Chorleywood Herts

[pranma]

My dgd is just going into yr6 at her primary school and the selection process for secondary will begin soon.She will be taking both Herts and Bucks 11+.
She is a very bright quirky girl with a passion for Shakespeare and History.She is moderately musical and does a Taekwando class.She is keen on drama and writes and performs little playlets.Her maths is above average but not outstanding.
The schools her parents have discussed are:
St Clement Danes...pros:walking distance from home, excellent results,her Mum was happy there,she may well have friends going.
cons:It is very big and she is shy and a little awkward.
Watford Girls' Grammar:pros:all girls,academic excellence,seems to encourage individuality.
cons:may be bitchy,bus journey to school not situated in nice area [on ring road?]
Dr Challoners High School for Girls
This would be first choice but con is that they are on the outside edge of the catchment area and apparently the school is usually oversubscribed.
I told my d-i-l I would ask on here for any input regarding all 3 schools[pros and cons please] and any suggestions to maximise chances of a place at Challoners.
Thanks

[bigscarymum]

The only way of maximising your chances at Dr Challoners is to move closer!! For the Bucks 11plus (don't know about the others) in order to qualify you have to score 121 - after that it's done on the school's admission criteria. It's not a case of being more likely to get in if you have a higher score. There is a whole forum dedicated to the 11pus with sections for each area www.elevenplusexams.co.uk. People on there might be able to give you a better idea.

[pawsnclaws]

I agree with looking at the 11 plus forum - if you go to the bucks discussion group it will tell you the figures for the furthest pupil granted a place in each year for each school. I think this has generally been pretty tight for DChs (I know for the boys school it has generally been no more than 6 miles and within catchment ie bucks only - but this year it went to about 11 miles and some out of county boys got places, so it can vary a lot).

You have the advantage though that she can try for both bucks and herts schools.

[Bellabellabella]

Hello, all the schools you have mentioned are very popular. Not sure if it has changed but on the Herts form there were only 3 school that you could apply for. This meant that people really needed a good 'back up' school. I would suggest, as others have, a really good look at the 11 Plus Forum for Bucks and Herts plus a visit to other school eg Kings Langley School. Chesham Grammar usually takes a good amount of out of county places if they go down the grammar route. good luck.

[pranma]

Thank you that is really helpful-she is such a sweet little oddball that I dread her being squashed or submerged somewhere.Is the 11+ forum you mention part of mn or separate?

[bigscarymum]

//www.elevenplusexams.co.uk

Nothing to do with mumsnet.

[Bellabellabella]

PS Just wondering why Watford girls would be more bitchy than Challoners?

[pranma]

The idea seemed to be that because Challoners is apparently wholly selective then the girls would all be academically inclined and dgs's 'geekiness' would be less likely to stand out.Apparently although watford calls itself a grammar school only 25% of places are selected on 11+ results.
All the 'info' is hearsay from other parents St Clement Danes is the nearest school by miles but it is very big.