Wetherby Senior, Highgate School, UCS ?

[viio]

Anyone any recent experience of the above schools? Would you add any other ones?

My ds will pay for them to do the exam doesn't have anything to lose. His maths is superb on a national level competitions etc, his English great with the exception of writing essays which he hates.

We have no expectations, just giving it a go as he wants to.

He has had no tutoring as we would like to see his raw talent and if he gets in on that.

We have a plan B which is a nice but not necessarily most academic school and he can shine there is he doesn't get in anywhere else.

Any recent experiences on the above schools would be very grateful (we do know higjvaye somewhat as our friend works there) but not other schools.

Also any other suggestions? I have not considered

Thank you

I would suggest at the very least to do the Atom learning free trial to see how he scores on those mocks. It will help prepare for the exams as well. I would not send a child in blind for the 11+ no matter how smart they are....as the exams are a lot more difficult than what they are used to at school. It is helpful to at least try doing the mocks a couple times to get a feel for it.

OP talking about 11+ or 16+?

Only send him in with no preparation, if you would ask him to run a marathon without training - just ‘raw talent’.

Highgate is an amazing school but all the other kids with ‘raw talent’ will have been prepped because their parents want to give them their best chance.

Thanks so much for all your advice. He is doing at home 11+ tests which a friend of ours marks (who is senior maths head at one of the top schools) and he jas said that he is good enough to try Highgate - at maths he would pass today if he took it English requires work which according to him is easily fixable.

So when I say raw talent Iean he will do staff at home with us but wont have tutoring like se every week for hours and for months. So yes he will get some help but not as much as others I guess.

Wetherby is private equity owned and has a totally different vibe to UCS and Highgate. We looked at UCS & Highgate last year. They are both super competitive and very hard to get into unless you tutor from a very young age.

Wetherby is much easier and their leavers grades reflect this.

I remember the Highgate 11+ exam isn't difficult. But since the school is coed and really popular, especially with boys in the area, it’s harder for "raw talent" kids to stand out from the easy set of papers. Many candidates might be just as smart and also well-prepared. So I guess you probably spend some time to address the weak areas.

@roses2 thank you. I have heard that they have a new head so I am interested to hear if anyone has any thoughts on how the school is doing now. I have got some advice from friends who say that it is good, strict and that their leavers do well. However, one or two have also said it is good enough but not as good as Highgate - which of course can’t be as Highgate goes back a long time and is so different. Thank you for your comments.

@PreplexJ thank you. Yes Highgate is a tricky one because I know some very smart kinds who didn’t get in but did get into UCS and some who are not as smart but managed to get in and received rejection from UCS - so confusing.

yes we are working away slowly and we will see what happens. I might get him a little help but do not wish for him to get totally overworked and stressed about it all.

I have heard that they have a new head so I am interested to hear if anyone has any thoughts on how the school is doing now.

A new head can only do so much with what they are given. At Highgate and UCS, the parents push the kids a lot more than the Wetherby kids hence the higher leaver grades at these schools.

We sent our child on one of the half term courses by this company last year. They gave us a peer based assessment and recommendation of schools our child was likely to get into with their results. It was well worth the money for us, particularly due to expectation setting rather than our child learning anything on the course:

Home - 11 Plus London

Sit some trial tests and see where your son is. I can't believe anyone would pass schools like Highgate or UCS with no extra support, as you still need to practice exam techniques/time management. If your son is exceptionally bright and motivated and you have time and patience you can tutor him yourself. Highgate (in particular) is a top choice for boys in North London is exceptionally hard to get in. There are scores of boys who passed Westminster but failed Highgate. Wetherby perhaps will be the easiest to get in as it is (often) an option for those who failed Highgate/UCS

@Tiredmumofthreekids thank you great advice. He had some practice tests this week and has done ok, but I can see we need to get more of that practice.

might post another thread to see if I can find a tutor specialising in 11+ to just check him out and see what his ability is and how much he would need to do to prepare for it. Thanks for the advice very appreciated.

I just want him to be happy really and not to go through terrible stress of 11+ so bit of tutoring would be fine but not crazy amount…

11+ can be as stressful as parents want it to be. there is a fair amount of scaremongering going around in N/NW London (partially fuelled by tutors who want more paying clients also there were high birth years with more kids sitting per one place in the last decade but it's changing. while more kids sit more schools, the total number of kids sitting exams is shrinking. the problem is that the tutoring has led to excessive preparation of children so you will be competing with kids who are overly prepared and super-selective schools simply choose those who score the highest. The other point to consider is that the same child won't pass through the different prep routes so those who pass through extremely stressful and intensive 11+ prep may have done well even with little prep, we will never know, also all children are so different! all my 3 DCs need a completely different approach to learning/exam prep.

as I mentioned if your DC is currently scoring high in test papers/is bright and well motivated its possible to pass one of the schools on your list with less stress

A tutor won't give you the honest feedback you are looking for. I would send him to the course my DS went on which I posted above. They will give him mock exams then a detailed feedback report on his very specific strength and weakness in each subject along with a list of schools he is likely to get into.

Home - 11 Plus London

After this then follow up yourself using Atom Learning and physical past papers for the schools you are looking at.

@Tiredmumofthreekids thank you. We will give it a go as he would like to… hopefully with not too much stress. I am not too bothered which school he goes too as long as he is happy and reaches his potential. He is self motivating and very resilient and he won’t stand being somewhere where they don’t stretch him. Lucky really (although not so lucky with my other child :)).

@roses2 thank you. I will have a look at that company and see if he can try it. Great idea to see where he stands currently and what he needs to work towards.

thanks so much both of you it’s very appreciated all the advice. X