11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi - I have 2 questions for anyone familiar with Spgs.
* I'm hoping if anyone can tell me how many overseas girls there are in the Y7 intake.
Dd sat the exam and had interview - we are overseas so trying to assess our chances.

* I would really like to know whether she would really fit in. We loved the school and everything it is supposed to stand for and on the surface it seems like it would be perfect for her but sometimes things are not what they seem and I really would appreciate truthful feedback.

Dd is never going to be the loudest or most self assured as she is quite self critical.
She is "exceptionally bright and outstanding " as defined by her current school & has a very quiet confidence. Having said that she has had the lead role in drama productions and has toured with an overseas drama company so in the right environment she thrives -
( which is why we are really hoping St Paul's will be the right school) although you would have to prise this out of her as she has had years of being called a geek so doesn't discuss any her achievements - not even at the St Paul's interview. She is grade 8 singing and Grade 7 piano but wouldn't allow us to apply for a music scholarship as she didn't want to be singled out.
With the exception of horses she is pretty poor at sports as being very tall and lanky her coordination isn't the best.

I've no idea how she faired at the exam and interview so this may all be irrelevant but we are hoping the school will consider her an asset !!

From what we have heard from our friends so far, this seems to be the right school for your DD, as long as she doesn't pressurise herself to outclass others; she will be among the geeks - no one feels bad there about being exceptionally intelligent.

Thanks for the reassurance. There is no chance of her attempting to out do anyone as she has real insecurities & 100% competes with herself . I was hoping that at SPGS she could just be herself ( if she gets through) .If its overly pushy with overconfident/aggressive girls she would feel very uncomfortable.
Currently she hides test marks and grades from classmates and has started to lie about her results so that she feels included.

What other schools have you applied for? What made you choose SPGS? I found the parents very insular and unfriendly( though the staff were lovely) and my dd loved all her days at the schools except for SPGS where she came out saying that she would not be going back. She said a lot of the girls came from the same prep and were very snooty. She is now in Year 10 so things may have changed. We loved City and found staff, parents and girls wonderful. I would think a shy nerd would do far better at City than SPGS? I would have thought she would need to be very confident and proud of her prowess there. My dd is used to being in new places with new people but did not enjoy her music day or her exam day at SPGS. Reading what you say about your dd I would be concerned that she would not fit in. Did she enjoy her exam day at the school? DG

4leaf, sent you a pm.

Daogroupie, I didn't go to open day at any school. So, I can't comment about open day experience.

I actually found parents at SPGS to be very friendly. They do appear to be a bit shy, but they are open and friendly.

One particular prep school tends to send about 20 girls each year to SPGS. But, there are so many teaching groups and subject groups in SPGS that one doesn't even notice junior school groups beyond 1st term of Year7.

@DG
TBH Dd did enjoy her day at Spgs. She was in a group of 11, 9 of which were from the same prep but said they all had a laugh at lunchtime with the senior SPGS girls . Maybe yr dd was unfortunate in her group or possibly mine is in her own little world most of the time to notice. 1 in the group was apparently boastful about being very smart but funnily enough the same girl threw up in the math exam after finding it difficult.
I found some of the Mothers pretty scary!!

We haven't applied to any others as we specifically felt spgs was the only one that appeared to offer the environment our Dd needs. She is currently in a very academic school overseas that goes through to 18, but we are looking for an outside the box academic school .She can stay at her current school if it's just about A*

DG: forgot to ask did yr Dd have the interview at SPgs. I realise you said she won't be going back but did she do the interview for practise? If so how did she feel about it after the interview?
I've no idea whether my Dd will be offered a place - feel its 50/50 so no point in overthinking the application process.
It has been such an eye opener following all these threads about the application process - I'm relieved we have not applied for the consortium schools as I can see it's all consuming and stressful- had no idea it was the situation in London!

I think it is a real shame that you did not do the Consortium Schools as then you would have schools to compare SPGS with. By doing just one exam you would have been able to apply to City and NLCS which are the most academic schools and then you would have got a much better feel for academic schools in London. I think Habs would also have really suited your dd. My dd sat nine different schools so had lots of experiences to compare with her experience at SPGS. She plays in lots of different orchestras, as a County player she is off to play with the BBC Orchestra next weekend so she is very used to be with new people in new places. What was it about SPGS that made you feel it was the only possible fit for your dd? DG

@DG
Quite possibly next week I will regret we didn't know about the North London Cons process
Dd is out of the box bright- quirky/nerdy innate ability bright IYKWIM. She isn't a swotty exam competitive type but she competes with herself and is so inquisitive can spend hours researching odd topics that other kids often find weird. She scored 10A* and the school award for academic excellence at Christmas with nothing more than 1 weeks revising. So it's not really the academic aspect but the schools approach to learning we are looking for.
We were led to believe from St Pauls that this was the type of girl they were looking for and it was one of Dds teachers that suggested the school. I think our feeling after visiting was that it did appear to offer the right environment so we would just to try and see what happens. We haven't done anything more than 1 lot of past papers from the school website the week before so it's not been a year long project like many and if she isn't offered a place it will be disappointing but it's not the end of the world.
I don't know anything about Habs or City but will start looking into them- do they have a similar ethos?

4leaf, I don't have personal knowledge of St Pauls but I do know a lot of people who do, and from everything I've heard your DD sounds like exactly what they are looking for. Sounds like you had the right instinct to me.