Did anyone else's ds sit the Whitgift exam today?

Independent Schools as an alternative to Grammar

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

Mummyto3
Posts: 153
Joined: Mon Nov 17, 2008 10:23 pm
Location: Croydon

Post by Mummyto3 »

LazyDaisy

I'm sure your DS will be fine. Either of those schools will be good for him; hopefully you will be in the lucky position of choosing and refusing :D
nissi
Posts: 117
Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2010 4:24 pm
Location: surrey

Post by nissi »

Hi there,
I’m an obvious novice at this whole thing :oops: . Surely they must know that we just want to get our DC into decent schools and must therefore try more than one school? :?

Surreymum-why does Whitgift get so shirty about grammars? :? We did 2 grammars- Wilson’s and Olaves. How would you suggest that I answer such a question? Any other contributions to this and any other interview tips will be highly appreciated!

I honestly don’t know whether we’ll choose one of the grammars over the indies if we end up having a choice in the matter. Any thoughts from anyone?

DS really wants to go to Whitgift-impressed by the Mandarin Chinese at GCSE, the wallabies and flamingos and the all important school lunch! :roll: I do think he'll thrive there although I really liked the more relaxed atmosphere at Trinity.

Mummyto3- you don’t know how I envy you that 1 year break….Wish I could just hide under my duvet and wake up in Feb/ Mar 2011!

LazyDaisy- thanks for your good wishes: I wish your DS all the very best for the 12th too and will definitely keep you posted
LazyDaisy
Posts: 251
Joined: Fri May 30, 2008 5:40 pm

Post by LazyDaisy »

Gosh - ds has got an interview at Whitgift :D . I had given up hope!!
Ed's mum
Posts: 3310
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2007 11:47 am
Location: Warwickshire.

Post by Ed's mum »

That's super news LazyDaisy!
surreymum
Posts: 553
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:26 pm

Post by surreymum »

nissi wrote:Hi there,
I’m an obvious novice at this whole thing :oops: . Surely they must know that we just want to get our DC into decent schools and must therefore try more than one school? :?

Surreymum-why does Whitgift get so shirty about grammars? :? We did 2 grammars- Wilson’s and Olaves. How would you suggest that I answer such a question? Any other contributions to this and any other interview tips will be highly appreciated!

I honestly don’t know whether we’ll choose one of the grammars over the indies if we end up having a choice in the matter. Any thoughts from anyone?

DS really wants to go to Whitgift-impressed by the Mandarin Chinese at GCSE, the wallabies and flamingos and the all important school lunch! :roll: I do think he'll thrive there although I really liked the more relaxed atmosphere at Trinity.

Mummyto3- you don’t know how I envy you that 1 year break….Wish I could just hide under my duvet and wake up in Feb/ Mar 2011!

LazyDaisy- thanks for your good wishes: I wish your DS all the very best for the 12th too and will definitely keep you posted
They lose a lot of potential children to the grammars (or rather they have been used as a back up choice). I think they are trying to gauge who is really interested and who is using it as a back up. In my eldest son's year I understand they had 20 children turn down scholarships to go to a grammar. I think we got the worst time of anyone I knew and most people didn't have a problem, but I would just rehearse an answer you are comfortable with. I would have thought something along the lines of this is your first one through the system and obviously Whitgift is your first choice school but you felt you couldn't put all your eggs in one basket.

If you felt really bullish and were confident your child was really bright you could say you really love Whitgift and it would be your first choice school but money is an issue and if they were to offer you a good scholarship/bursary then there would be no doubt what you would choose.

At interview I think the most important thing for the boys is to be themselves. When they take something to the interview you don't have to make it too worthy to try and impress them academically I think they just want to get the boys talking. We took some work which was ok, but my son also took his hat-trick cricket ball and produced this to talk about. They just need to sound enthusiastic.

They will ask the boys away from you where else they have applied. The only preparation I would do is talk to your son about what he does in his spare time-mine said watch telly as he didn't consider cricket, football, rugby, playing the clarinet etc as spare time :oops:

At the end of the day they are not going to turn down bright interesting children, they can't afford to with the league tables.
surreymum
Posts: 553
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:26 pm

Post by surreymum »

LazyDaisy wrote:Gosh - ds has got an interview at Whitgift :D . I had given up hope!!
Congratulations!
Mummyto3
Posts: 153
Joined: Mon Nov 17, 2008 10:23 pm
Location: Croydon

Post by Mummyto3 »

LazyDaisy

Excellent news!! Really glad for you guys :D
nissi
Posts: 117
Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2010 4:24 pm
Location: surrey

Post by nissi »

Really good news LazyDaisy- congratulations!! Will be thinking of you and your DS when we go for our interview which is now on 22/1 and music scholarship auditions 18/1.

Surreymum
Thank you for your response: most helpful. I suppose the grammars are the main competition really. Will keep you posted as to how we get on!
Mummyto3
Posts: 153
Joined: Mon Nov 17, 2008 10:23 pm
Location: Croydon

Post by Mummyto3 »

Well done Nissi :D

Glad to know your DS has done so well also.
LazyDaisy
Posts: 251
Joined: Fri May 30, 2008 5:40 pm

Post by LazyDaisy »

Thank you all for your good wishes - my nerves have been in tatters :oops: . Just have to hope ds doesn't make a hash of the interview.

He is not remotely clever enough for grammar so we don't have to worry about that question. He only sat grammar schools exams for practise.

Good luck to your ds, nissi - fingers crossed for his music audition too! Have you heard from Trinity yet?
Post Reply