SW London Grammar and private senior school entry 2026

[firsttrax]

Setting up this thread for those of us with DC joining year 7 SW London schools in 2026.

We’re planning to apply to KCS, Hampton, Epsom and Reed’s.

Have been living in Dubai for three years, returning in August for year 6 at DS’ old prep school.

DS has an online tutor focussing on exam technique and any gaps in the curriculum, plus Atom. Current school is great but definitely not preparing him for 11+!

yes we got SCHS too. Keeping everything crossed for PHS and JAGS. Feels so long to way till the 12th!

Congratulations to everyone with offers! Must say I’m feeling a bit jealous, I think we get all our results next Friday! :/

Congratulations and jealousy in equal measure coming from me as well! The wait for the Feb 13th schools feels endless. I have some random connections at two of our favourite schools and am pondering (I think jokingly) contacting them to see if I can be put out of my misery early. I'm sure most of them have long since decided and it's all sitting on a spreadsheet somewhere...

@Somewhereinlondon81 DD1 is already at our favourite school for DD2 and we're going in this evening for parents' evening - it has crossed my mind to ask someone (anyone!) whether DD2 has a place or not! I totally agree - they know by now!

If you have an in and can find out sooner rather than later, why not?! Doesn’t change what anyone else will receive next Friday.

I'm mildly paranoid that it will somehow annoy them and lead to rejection. Which is objectively ridiculous!

Of course the schools won’t indicate anything before all results are released, the registrars are professional and this is their job. The biggest “in” is via your prep/primary school head who often gets the results a day in advance of parents.

Does anyone know when LEH, G&L and Putney High will notify their results?

PHS usually sends results early - the Mon/Tues/Wed before half term.
G&L and LEH traditionally the Friday before half-term (along with most other schools for 11+).

That's interesting - I had actually understood that prep heads didn't get results from schools.. they got notifications for 2nd stage exams, interviews, etc. but not admissions results - clearly I was mistaken!

Does anyone know if the admissions team work over the half term for queries given that results may arrive on the Friday before and offer holder dates are the week after half term?

Our primary school (admittedly state not private) definitely doesn’t get notified as the headteacher had to ask parents last year where they had offers from for their reporting. Whether that is different at prep or not I don’t know

Prep heads usually get results day before parents. No idea how that works for state schools but I know this is true in prep schools.

Our state school head definitely got some results a few years ago- not sure if they got them from every school. They did ask a few weeks later for all our offers etc but suspect that was to make life easier for the secretary and to ensure none got missed. This was a state school that sends (sent?) a lot to independent secondaries.

Good luck to everyone… a year on here and can absolutely remember the stress of it all. A couple of points -

Prep heads will sometimes get the results earlier, and depending on the nature of the relationships between the schools may know now (as I know they will sometimes have input into who goes on list or w/l depending on other likely offers). It doesn’t ring true for all preps though and definitely depends on school to school relationships.

Some admissions staff will be around half term, but there will likely be a lot of emails etc so don’t expect immediate response. Once they have sent offers and w/l it’s in their interest to make sure any people with offers feel like the school cares. The tables definitely flip at this point - as they are now likely competing with other schools to get your child to go there! Those with W/L for preferred schools definitely ring/contact and tell them you are ready with a deposit of something comes available.

Finally if you child gets an offer for multiple schools and some are safety / just in case ones for you please please turn down the offer/s ASAP. Definitely hold onto offers where you are unsure and want to go to offer holder days. But if you know the school is a no please don’t hold onto it. There will be people where that maybe their first choice on W/L and the quicker you say no the quicker they can have certainty themselves.

Good luck to you all!

Also- there can be big movement on W/L on state school allocation day particularly on the schools that may have lots of people waiting on Tiffin. And yes to phoning the school if you’re on a WL and are interested. We phoned on state school offer day and got an offer then and there.
And (finally!) we had a few people saying that if someone gets in off the WL they will struggle at the school. Please ignore, it’s rubbish!

Hi! We are keenly waiting for PHS - excited to know it could be early in the week next week. Two years ago they sent offers on the Thursday before half term

I have to say I am loving how the school which has given us an offer is now trying to persuade us to join. Oh how the power has turned….

Very jealous. Currently anxiously awaiting email offers (or not) and would love to be in that position

Anyone else going to be refreshing like mad today? Just in case there are any rogue early notifications before next week!

My advice would be to make yourself very very busy next Friday - that’s my plan anyway! Otherwise the constant refresh will kill me !!

Was there any precedents they sent results earlier than the day before half term?

Epsom college results came out today - a week earlier than expected! Took me completely by surprise.

Ibstock Place emails just came out !

Which are out today out of interest? And are any that suggest they will be out next Friday likely to come early (please god! 🙏🏻😬) Best of luck to you all!