London grammar and private senior school entry 2025 part 2

[CruCru]

Here is the new thread for when part 1 is full.

Here is the original thread.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/5152642-london-grammar-and-private-senior-school-entry-2025

Thanks for the new thread! Marking my place for Friday 😆

Thanks for making a new one 😊 Good to be ready for Friday’s posts, which I’m sure will be a busy day!

Good luck to all for Thursday and Friday! Almost there! Questions for scholarships but I imagine similar for bursaries too, do those come on separate emails and tell you immediately the amount deductible from the fees if any? How does it work if some of you have had sibblings getting scholarships in the past please?

It varied from school to school for us. Most sent all the information together in the offer email, but one school did say scholarship outcomes would be sent separately and it came within an hour. Most schools said how much scholarships were worth in the offer email except one where I had to email Admissions to ask them. So it's fair to say it will depend on the school!

Thank you @11PlusCraziness , I had the same question as @Hermionegranger2014.DS was shortlisted for a scholarship and we would really welcome any discount. The VAT increase adds a lot of uncertainty as the fees are already so high! We will be living frugally for the next few years. Best of luck everyone, not long now

Thank you for the new thread @CruCru ! Very helpful before Friday!

@11PlusCraziness did they mention in the offer email if there was a scholarship or did you only find out an hour later?

For most schools, the scholarship offer came with the offer email. For one school, they said they'd email separately about scholarship outcomes (so we didn't know right away that she'd got one) and it came through soon after (I just checked and it was within 15 mins of the offer email - obviously just felt like an hour! 😂)

Our offer came through with the scholarship details with in (including the fee remittance amount).

In respect of how do we decide if we are lucky to get more than one offer….

For us there are now only 3 contenders even though there are 5 in the mix. Two have been discounted as going through the process we saw more of the school and what it was like and now we have one firm these definitely are lower on list (even though on paper much more aspirational and academic schools).

Despite trying to remain neutral there is one clear favourite and if she gets an offer, even without scholarship, she will accept. If she doesn’t get that then it’s hard - her second choice is a better fit for her - much less academic but she’s bright and will do well regardless. It’s more about the ethos and feel of the school. But this school is a slightly longer commute and if no scholarship about 35% more expensive than the current offer we have in hand so really we have to question is that extra ££ really worth it. It’s going to be a hard choice if it’s down to that one and the current offer.

So basically am hoping the first choice materialises!

One school emailed that we had a scholarship and then the amount came in the post a WEEK later

Thanks @CruCru! Placemarking with a good luck to all for Friday & beyond!

We've had one scholarship email and it came in the same email as the offer. (Just with an added T&Cs pdf;))

We have 6 schools in the mix and agree with the previous poster that 2 have perhaps fallen away along the process compared with the others and one we had as a back up has moved to our top 3.

Our favourite schools have communicated well and made the brutal process that is 11+ as nice as it possibly could be for the children. Our DS came out buzzing after 2 particular sports scholarship days as the coaches made it really fun and the other children were really nice.

The main things we are considering are academic outcomes, great sports for a very sporty DS and overall fit for our particular child. I loved my senior school years and want him to have the same happy, full experience if possible.

Just picking up on the final comment on the old thread re.Alleyn’s. Agree that they are being very careful. Don’t want to say too much as tempting fate and potentially outing but they are def doing their homework on which children in the mix are likely to accept or not…

Interesting. So you think Alleyns are really looking into the dc like closely at interviews and extra curriculars? I assume the schools just take exam scores and only look into it more for the last 10 spots or so for the borderline candidates. Of course, if you scored really well, but sent of red flags during interviews, then I assume you don't make the cut. We did not apply to Alleyns, but just thinking about other schools if they actually do look into the children or if it really is just the exam score.

Just wondered if anyone has any insight into wether Surbiton over offered by a lot this year? We are WL so hoping they go to WL at some point 😬

It’s my understanding that admissions teams try to work out how likely particular children are to accept offers or not, and use this to inform how many offers to make. It may be that this is what Tidylion was getting at, rather than a child’s eg extracurricular interests being a factor.

For example, if a school has a really strong candidate (high test scores and performs well in interview) they may ask the child at interview what other schools they’ve applied for, whether they’ve applied for scholarships. If the child has applied to other “better”
schools then that won’t mean they won’t get an offer, but the school will predict that the candidate probably won’t accept their offer be because they will be given and accept an offer from a “better” school.

They will have all sorts of stats from previous years as to the profile of candidates which have and haven’t accepted their offers. Eg children with a sibling already at the school are probably better than 50/50 to accept if given an offer.

There may also be patterns in children from particular prep schools tending to accept or reject offers.

Of course all the previous stats may prove of limited use this year with the additional factor of VAT which will have some impact - but who knows how much - on kids going to state rather than indy.

Anyone expecting offers today? Wish it were Friday already!

Ah yes, this makes sense. So when schools make offers, then need to take these stats into account to know how many over offers to do, as it makes a difference on the amount of siblings in the year (more likely to accept) etc.

Not expecting any news before Friday now, but we did get a surprise offer from Putney yesterday so who knows!

Alleyns massively over offered last year and had to put on an extra class so expect they will be more cautious this year. Emanuel had overcooked the 10+ the year before so had fewer places to offer. WHS had an extra class to fill. I think it all depends on the year but the demographics are getting less competitive from this year on i.e. there are just less kids born. The VAT issue has got to start to have an effect soon too.

From the previous thread, re: 2018, when CLSG had their 'exploding offers' fiasco - the outrage was immense, the damage to their reputation was so huge they would NEVER do it again. I think all the other schools took this a learning experience (pun intended).

DD of my best friend was one of the lucky ones who got in that year - they accepted their offer right away. The mum worked next door at Barbican and for once they weren't skiing at half term 😁, so she walked into the school with her chequebook that day and paid the depost... and then we had a front row seat to watch as the shit hit the ceiling. It was carnage!

Trust me, no school is going to pull that trick again in a hurry. Friend's DD is finishing her A levels this year and nobody has done exploding offers since as far as I know.

I remember that a lot of people on here were very upset about it.

So, realistically, CLSG will pretty much only offer the number of places they have - because they don't have room to put on another class.

I suspect it will be the same for SPGS as almost everyone accepts their place there (based on the stats shared on the earlier thread).

It's always impossible to know (accurate) data on offers / WL etc. But last year, quite a few girls' schools barely dipped into their WL at all (or, indeed, not at all from what was reported on here by those on WL who were told pretty quickly that there weren't any WL spaces available). Either the Admissions teams did a great job of predicting acceptances or just more people accepted than they'd predicted, and their fears re the impact of VAT didn't actually play out.

Hello! Joining for Friday. We are relocating to London; waiting to hear about 11+ places for our son and occasional places for younger DC. Last 48 hours seem to be going very slowly…

Yep. I’m now at the stage where I have anxiety dreams.