Wilsons grammar school advice

[footiemumma]

Hi there,
Our year 4 son is currently in an independent school. Due to the fee increases we are no longer in a position to consider private secondary schools. He is strong academically (scored 141 on all 4 recent CAT tests). He loves football and sport too. His school think he would manage the pressure of an academic school.

However, I am completely out of my depth as we were always planning on going independent for secondary and it feels quite a different process that his current school also aren't very familiar with. His current school has a natural feeder school so he would have gone there. I imagine there will be other families like us too given cost increases. I feel quite overwhelmed at the amount of preparation and tutoring that seems to go into getting Wilsons (our only Grammar option as we aren't in catchment for others). Is this the case? Could you share stories of hope or what you find helped?

Would anyone be willing to guide me as to where to start and get a sense of whether the tutoring is needed and if not what should we be doing to help him prepare? I would be happy to pay for advice.

Thanks so much- any advice would be hugely appreciated.
XXX

Wilsons in Croydon? I thought that was also fee paying rather than state grammar like Wallington Boys.

Those are impressive cat scores. He should do well. Also he should apply to the football scholarship.

Sorry I can't help specifically about the school. Why don't you try and find old threads about Wilson and ask on there

@footiemumma , check out the elevenplusexams.co.uk website and sign up for a tutor. Best of luck, as you say the competition will be much more fierce in the coming years for grammar school places. You 100% will need a tutor and a clear summer at the end of year 5 to prep. This is regardless of your ds's current ability.

There is Wallington Grammar Boys too, supersejective so no catchment. Alternatively the Whitgift schools have bursary schemes and are absorbing some of the vat increase.

Ah thank you for this. This is super helpful.

Thank you so much.

That's really helpful. Will take a look thank you.

I don't think catchment is a thing for any of those Croydon and Sutton boys grammars, it didn't used to be anyway, so don't discount anything on that basis. Have a search on the old threads as PP says, there's been lots over the years.

Depending on where you're based there's also Tiffin.

Wilson is the name of the boys school in Wallington

That makes it a bit confusing as there's also Wallington Grammar for boys which isn't the same as Wilsons which is in Wallington but just off the Purley Way near Waddon so very close to Croydon.

Edited to say neither is fee paying as far as I'm aware.

Wilson school located in Wallington has been no 1 state school in rankings for the last years

www.standard.co.uk/news/education/wilsons-school-wallington-sunday-times-education-rankings-b1124120.html

Sure, like I said. I was merely clarifying for PP that although Wilsons is in Wallington, there is another boys state grammar in Wallington as well.

There are 3 state grammar schools for boys in the borough of Sutton: Sutton, Wilsons and Wallington.

Other grammar / selective places across S London include Graveney, Tiffin, St Olaves and you can apply to schools in Kent / Bexley.

Also consider good comprehensives that do well with their high ability cohort. Kids do not need to be in independent or selective schools to do well. Comprehensives with good top sets do the job of getting students to the next step they need.

Probably a lot less good on sporting activities but you will have your savings in fees to provide good extra curricular experiences.

A clean sweep of 141's is very high. Of the couple of hundred boys they admit every year I'd be surprised if nearly as many as ten were consistently scoring at that level.

The typical kid who goes there is a fairly modestly bright [i.e. well short of consistent 141's] (Asian) child who's been to a state primary but has been worked hard outside of school for the last couple of years - quite often by parents or in a group setup rather than expensive 1:1 private tutors. Having done 3 & a half years at a private prep is already a good start. I'd have thought that for a very bright kid private tutoring is only absolutely necessary if both parents are very busy with work etc.

Wilson's doesn't publish past admission test papers but a few other grammars do, a good starting point is to print off some of those papers.

I would say you’d need to tutor. My DSs were bright and passed various independent entrance exams (DC, Trinity, Whitgift) but didn’t get high enough scores for Wilson’s or Wallington. Most kids will be tutored and it’s an exam technique thing. I’d get him started asap. Also look at schools like Graveney.

My son goes to Wilsons school. Happy to chat to advice on what to do next. Post edited by MNHQ to remove personal info

@Maggie8319 , you must ask MN to delete your post/telephone number.

You can use the private messaging service via a laptop computer.

My son 'qualified' for Wilsons, SGS and Wally (we find out school on Monday). We didn't use tutors and he was at a state primary. We didn't start doing anything towards the exams until Nov of 2023 (he sat the exams in Sept 2024). Feel free to pm me if I can help.