11 Plus Exams Forum

My daughter has got offers from these three above schools (St Albans, Channing and Palmers green). My daughter failed to secure a place at Habs although she was called for an interview. Further, she was also called for a scholarship interview to St Albans and failed to get a scholarship but a place was offered with full pay. We are very upset and wondering if ti is due to her timid and quiet personality. We are very sure about her academic capabilities though. Can any one suggest what would be the best choice for my daughter.
regards

There are very few scholarships available and on the whole, these are not of high value. It simply turned out that someone else's daughter was placed higher than yours on the day. You cannot dwell on this any longer as it will have a negative impact on your DD. Tell her she performed exceptionally well to be considered for scholarship in the first place.

Regarding these schools, I know two of the three, but location should be a primary consideration. There is considerable distance between them. Where do you live? How will your DD get to school and how long will it take her?

Thanks
we live in Southgate. The logistic we will sort out. we would need some guidance on choosing between the schools.

St Albans High School changed the format of their Scholarship interviews this year. Previously they had a further exam for their Scholarship candidates and the results of that exam were used to award the Scholarships.

This year the candidates just had the same group task as everyone else. In my opinion the High School are using the group interview to check on the social qualities of all the candidates and they then go back to the academic results to make their decisions. So they had already decided from the exam who the top candidates were but they brought more candidates in case some of the higher ranked academic candidates were not team players.

I know of four scholarship candidates, two of them got offered the scholarship, two did not. It was certainly nothing to do with the group interview, two of them were just slightly higher up the ranking of that one exam than the other two.

With reference to HABS they hold an academic interview to make sure that the girls will be able to cope with the challenging environment of the school. There is a difference between being able to do well in a written exam and being able to perform well in an academic interview with adults. HABS know which girls will flourish in their school and which ones would be happier in a different environment. How did she feel the interview had gone?

Regarding your choices, does your dd have a preference? What sort of things is she interested in? Sport and Music is very highly prized at St Albans. DG

Thank you. My daighetr came out of the Habs interview very happy. she really likes Habs . poor girl very dissapointed.
out of the oterhs all are the same for her. she wouln't mind any she said.

That could have been an issue in the Habs interview. They are looking for girls with strong opinions about things. There must be some things about the three different schools that appealed to her. What was it about Habs that she really liked. Perhaps one of the three schools would be closer to that thing? DG

Palmers green is your nearest but it is also small, has no outdoor space and has no sixth form, this would put me off. If you can afford the other two I would go to one of them.The St albans school bus goes through Southgate, but Channing will be harder to get to from Southgate with a couple of bus changes. What did you like about them? I would see palmers Green as being in a different league to the others.

Hi Malarvilit! We, too, had offers from Palmers Green and from Channing.

As copella says, Palmers green is tiny and you will have to do this all over again in Year 11. We did love it, though!

Channing is on the up, I feel. The rise of Highgate next door will have stung them. We thought Channing was a nice school.

Channing and St Albans High are similar academically. Have you tried doing a trial school run to and from each, ideally in actual school run traffic?

Hi malarvilit,

I have posted about Channing on the SHHS v Channing thread, big fans here!

Do let us know what you decide.