I am using a recipe for a Classic sponge cake recipe as follows
Plain flour 2 1/2oz
Self raising 5oz
eggs 6
super fine sugar 7oz
boiling water 8oz

I know sponge is a denser cake as it is but I feel this is to dense. Should I be beating eggs til ribbon stage?(i am not now, just til thick and pale)
I am only folding in flours 3x sifted enough so its not visible.
Thanks for your help, maybe I am just not remembering it correctly

Sponge is a light foam cake not a dense cake. If it is dense, then the method may be incorrect.

There are a couple of ways to make Hot Water Sponges: either "whole-egg" or "separated" method.

Example

Sift flours.
Beat eggs with sugar for 5 minutes minimum.
Stir in boiling water.
Fold in flour mixture.
Bake.

Example
Beat egg whites until stiff.
Sift flours.
Beat yolks until very thick.
Beat sugar into yolks.
Drizzle in the water
Add dry ingredients to egg yolk mixture.
Mix well.
Fold in egg whites.
Bake.

Notes:
You fold until the flour is all mixed in. 3X may not be enough. Just be care not to beat/stir the air out the mix.

I have seen recipes stating that "Ribbon stage" arrives after 3 minutes of beating. I think it takes longer than that - 5 to 8 minutes, usually towards 8 minutes.

Simply put, until you can recognise it by eye, dip finger - clean, of course - into the mixture and draw a figure 8. If the figure 8 doesn't collapse inwards, it's ready.

Thanks Auzzi, that how I remembered it light but darn this was dense the 1st example is how it's stated in the recipe. I will try spinning the eggs a little longer. Thanks again

spinning the eggs ? Not a food processor, as it does not aerate the eggs enough ..

Try whisking the eggs and sugar by hand, to get some more air in there

Not sure why that says SPINNING the eggs as I use a kitchen aid stand mixer not anything that would spin my eggs lol
I did need to let them go a little longer to get them thick enough though.