Winchester entrance exams grades

[friandise]

Hi. I have just received the graded results of my son's entrance exams for Winchester. I have understood A is the best and D the worst, but I have no idea for instance, Bs are ok but Cs are no good and Ds mean he has just scraped in, or all Bs, Cs and even Ds are quite ok? Could anyone give me a clear guidelines? Many thanks.

[Colleger]

Ask the school...

[friandise]

My English is so appalling that I feel embarrassed to ask the schools (Winchester and my son's present school)! That's why I am wondering if I could get some friendlier/more informal opinion here..

[Colleger]

Winchester is so friendly. I've just done the same with another school and got a very detailed reply. You certainly won't be the only parent asking so I really wouldn't worry about it. Best grow a backbone now as you'll never feel comfortable asking the school for other things! :)

[happygardening]

From what I understand it's quite common for boys to get a mixture of grades in fact it seems to not get some C's and D's is unusual and causes some surprise amongst the other boys. A's are given if you show exceptional talent not just because you a certain mark. Our prep school head was also told approximately where our DS came in the general scheme of the thing. Something like first page second page etc hope this makes sense. It seems many boys don't do particularly well in Latin and French particularly those for whom English is not their first language but Winchester will provide excellent help to address this.

[happygardening]

IME or more correctly in my DS's experience your DS will be asked by the boy in the year above who mentors him for the first few weeks and the boys in his year and house what grades he got probably at the "new men's lunch" coming up soon. He will then discover that most seem to get a mixture.

[Colleger]

Is that a boast Bink?

[Bink]

It wasn't meant to be - just I know nothing, & want to orient myself.

[friandise]

Colleger and Happygardening, thank you! My son certainly got Bs, Cs and Ds so I was panicking but now I feel he did not do that badly afterall. Yes, I find staff at Winchester all very friendly and approachable, maybe I should gather up my courage and start asking questions!
Bink, I could murder you for having such a clever son! There is not a trace of A in his results...

[friandise]

I mean in my son's results, of course. You see, my English!

[Colleger]

Well with four A's he would have got an Election so why would you need to orient yourself?

[trinity0097]

Your son has a place at the school, that's good, and not having lots of As will mean that he doesn't get into the top sets, but since all the boys are at least average that's not a problem unless you are the type of parent that cares more what set they are in for your standing than what's right for your son.

[Colleger]

Why does your son need to be savvy about grades?

[happygardening]

IME getting A's in the entrance exam will not put him in the top set. Bink if you don?t want a competitive school then I am unsure what you are doing sending your DS to Winchester again IME or at least in my DS?s experience Winchester is a very competitive place regardless of whether you?re a scholar or a commoner. It is also a very happy school with excellent standards of pastoral care and dedicated teachers and my son is very happy there but it is very competitive.

[Bink]

That's helpful, thanks. Re why that school, long story, but essentially not really any other option. Anyway, with apologies to Friandise, whose thread this is, I am going to get MN to delete my last set of posts.

[singersgirl]

Before your posts are deleted, Bink, good to see you and so pleased about your DS. Sounds like a really good outcome. DS1 continues to lurch from crisis to crisis (moderate ones, really) but has a working diagnosis of 'dyspraxic and ADHD tendencies' - which doesn't really help much but allows him to use a laptop.

[Bink]

Singersgirl, lovely to see you - and your post has helped a bit with my 'long story'! (Ds has his diagnosis too, dyspraxia.)

[Colleger]

He got for A's at election which means he's a scholar unless for some bizarre reason he is not?

An A in the election is not the same as an A in entrance.

[friandise]

trinity0097, thank you for your post. The reason for my panic was that I thought he will be the least bright boy in the year, not having a single A. However, I will be incredibly happy and grateful to Winchester if they can find a right set for him regardless of their hierarchy. He is not a particularly competitive child, I hope he will survive!

[happygardening]

As far as I understand it few get more than one A in the entrance exam (to clarify this is different from the election which is the scholarship exam) so friandise I wouldn't worry.
I would hope if I was you and I'm sure the school will too that your DS will more than "survive" at Winchester it is a very busy and exciting world and there are lots of opportunities for someone who is prepared to go out and find them. If he hasn't full boarded before he may find this difficult as his house is a very close knit community but I think all who started in my DS's house last September have now settled.
Now for the question all Winchester parents seem to ask "Which house?" I'm only being nosy you don't have to answer if you don't want too or you can PM me if you want.

[friandise]

happygardening, thank you for your recent post which is really encouraging. Luckily my son is already a seasoned boarder so he should be fine in that aspect. As for your question re:house, I rather keep that private if you don't mind, but I have heard from other mothers that the house my son is going is a nice one.

[happygardening]

The wonderful thing is that all parents I've spoken to believe that their housemaster is the best of course my DS knows his is the best!! We have found everyone we've come onto contact at Winchester to be really helpful; emails are answered promptly, problems addressed quickly, differences are tolerated and in fact appear to be actively encouraged and certainly in my DS's house there is an excellent relationship between boys of all ages.
I hope its a success for your DS.

[friandise]

happygardening, you are so kind! I hope all the parents at Winchester are like yourself. Many, many thanks to everyone on this thread, you all scooped me out of the panic attack!