Wallington Girls - any views?

[Confu5edmum]

DD is currently Y6 in an independent prep and has offers from a number of independent schools. She has possibly scored highly enough in the NWSSEE for Wallington Girls (based on historical scores for out of catchment places)
I’m looking for any insights or feedback on the school especially for those that travel from London . Thank you in advance.

Have you put Wallington on your state school application? In first place?

As if you haven't then you don't need to be considering it anyway.

It's quite close to us. Understandably hugely competitive.

We looked around on the June/July open evening last year. I've never had to queue outside a school into the street with a ticket before!

We liked the school, girls who showed us around were lovely.

Our daughter is very bright academically so certainly was a consideration for us.

We decided last minute though to not have her sit their tests as talking to teacher/tutor friends we doubted that she'd score high enough to be in the top 100 of the 2000 applicants to get a spot. We knew she'd be sitting for independent schools which we preferred to Wally Girls and didn't want first test to potentially be a fail for her and knock her confidence.

I know it's a very competitive environment and we want a balance of her being helped to reach her potential without the pressure (my school was a hot house and hugely knocked my confidence.)

If you are the sort of parent who will be pushing for Oxbridge/Medicine etc then I'd say it may suit you. If our daughter decides she wants to choose a route like that we'll fully support her, but what she does as a degree/job isn't our top priority for her so wasn't for us.

My daughter is in Year 7 so we can’t tell you much but so far, so good. It is socially diverse but not as much as most comprehensive state schools. Teaching is good but your daughter needs to be resilient enough to challenges and lower scores. It is a shock to the system for some girls who has been the top of the class, to suddenly being average.
Beware that the school doesn’t allow Year 7 and 8 girls to carry smartphones in case this is a problem for you (as it is for some other parents) since your daughter will be commuting.

@Devicey Thanks for your reply. We have applied for Wallington on the CAF. We did the tests for practice and to get her used to a large exam setting and that is how DD approached it.

We are likely to go down the independent route as we do have a number of scholarship offers but we are still undecided and wanted to get views of existing parents.

@Shouldigoforarunorhavepancakes
Thank you for your helpful reply. One of my main concerns is friendship groups and how living further away might affect this.

Many girls live away, your daughter won’t be the only one. My daughter and her best friend live 30 min away by bus and they meet often during school holidays or weekends.
They school encourage them to make friends at the beginning of Year 7 with lots of clubs, a disco, Christmas fair, Theatre trip, sports competitions, etc. Most of these girls are kids with several hobbies and interests so, if you choose Wally Girls, I am sure she will find her group.

Hi everyone I would like to join in this thread about the school. My daughter is currently in Year 5 in our local state primary, which is excellent and high achieving. We are in Wandsworth, but work near Wallington, so could drive her and the commute wouldn't be so hard, especially if she won't be allowed to have a mobile phone.
She's been doing tutoring since year 4 and is doing very well, but I'm aware that this is all relative. We are currently debating whether to try for the grammar schools, but are fully aware that not passing may knock her confidence. Any insight on this would be wonderful.
We thought it won't hurt to try, but worry as the exam is so early in September!

Hi, have you signed up for the Sutton mocks that are set up by the parent body? Why don’t you try that and then let that be a gauge for both of you.

It really depends on your child and how she would feel if she didn’t get through. We pitched it as practice for independent school entrance exams that we were planning to do.

the messaging throughout is to try her best but everyone performs differently on different days.

My daughter started tutoring in Easter of Year 5 and is competitive so the number of children she saw during the mocks helped her push herself for the Sutton exams. She scored well enough for an offer but after much debate we chose to go an Independent school.

What I would say is if you are also considering independents - it’s a long and tiring journey from Sept to Feb and she definitely did better in the pre Christmas exams

Yes, I have today signed her up for one of the Sutton mock exam in July. Thanks to this forum I learned about it, as I had no idea they even existed!

Initially we weren't even considering any grammar schools, as we were going to try for Graveney School in Tooting, that has a "grammar stream" and is much closer to where we live.

However, as I work near Wallington I started considering the grammars around this area, but still not sure it is the right fit for my DD, we will go to the open day to see.

Out of interest, which independent schools are you trying, do you mind sharing? Both my husband and I are privately educated and we made a conscious choice to go state for the children, but I still feel a slight guilt and whether it is the right choice. It was certainly the right choice for primary, but secondary schools are a whole new issue for us now...

We applied and had offers (including some scholarships) from James Allen Girls, South Hampstead, Alleyn’s, Blackheath and St Dunstans and Colfes

I’ll be honest if it wasn’t for an 80 minute commute each way, we would have seriously considered Wallington. It’s one of the top all girl grammar school.

We decided on JAGS in the end. Fingers crossed it’s the right choice.

Wow, these are all over London. Do you live near JAGS?
I think for us it would be a huge shock to the system to go from a 5 minute walk to school to a commute of 80 minutes... Even Wallington is a bit far for us, but doable. I don't think we would consider South Hampstead or Blackheath. If we go for independents it would be the ones nearer to us.

Apart from Wallington, all the schools are about 45 minutes commute from us. All the best.

@Confu5edmum Hi, just wondered if you did decide to go with grammar and what your experience has been so far. We are also in a position with offers from indies, (JAGS included) and can’t decide. Fit is really important to us and it’s hard to grasp that in just one open day. Any views would be much appreciated.