Wimbledon High School admissions

[CarshaltonMum]

DD is in year 6 and we are considering secondary options. Our plan A is the grammar schools (Wallington or Nonsuch). She sat stage 2 but we don't know yet if she has passed and, even if she passes, will have to wait until offer day to see if she gets a place.

We have come very late to the world of private schools as an alternative route. Where we live, Sutton High is an obvious option and I'm pretty sure DD would get a place there. I recently visited Wimbledon High and absolutely loved it. For me, I liked that it was more highly selective than Sutton, as I feel that would suit DD.

I am know wondering about admissions. I know WHS has high competition for places. We have prepped DD in Maths and English, but not Verbal and NV reasoning. The school suggests doing 6-8 practice papers, which I'll happily do, but I suspect others targeting the independents will have worked on this for months. So far we have tried 2 NV free papers (NV likely to be harder than V for DD). She was quite good at them but pretty slow. I am trying to decide how much we push it. She worked hard for the SET and it feels mean to hugely slog again when she thought she was finished, but on the other hand it could be well worth it.

I know the 2nd round is a creative/problem solving group task. DD would likely thrive at this, if she gets there!

Also any general views in the school welcome!

Can’t give many details but my friends’ daughter attends. The friend says that it’s not worth the £30,000+ a year it costs to go. She says the pastoral support for her autistic daughter hasn’t been good. Obviously this is second hand information though so could be wrong.

Thank you for sharing @Sunbringer

My daughter left a couple of years ago. She was very happy there, took advantage of everything and no complaints from her or us.
DD had no SEN but had friends who were autistic and they thrived there. But obviously no school is perfect for everyone. I really like the headmistress.

Can you say which school has your DD been at so far? State primary / indie prep / indie junior?

Currently at a state primary school where almost everyone is heading to state secondary schools.

i know what you mean that your daughter feels like she’s ‘done’ with 11+ due to the SET. I guess it will depend on how much she wants to go to WHS and whether she can restart her engines to run another race. You have few weeks so you could try but I think it will depend on her natural ability + desire to get in.

Sorry meant to acknowledge that SET doesn’t cover VR / NVR and neither do state schools, so it’s a whole new race.

Yes this is the challenge. She had never seen VR or NVR until a week ago. She has her heart set on Wallington and I'm pretty sure we'd take the Wallington offer if we got one. I really liked both, but liked Wimbledon more, and would love her to go there. However the fees are obviously a huge factor. So it's sort of a back-up in her head, even though it's hard to get a place and not really a back-up! I want to give it our best shot, but at the same time we do all feel 'done' already! But half-hearted practise is probably pointless. I really wish they still gave scores for SET/NWSSEE so we could know how likely a preferred state offer was.

@CarshaltonMum from your username I’m guessing you are inside catchment for the girls’ grammar schools. If your DD has sat stage 2 and is inside catchment then I’d say she has a significant chance of getting in - if not in March then def by Sept. If she’s autumn born she’ll likely have been bumped down but if she’s summer / spring then chances of an early seat are high.

if she’s never seen VR/NVR then I’d not bother at this point as you can’t get to the top 60 out of 700 applicants most of who are prepped by their prep schools for this exam for months and will likely have it as top choice.

also, if you live in Carshalton then the travel will be hard. My older DD went to Wallington and we had the opposite commute to you - it was brutal. Plus private schools have long days and a lot of extra curricular stuff sometimes in the evening & on Saturday.

given your high chances of grammar I’d say it’s not worth the half hearted push after having run the long grammar race. Keep Sutton or Reigate as backup.

Please feel free to DM me as I have used both schools.