SW London grammar and private year 7 entry 2024.

[Hatty999]

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4907226-sw-london-grammar-and-private-year-7-entry-2024

This is the previous link. Hope it works.

Got the email from king's - no invite to interview for us!

A no from kings too. So far just one (scholarship) interview from 4…

A scholarship interview is great! @phoebe35

Are you still waiting to hear back from others? This was our last one so now there's nothing to do but wait to find out about offers.

Still waiting to hear from Alleyns - have sibling there so an interview would at least be nice!

Got an email from King’s - not invited too

We also got a no from King's... following no from Hampton last Friday. Feeling very sad for him as we don't have any offer yet.
Anyone know more specifically when St John's share the results? Their website says "February" but not a specific date.

Sending a hug @SpecialC, we got a no from Hampton too (our aspirational) which was a blow (but perhaps unsurprising given a no from 10+). Hope you get good news in the next few weeks.

I think St John’s is 9th Feb along with the other day schools. Sorry to hear all the nos from Kings. Super tough school that!

Good luck to everyone with interview and keep hope for the one that are waiting. I remember this time last year with ups and downs and the long waiting process that is not helping. Everyone will find a place in the end.

For the ones that did sports scholarships, I am curious, did you apply for sports scholarships at all the schools? I am wondering if it is more hassle then what its worth. For example, Kings offers 200-400 per annum, but then you are tied into doing a certain amount of sports. It does not seem worth it. Whereas Alleyns offers up to 5k a year....

We can afford the fees without scholarship, but just wondering what the point of the extra hassle is to apply for scholarships when they offer only such a small amount in the grand scheme of things. What is the additional benefit (if there is one). My ds is very sporty and keen to try for the sports scholarships (but I am not sure if it makes sense).

@SamPoodle123 I think it is more about the prestige than anything financial. My dd did one because it was for a gymnastics scholarship and she is a keen gymnast, usually the scholarships are more general. It was a nice way to get another look/feel of the school, if nothing else. I am not sure if I will do it with my son, I don’t think he is at that level and he might take it more seriously than my daughter did.

Anyone here got any experience of or has applied to st James senior girls school in Kensington Olympia?

Sorry to ask again, but to those who have applied for sports scholarships at Emanuel and have got through to interview stage - have you heard about the 2nd round of the sports scholarships yet? Trying to assess if my DD has just not got through or if we’re still yet to hear. TIA

I think the scholarships are good for a few reasons. Firstly at a prep school you join extra class so that’s fun if it’s your passion and for dd it’s really helped her confidence generally. She’s made new friends through the process and it’s boosted her to be asked. I think for some schools it also boosts your application generally. So if you are border line you may get a place as you’ve shown the initiative and focus tondi the extra work and are likely to participate in things.

Ah yes, that makes sense. DS goes to state, so they do not offer much within school. But he does loads of sport outside of school. DD absolutely loves the switch to private because of all the sports she can do in school.

Thanks. You bring up a crucial points, as the final years of school have a big focused on preparing for public exams and applying to universities, while the earlier years are not. It is helpful to hear from different viewpoints, but I would prefer to get more feedback (directly or indirectly) from real parents that I know or contact, and compare it with what I hear from the online stories. Why? Because of survivorship bias, the sunk cost fallacy, and reporting bias. In my experiences, I hear much more parents have positive comments in MN compared to the mixed opinions when you reach out the real parents you can find (those who won't usually proactive report on MN vocally).

Another factor to keep in mind is that during the 5-7 years in secondary school, there may be changes in the school’s leadership, such as the headmaster, or intake/selection profile shift of the students and parents, that may lead to very different experiences too.

@Annawintourssteak they haven't notified anyone yet, apparently in the next 2 days they will let us know. I think the scholarship assessments are a great way for the child to get to know the other candidates and also the coaching staff. If you child is very keen on sports, it is relevant if they like the head of football / head of athletics / head of sports and the coaches in general. Usually gives you a good idea of the calibre of potential future A-teams at the school. Of course these are still candidates and you don't know who ends up there but there is quite a difference in standards between applicants. As expected, Surbiton High and the like will just draw some of the very serious athletes and at some smaller schools there is a bigger range.

@swlondon24 thanks - that’s very useful. What would you say the sporty schools are in SW London? We only applied for coed so don’t know much about the single sex schools.

@Annawintourssteak it depends if by sporty you mean "nice broad sports offering" which would cover Emanuel or "regional / national level" then among the coeds it would probably be St John's / Epsom College, or Surbiton High / Putney High for girls, but it also depends on the sport.

And if you like (really, really like) hockey and rowing, KGS.

@Annawintourssteak , the sporty DC does get some coaching in primary schools but most of them outside schools. The support is in external fixtures, some schools allow them to compete whenever whilst others not so much. It is the individual, we know girls doing extremely well but from parents and outside sport clubs from their girls only schools. So if you want top notch sports departments, ask the schools you have offers about their staff and sport coverage.

We’ve applied to St James! DD had a good experience at interview but felt less confident about the consortium exam. I know they have another round of interviews in late Jan so I’m assuming the offers won’t be out till Feb 9th.

I guess Harrodian will be later in the week then! Had convinced myself it would be today as someone said was Monday last year but guess not. Hope it’s soon - can’t understand why it’s taken so long esp as was all online …

Hi Everyone

Do you know when the SPGS results will be out as I thought it was meant to be mid January and I thought it would have been today?

Email communicating success at stage 1 Monday 16th last year, with interviews between 28th Jan and 1st of Feb. A later email communicated the interview slot that had been allocated.