St Albans boys

[jdr1234]

Ds sat the St Albans exam today, there didn’t look like there was more than 100 kids - I know there was yesterday as well but surely must be more than 200 kids sitting…anyone know? I assume there was only one session today as was 8.30-1.30.

@dsquare my friends son is at Lochinver and from I can gather, the current yr6 have to apply like everyone else but the current ye5 and below are eligible- her son is in this group. But I could have that wrong!

Hopefully! Merchant Taylor as well had similar announcement…

@dsquare who have MT partnered with?

Sorry had mixed the st Martins which was for Habs - I thought though that St. John’s was a merchant Taylor’s school and that most were going to merchant Taylor. Might be wrong ( hopefully!) “ as part of the esteemed MT’ educational trust, we have a long standing tradition of pupils continuing to MT school” it said on the website

im hoping we will know earlier rather than later tomorrow as I’m really not enjoying this waiting process! We are also waiting for ucs and have Habs interview on Tuesday. Such a long drawn out process!

Best of luck to you all! The waiting is agony but you’re very nearly there now.

Thanks 🙏 @BarqsHasBite

@jdr1234 I really hope it’s early like last year, I know I'm going to be obsessively checking my inbox from 8am! This wait has been painful 🤯

Has anyone heard? We haven’t yet….so over waiting!

Nothing yet 😬

Refresh refresh - this is just long!!

This is really painful..
I was convinced the emails would have been sent out by now

Still nothing!

It s finally on email! Not sure why we had to be tortured the entire day !

haha I agree! But now we know it’s for sure our first choice. He’s through to stage 2 hope everyone else got the news they hoped for !

😫So sorry they left you dangling all day! I hope the news was good for you all after all that.

Congratulations @SAmum26!

Thanks. Still not quite there yet but we are delighted.

Next round for us too! And breathe! Hoping everyone got good news.

Same - but is the second round eliminatory still? Because I thought they did have already interviews last round along with the test

Assuming it’s like last year then yes, the interview was done on the assessment day, and the next stage is two taster lessons. I think it’s only if someone is obviously a bad fit in the classroom then they may get ruled out then. Otherwise you all have the biggest hurdles by far behind you!

DS loved the taster lessons and was buzzing when he came out - we got the impression that that they were more about the school trying to sell the school to the boys than as another means of whittling down the numbers.

Hi, my son sat the 11plus last week at SAS he found the assessment and interview ok, he answered all questions and didn't find any particularly hard but hasn't been called back. He is absolutely gutted as am I as this was our preferred choice. I have requested feedback. What are the chances to join a waiting list or best to move on?

Praying you are right! I suspect they bring a few back where they are not sure and it’s negative confirmation. However, broadly I’ve heard info that matches what you’ve said. It’s his first choice and has been for years!!! I will be so happy for him if he gets it. It’s a truly special school from everything we’ve said.

So sorry to hear this. I don’t know the specifics of course but requesting feedback sounds like a good starting point. Another option is that your current school could speak to SAS? My sons’ school have always recommended this school for my son and as a contingency I had asked what if something goes wrong on exam day, could they speak up for him. I don’t know if it would have worked but if scores are usually high etc then maybe it might help? It could have just been a blip?

I’ve pm’d you with some suggestions @ForProudPlumSwan though no magic solutions I’m afraid.

I don’t think they have a waiting list I’m afraid - if they did it would likely be at offers stage rather than now.

Hi all, just wondered what everyone else thinking. Seems like ~250 got called back for 11+ applications. This seems a lot higher than previous years. I was always under the impression that a call back meant you were 70% of the way there , but perhaps not this year. If there are up to 80 places in year 7 for this Sept surely they won’t offer more than 120 , knowing that they can fill up to 80? So really it’s still two to one at this point for a place? Feeling quite deflated!

My guess is they will make at least 2x or maybe 2.5x the number of offers compared with places. Most kids apply for 2/3/4 or more schools and go to only one of course. Quite a few from North London sit SAS and for many it’s a backup for the London schools which are more easily commutable. St Albans and Harpenden also have some excellent state schools with very small catchments, plus a number of people apply to Parmiter’s so again SAS may be a backup for those.

In addition they’ll have no idea how many girls will accept offers, so will likely over-offer to the girls to an even greater extent. I suspect all but the really poor scoring girls will have been taken through to callbacks so that may have upped the numbers.