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.

Good luck all!

Congratulations @Twinklestoes198 and good luck to your DC for Friday. As expected no joy here but she’ll not be too worried and probably knackered after the sports stuff plus the extra swimming session!

Around 70 kids for sports though! Not sure it gives me any additional confidence for an offer 😂

We also got the academic scholarship invitation… DS will not be at all pleased as he thought he was done with exams / interviews 😂 I envision a lot of complaining when he finds out

Well done to all! Not quite sure what is expected? Last Last one! We thought it was today for drama 😂

@TidyLion thanks so much! Hope the sports scholarship went well today! Absolutely brilliant.

do you know how many scholarships are awarded each year?

Well done and good luck everyone. Not long now!

@SupermarketMum ans @Hermionegranger2014 well done to your kids!

does anyone know what they normally do at the workshops? Wonder how many kids got invited if there is two time slots?

good luck for the last one! X

It went really well thanks @Twinklestoes198 - and most importantly she really enjoyed the day but is pretty relaxed about where she goes (including her state ‘banker’!). Just me who needs to chill 😎

Not sure if it helps but the academic scholarship workshops at Jags included lateral thinking exercises, like planning a new human settlement, in a group. Also a bit of ‘soft assessment’ observing how the girls interacted over tea.

I know from a friend that last year’s Alleyn’s scholarship workshop also contained more of the type of questions the children were asked at interview but working them through as a discussion. May be different this year, of course.

Congrats for academic scholarship invites for your DC’s. Well done 👏👏
We will finish the marathon tomorrow with Hampton’s Drama scholarship interview, then will wait till 14th February. The longest 2 weeks I guess. 🤞🤞

Good luck at Hampton, Cleta!

I’ve heard from someone else that her daughter has already been offered a place (at a school which is technically outside London) and am getting twitchy. It’s a funny one, waiting for results.

It may be too early but here goes. Some children are going to do brilliantly and get a string of offers. Others will do less well. If your child is fortunate enough to get more than one offer and you have a definite favourite, please let the other schools go as long as you are able. Children on waitlists (and their parents) will be glad of them.

There was a thread a couple of years ago where someone said that they were planning to hold onto the offers for as long as they could because their son should be able to keep his prize for himself. Predictably, this upset quite a few people and it got rather unpleasant.

Similarly, if you have applied to state schools but are planning to take the independent place, please let the state school / borough know as soon as you can. Every year there are a handful of children who don’t turn up at certain state schools (because there are no financial penalties in holding onto the places). It’s hard for children who are offered their first choice once term has already started - apart from anything, they will have had uniform bought and labelled for the second or third choice school (expensive). I think the state school offer day is at the start of March.

Lastly, it’s worth having a bit of perspective. If your child misses out on their favourite / most prestigious school but gets firm offers from other schools, they will still have done very well. Allowing him or her to wallow in sorrow will irritate those parents whose children only got waitlist offers.

Okay, I’ll stop with the lecture now. Have a lovely day, everyone!

Well said, @CruCru.

As someone whose DD went through 11+ last year, just a couple of things to add.

Places relinquished don't always lead to offers from the waitlist. Last year, for instance, the uptake of places at WHS was so high that not only did they not go to WL but they ended up taking extra students above and beyond the bulge year (and extra class) already planned. All the schools we applied to last year barely went into their WL even though I know that we and many of DD's friends had given up places at those schools. The number of offers:places is far from an exact science so there is no guarantee that if someone gives up a place, another will become available. Every year there are posters on here asking if anyone is planning to give up a place at X school, assuming that a WL place will immediately become free, but sadly that isn't always the case.

I completely agree that it's right to give up places you know you don't want asap. I also remember that particular poster (it was their daughter, not son, if I'm thinking of the same one) and their self-justification and lack of thought for others was appalling.

However, I think there are some legitimate reasons why a family might want to hold on to a place until very soon after offer holders' days.

In our case, although were were 99.9% clear on our chosen school, DD felt strongly that she wanted to see most of the others again to silence that 0.1%. She didn't want any "what ifs". So we felt it was important for her to have a chance to see schools again - with offers in hand - and make that choice. It's quite different seeing a school when you have an offer in the bag from Open Days - you get to ask more probing questions, meet more teachers, and it's not horribly crowded like many Open Days are. Most offer holders' days are the week after half term, and we rejected the other schools as soon as we'd done the final visit, so with plenty of time for someone else to be offered the place before the deadline if WL places were going to be available.

So, yes, be mindful that others might be anxiously awaiting places but also do any due diligence you feel is necessary before making a final decision.

Also, just to say that every year for the past few years, I've known people without any offers at all on results day. But I don't know anyone without a school - for the large part, a school they were happy with - come September. Once the dust settles, and the offers deadline has passed, many schools do find themselves with spaces still available. Many prep heads will help in that situation, and many parents just hit the phones and do the work themselves. But it's not the case that come early March, every independent school in London will be full.

Good luck, all. I know this wait is awful, but you're nearly there...

Well-put @CruCru!

I would also add that - when the offers come- it is important not to be swayed by informal rankings/prestige of a school but to take a holistic assessment before making a choice. When it comes to independent schools, the vast majority are longstanding institutions with great facilities and teaching. They are vibrant places with so much to offer and with little to distinguish between them. So to make a choice one should also factor in:

• Commuting time and ease (e.g., is it over 45 minutes? Is it direct or does the child need to change? Will it be packed during morning rush hour? How will a long commute affect friendships, socialising, hanging out when they are older etc, etc.)

• Whether the school is a good fit for one's child (e.g., is it pressurised/competitive, will the child be confident there, will they enjoy the strengths of the school in the extra-curricular, etc etc).

• Finances. Some schools are substantially more expensive than others and are likely to increase fees at a faster pace. Can the family absorb all the increases for 7 years? If they need to move later (e.g. second child doesn't get admitted), will they be able to cover the cost of moving (stamp duty etc).

It is very easy for parents to just choose the higher-ranking school, without factoring in all these other considerations. The 11+ generates a competitive, status-based culture that distorts one's judgment. But it is just one moment in a child's education and what matters above all is the child's and the family's overall wellbeing. The differences between most of these schools (and between them and good state schools) are not so stark to worth forgetting/under-estimating all these other considerations, which may come back to bite you.

@CruCru , great points. Agree about not holding all offers if your family is favouring some schools. eg, family based in West London, with West London offers, so the offers based in Dulwich areas which is not high on the list should be released. The WL may not move but we heard kids given offers before the deadlines in March such as 3 days after offers in Feb and they told offer is pending but not WL. These were to high performing London boys schools.

I don't quite understand what you are saying here "The WL may not move but we heard kids given offers before the deadlines in March such as 3 days after offers in Feb and they told offer is pending but not WL. These were to high performing London boys schools."

D you mean they were given offers after offers were given? So initially WL, but given an offer when schools said they were did not go to WL?

They said they were send letter saying offer pending and not to be considered WL but offer if space comes available. The offer became firm 3 days after Feb offers dates and before March deadline. So guess they on the line of cutoff but space in forms issue.

Ah so it was like an offer before the WL, but not quite an offer as space needed to open up first. Interesting!

Good advice. On offer holder days, you can meet existing parents and potential incoming parents, giving you a chance to hear firsthand experiences and understand why they prefer a particular school (other than from Mumsnet) . It can help you assess if the school's environment, values, and facilities align with your own priorities and preferences.

@PreplexJ What typically happens on the offer holder days..? Do parents also get to go inside and speak to others (parents and staff), or do you mean to chat outside of school gate at drop off/pick up?

@meuntilmarch2025 when we went to them two years ago it was similar to the tours from what I remember. The difference is you are now looking at the school knowing you have an offer. You also see who else might potentially take up spots. I do not remember speaking to current parents of the schools, but did meet another parent, who was also deciding between the same two schools. In the end we both chose the same and our dd's are good friends now :)

Thank you for your advice @CruCru

For the ones who go on the waiting list, I’m assuming they don’t get access to an offer holding day unless movement happens quite quickly? We are waiting to hear from SHS but no idea which way it might go.

On most of the offer holder days we attended, we had the opportunity to talk to other offer holder parents, staff, students and existing parents rep to ask specific questions.
Additionally, there's a high chance of meeting the same group of children and parents on multiple offer holder days for different schools, giving you time for conversations, reflect and reconcile.

I recall that only one school called it an 'undecided meeting,' as they assumed the majority of offer holder parents had already visited the school and made up their minds.
Therefore, they only encouraged undecided parents to attend. However, it turned out that most of the offer holders joined the meeting anyway.

Thank you @PreplexJ @SamPoodle123 ! I can imagine there will be significant overlap, going to 2nd rounds or scholarship sessions we kept running into the same people.

@SunnyLondonLife , if you mean surbiton high school then the WL is very much driven by the state school allocations on 3rd March so you may be waiting until 4/5 March to hear and this may mean paying a deposit for another school to keep the place.
As well as the range of grammar schools accessible to SHS some of the state secondary schools are highly sough so a parent will decide once they see the range of offers.

Thank you @tennissquare . That’s really helpful to know regarding the WL

We only applied to Surbiton High School as our second choice school is a state option, which we’re hopefully in the catchment for.