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.

That is interesting. So the idea is to write down the answer and report back so it can be in some way assessed?

It was at my company.

There's no relevance for the most part. Last year DD was interviewed by a range of teachers - from PE to the Deputy Head - and there was no correlation between that and the outcome.

The only caveat to that is sometimes schools do ask some more academic questions - esp English and Maths - with girls who had been borderline in that part of the assessment, so in that case they will have an English or Maths teacher. But equally you could have one of those subject teachers for no reason.

In answer to your later post, teachers who are interviewing don't write all the child's verbal answers down. I think they're trusted to make a general assessment on the interview as a whole.

I am not sure how we will pass the time lol. Ds does a lot of sport, so he will continue that. It kind of takes over the weekends. But will plan some nice things too like dinner out to celebrate the end of the 11+ and cinema perhaps :) My mum will come soon so that will be nice. She plans to take dc out for a day of shopping (not sure if ds will find this fun, but dd def will lol).

Hurrah! Atom Learning subscription cancelled!

Thank you. On another note, I do not understand the point of interviewing 400 candidates. I raises hopes up and then it sounds like a lottery depending on who interviews you...

I think most people assume that decisions are largely based on academic tests. Interviews can move borderline candidates up and down but are unlikely to move a candidate from 400th to 100th.

Agree re interviewing so many candidates - it does seem cruel and unnecessary. But it's impossible to know how many offers a school needs to make to fill its places.

Thank you. That does make sense.

Yes, I agree. I think it mainly depends on the exam score, but if it does matter on who interviews you, that can be frustrating too...as it is the luck of who you. Ds first interview, he said the person was not very friendly...no smiles and very serious face. The other two interviews they were very friendly and he felt they went well. It can be intimidating if the person interviewing is not friendly/warm.

I think it’s slightly different for selective interviews vs interviewing everyone. I would assume a cut from 1200 exam sitters to 400 interviews means that almost all of those will be academically capable / at the standard that would fit at the school so it’s about looking for right ‘fit’. So it’s entirely possible someone who was top 50 academically doesn’t get a place and someone who may have been 350 will as the lower ranked person was seen as someone who would thrive more.

For those schools who interview everyone and then apparently look at the results I’m not sure really how ‘whole child’ they are despite saying they are which I do think is cruel. For example you could apply for at least 4, maybe more 11+ girls consortium schools and have not done well on the test and still have to go to the interview and be engaged with the process when realistically there wasn’t a hope of you making the cut.

Honestly, I think that if an interviewer of 10/11 year olds can't smile and be friendly then that is a failing of the school. The children are still at primary / prep school, they aren't candidates for the Apprentice.

I know, I agree. But it happens. My dd also had the same w 1 out of the 4 she interviewed with (at least it was a positive outcome). It probably happens at every school where there is one or a few more serious teachers or ones that are more stern looking. The majority are warm and friendly thankfully.

Well done! I cancelled our subscription after DD’s consortium exam and got a snotty email back from Atom telling me how cancelling my subscription after entrance exams is a ‘common mistake’ that many parents make. I had been meaning to write to them to complain about the email but had forgotten, so thank you for reminding me!! See attached screenshot - what a load of !

Here is the best bit

Spat my proverbial tea out at that!!!

Crumbs! I didn’t get any of that - they must have decided to tone it down a bit.

I cancelled in December and didn't get this email. It reminds me of when I told the Kumon centre that we wanted to stop and they looked at me with pity and said, you will come back in the future when you realise ..It was so off putting. Well, we didn't need come back😂

Good luck for tomorrow!

That is an absolute classic!

God, I hate Atom. The entire model is based on exacerbating parental angst. It's bad enough the profiteering they do on the back of the 11+ but to start making parents anxious about sets in senior school - give me a break! They're shameless. Thanks for sharing that email.

I think the thing I'm happiest about through our 11+ last year is we didn't pay for Atom subscriptions - just kept doing free trials on different email addresses. 😂I highly recommend it.

We did pay for a year of Atom for our DS - he needed only 9 months of it so we’ve now set our DD up on his account (she’s only 1 school year behind). However I’ve earned so much money in referrals fees from posting my £30 referral code on MN that it’s enough to cover my daughter’s subscription for another 8 months! 😀 Still expensive overall but feel much happier with a 2 for the price of 1.
I think they cottoned on to me though as they no longer give you referral codes 🫢

I used to hear one of the most ridiculous myths from this forum, that certain school has a magical formula to identify the 'better' candidate during a 15-minute interview (but not based on test result) , making their intake so much more special than other schools 😂

I’ve been pondering the purpose of the interviews. Presumably the schools want to make sure that the children like the school and want to go there and that they are as bright as their test scores imply (and haven’t just been tutored to death to hit a high enough score). I don’t know whether any more can be covered in a 15 minute interview.

@CruCru how would you think an interview would be able to show if a child has been tutored? As an aside think even if they say they don't want tutored kids, reality is they don't mind as long as it translates into academic ability. Still remains a mystery to me. To keep myself sane in the process I am telling myself they want confident kids, with some decent social skills, able to think on their feet and able to work in a group (rather than obnoxious alpha type). But I guess won't know if I am right until Feb 😅. All I can say my child (and yes she had a tutor prepping her for the interviews) is to be herself, have fun and not shy away from turning the tables and asking as many questions as she can to the interviewer. 4 interviews done, one to go. Hopefully one offer!

I’m not sure if this is a marketing ploy or if the website isn’t updated if the schools say that they don’t want tutored kids. The competition has gotten so fierce that the entry requirements are constantly increasing, making it almost impossible for most kids to compete without extra help, whether it’s at home or from an external tutor. Also, some of the questions seem to be from year 7 and 8, not year 5, as mentioned by the schools.

No school is going to want an intake that’s strictly one ethnicity or full of bright but neurodiverse children. They will need athletes and artists in numbers more than just those who applied for scholarships. Going strictly with exam results could end up very poorly long term for the school.