I hope it all goes/went well for you @honeynutcereal !
Our match report - DS really enjoyed the lessons and was buzzing when he came out. He said they got to do some experiments themselves in the science lesson and that the geography lesson, having to guess countries from facts they were given, was much more fun than at his school.
The headteacher said they'd had 280 odd for the exam and around 220 had been called back (which is much higher than the 'half' claim on the website - I suspect due to the greater uncertainty around acceptance rates, though the head of admissions told me it was usually more than half).
The Director of Marketing and Admissions said a few positive/encouraging things:
- the exam and interview were the main hurdle/the main thing the school considered when making offers.
- While the group lessons were part of the assessment, they were really just to see how the boys interacted in a classroom setting and to check they weren't disruptive etc.
- They want to make as many offers as possible today - while there were 60 odd assessment boys who they had not invited for callbacks, they were not looking to cull (my word not hers) similar numbers at this stage, and weren't trying to find reasons to rule boys out.
She also sang the praises of the new head, and said that they didn't expect things to change radically under him but that he had a vision for the school and was just what the school needed, particularly in a more challenging landscape moving forwards. She wasn't critical of the old head but said he was more traditional and that Mr S has a more modern and informal approach.
I asked if SAS ran a waiting list and she said it was still TBD by the head - the previous head had sometimes put a few boys on the waiting list and that the new head would decide this year when they sat down to consider all the applicants.
About half their Y7 boys come from prep schools and half from state primaries. She also said they mix them all up completely into tutor groups and don't ask parents to specify if they want their child to go with a particular friend. However, she said parents sometimes asked for a DS not to be put with someone from their prep/primary if they wanted a change of friendship group, and it sounded like they tried to accommodate these requests. Y7s I spoke to reiterated what I'd heard before - it doesn't matter if you don't know anyone when you start, everyone is kind and friendly and it's easy to make friends.
They add another 72 boys /3 forms at 13+ entry, but 11+ entry was more competitive than 13+. The current Y7 was 80 so there was some flex, but they didn't want to go much above that as it would mean adding a fourth tutor group.
Other parents I chatted to - most seemed to have applied to Habs too, and one also to City, plus another like us who hadn't applied to any other indies. It was only a small number I spoke to but it sounded like some were leaning towards Habs, not least because it was nearer/logistics would be easier.