North London Group 2 Exam Today

[Ramana]

My DD is taking NLC Group 2 exams now....

[tubby]

My DD sat her's today as well, she said she answered all the questions, and found it easy,

[Humbug]

Yes consensus seems to be that it wasn't too bad... not sure if that's a good thing or not!

[BarnetDad]

Interesting. I heard the maths was easy but the English a bit tricky. A few glum faces and tears...

[Humbug]

We didn't see any tears, but English was definitely trickier apparently. Don't quite know what to make of that, as we'd been counting on strong English to make up for our DD's slightly weaker maths. It's the not knowing that makes this whole process so difficult...

[tancred]

Yes I agree, the uncertainty over the entire process is very daunting. Speaking of which, are there actually places at one school or another for all the applicants to the consortium? Or do some girls get left without an offer at any of the schools they apply to? What happens then?

[Humbug]

I've never personally come across anyone who didn't get a place somewhere, but I don't know about places within the consortium as such. Has anyone heard what the number of applicants for indies generally has been like this year? I know the grammar schools have had massive numbers.

[another mother]

I know that CLSG have record numbers this year - teachers were all concerned at the sheer volume they'd be marking .. But of course that's only those sitting at CLSG itself, so how that falls out across that group isn't clear. It does seem City at least is entirely recession proof - they also have very good bursaries of course.

Having been through this twice (though now thankfully some time ago!) I'd say from our experience (which was coming from a very non-competitive primary school, with a bit but not massive tutoring) most girls do get offers somewhere, and a great many get multiple offers (so really worth thinking, once you get to interview stage, how you'd begin to rank them, as you'll probably be making a choice!).

And if you get an interview it's a pretty good sign.

Good luck to all!

[Sue123]

DD's school, which is part of the North London consortium, had a very significant increase in application numbers this year.
Application numbers seem to have risen steadily over the last few years and at last one school I have heard attributed this to fewer people applying to boarding schools as they are so much more expensive.
I have heard of people with as many as 6 offers and I, too, have never heard of anyone not getting a place somewhere but I have heard of cases where people ended with only one offer, or one offer from a fairly non-academic school they didn't really want but had to go on a waiting list for a more academic school.
One piece of advice I would give to parents whose daughters sat the exam (or indeed to parents of sons who are sitting exams) is don't make any plans to travel on business on offer day (you need to be there when the envelopes are opened! ) or for the week right up to acceptance date - and make sure that you have your mobile switched on at all times. Schools start calling around a few days after offers have gone out and once enough offers have been rejected to offer places to people on the waiting list. I am not sure how many times they try if you don't pick up your phone when they call! If you do get an offer from the waiting list but before the acceptance deadline, you will still need to get a deposit cheque to them by the original deadline so make sure that, if necessary, you are around on that day or can use a reliable courier. After all the hard work my DD had put in, I ended up hand-delivering the cheque - and it felt really good, sort of like a rite of passage almost.

Hope this helps and good luck to all of you! I do remember what it felt like. I am pleased to say, though, that DD is very happy at her school - definitely made the right choice for her.

[tubby]

Any news yet regarding calls for interviews, am so nervous but keeping a brave face for DD she sat the city of london exams.