London grammar and private senior school entry 2025

[CruCru]

Hi all

It doesn’t look as though one of these threads has been set up yet so I thought I’d do it.

I have a daughter going into year 6 and a son going into year 8 next month - both will be moving to senior school in 2025.

Not yet

Hi all, Can I ask for those that get schlorship academic or other does that give them more of a percentage of being offered a place then those without?

Hi Sass22

The schools that we have applied to give academic scholarships based on the exam and the interview - we haven’t applied for any academic scholarships. I expect that those girls offered academic scholarships will be the first ones to be offered places.

I don’t know the answer in relation to dance / sports / art / music scholarships I’m afraid.

I have assumed that being invited to sit for an academic scholarship test means the child would be offered a place (even if not getting the scholarship). But I could be wrong!

What about dc that are called back for second stage scholarships for drama or sport (after they passed the exam to interview stage). I wonder if this means they are more likely to get offered a spot.

No idea, my kids are academic but not arty and definitely not sporty 😂

A sporty dc but average exam result is more likely to be moved to the top of the WL rather than get a straight out place. All sorts goes on with WL's once the initial offers start to be accepted and the Registrar has a good idea of how the cohort is being made up, all schools want a good mix in each year group.

sports head at a school we looked at said he wished he could have an influence on who gets a spot. He is just given the list and hopes there is crossover.

Out of nosiness, when do the schools you’ve applied to make offers? All our schools have said that they will send out emails on 14 February but I know of one school which has already made offers (although it is technically outside London).

For us end of Jan, 14th of Feb as we did the girls consortium and then I think maybe 20th of Feb (not sure). I know of someone who already has an offer for an out of London day / boarding school which they got before Christmas.

A long drawn out process!

@CruCru Feb 7th for Harrodian and the rest 14th of Feb for us.

Thanks for your replies. Not sure how it all works and how they offer academic scholarships. Is it just outcome of the exam. Rather then school report.

I suspect it is just outcome of the exam and some schools do a further scholarship interview.

Hampton sports round two -a yes for us! They made us wait until 5pm but very happy for my DS.
The schools we have applied for offer places at the end of Jan through to the 14th of Feb...
On scholarships- each school seems to run their own process with some offering academic scholarships to those who receive top marks in the exam and others making the top group come back to interview for it. For the sports scholarships - some schools have 1 round and others have 2 with an interview like Hampton.. nearly there now!!! Will be so glad when it's all over!

We have 2 interviews and 2 drama auditions left which will all be next week.
Then we need to wait till 14th Feb, a 2 week silence. Mental health is very important both for DCs and for us. I am planning to focus on other things during this period. Any recommendations ?

@seniorschoolchoices Do you know which other schools interview the top group for academic scholarships, apart from Hampton?

If they like drama, "Ballet shoes" (and not about ballet) at the National Theatre is very good, or the new Oliver x

Alleyn’s sports scholarship invitations out! Good luck kids

Hope everyone waiting for Alleyn’s second round scholarships received good news.
the academic scholarship workshop is that only decided after Saturdays interviews?

AND … the interviews are done for us (the last one was this morning). Three weeks two days to wait until the emails come out.

What will you do to pass the time? 😅 We are almost done....one last interview this Friday. Feels like a long wait until the 14th!!

Does anyone know if who the teacher is who does the interview matter? At each school we did interviews, some children were interviewed by the head of sixth form, some by teachers who do not teach academic subjects.

In itself, it should not matter but with the enormous number of children being interviewed (for all the schools we were at about 400 children) I cannot help but wonder.

I think I will cancel Atom learning. And start making my children practise their instruments again. We have plans every weekend between now and 14 Feb so that is something.

What about you?

I don’t know for sure BUT I used to interview new graduates in my last job. We were given the interview questions and had very little scope to veer off course. I expect it will be the same for the schools so it shouldn’t matter too much.

Ceremonial burning of 11+ past papers whilst trying not to weep as I visualise them as £20 notes.