from other posters. That is what happened last year and also aligned to what happened pre-Covid. Hopefully useful.
There is no prep to be done - as mentioned, it seems to be both an effective way by the school to consider teachability, intellectual curiosity, logical thinking and reasoning and team working, and an enjoyable exercise for the DD.

I know it is some time since anyone posted on this thread but my daughter is soon to sit the Wimbledon High reasoning entrance exam and I wonder if anyone can give me a feel for how many questions there were in how many minutes, for each of verbal and non-verbal reasoning? I’m just trying to help my daughter get a feel for how quickly she will need to work. Thank you!

DD sat it two years ago - if they have not changed, 2 short-ish tests (I think 15-20 minutes each with a break in between) and less than 1 minute per question.
Good luck, it is a wonderful school (DD is now in Y8 and really enjoying it)

@QuiteAJourney Thank you so much for your message and great to hear your daughter is enjoying it! I wonder if anyone can remember in more detail how much time per question. Under a minute is no problem, even 40 seconds. But if it’s as quick as 30 seconds then she’d need to do a good deal of speed practice and I’m not sure whether to put her through that! 🙈

@Lkj10 , you are over thinking this, apply for a place if you think it's a school your dd will thrive at, make sure you apply to at least 2 more or have a good state school back up. No one knows how their dc will perform on the day of an entrance exam, go into the process with an open mind.

Just checking in here, what atom score would be a good indicator to pass stage 1 for WHS? My DC is “strong” on atom - 110. Is that too low? Do WHS tell you the scores after stage 1? She is summer born would that help? Test is tomorrow but I don’t think her SAS will go up between today and tomorrow!

@SummerDCs not sure re: atom. To be honest, the first stage is quite different to Atom / ISEB - paper-based, faster pace, focus on speed and accuracy in VR and non-VR. From our experience two year's ago, all the girls at my daughter's prep that got offers had also got offers from schools like PHS, KGS, G&L, LU, etc. but there were a couple with offers from those schools that did not get an offer from WHS - whether a bad day, different type of exam or something else is difficult to tell.

The school, as far as I know, does not provide scores - just whether people have proceeded or not. The scores from the first stage are carried over to the second one - a family friend did not get an offer and, on enquiring, was told that her DD's performance at second stage has been satisfactory but not strong enough to overcome that her round 1 score has been just enough to scrape through. Apparently, the school would usually tell people in WL in which third of the WL they are placed.

On summer adjustment, I do not think there is any. Looking at their intake at least in my DDs year, there are plenty of summer girls.

Given that the test is tomorrow, the only thing to do is for your DD to take it and be as relaxed as possible.

I would suggest doing timed paper mock today if you have not already, as it is different doing on paper then online. This way she can get a feel for it before the exam.

Thank you @QuiteAJourney and @SamPoodle123 she is in State. VR/NVR had never heard of b4. We have done some paper NVR but they were 10min tests and she managed speed well got through all questions . So hope she can do that again. She’s vg at VR and her writing is scrappy but with MC just never know.

@SummerDCs my dc are/were at state. One has moved on to private secondary. VR/NVR was new to them as well. But practice helps and even more so when it is the same format of the test. Good luck to your dd! My ds is doing the 11+ this year (dd did it two years ago).

She’s through! 😅

Anyone know how many usually sit stage 1 (she wants to know) and how many children do stage 2 vs spaces (I want to know!) 😆

thank you!

@SummerDCs, congrats!
in case useful ... from 2 years go: 700 did the first stage and more than half went to stage 2 (I seem to recall 400-450 being mentioned). There are usually around 60 places, except in bumper years like the 2024 entry (so 2025 will be back to usual numbers). The big question with most schools is the ratio of offers to places - I think WHS is probably around 2.5 - I always found more reassuring to focus on the number of offers rather than the number of places .. the numbers are better and, at the end of the day, it is what matters

Hi, my Daughter qualified for 11+ Stage 2 Creative assessment (in Wimbledon high school) and is about to take in next few days. It would be really helpful to hear from any recently successful stories who cleared Stage2. Appreciate if some one can share what exactly will be there in 'Creative Assessment' that would really help to give heads up to my daughter. Thanks in Advance.
@SummerDCs Congratulations. Could please share what exactly is the pattern ? Thanks.

My daughter was successful 2 years ago - not sure whether the format has changed or not. When she took it was a mix of group exercise (girls in small groups working to a brief - focusing on their creative thinking and ability to work as a team) with some individual tasks (problem / puzzle solving, some writing). Thoroughly enjoying and not the kind of thing that you can really prepare for.
All the girls seem to find it really enjoyable and quite relaxed.

@QuiteAJourney Thanks a lot it helps and that's really good to hear.