11+ application list of preferences opinion, please do not blame

[Lenazayka]

Dear Parents and Careers,

To my sadness and with broken heart I must accept that DC failed his 11+ exams into his first choices grammar schools.

However, the hope is left and I would like to help DS. Your opinion and advice are very important to our family decision.

We live near Waltham Cross are ready to relocate. We are not exams tourists, just trying to put DC into the most suitable school to him (hyperactive and driven by the majority).

Basing on the exam results into part selective and grammar school, I think to put list of preferences in order:

1. Hockerill Anglo-European College in Bishop's Stortford ( there is a chance to go through the MLAT test, score is 84, maybe WL, best option to relocate and good commuting from our current place of living)

1. Colchester Royal Grammar School ( 330 score is not to high but there is a possibility to enter through the WL in September/ October, will need to relocate faster, thinking to move into Chelmsford because this good for commuting for every one of us)

1. Broxbourne School ( the best school in our area, MLAT score is 38, high possibility to be accepted, not too far from us but less academic then 4th choice)

1. St Clement's Danes school in Rickmanworth ( score is 212, maybe WL, relocation needed, do not have too much idea about this area -will see today, commuting will take longer. I am afraid we lost chance to get a place into Parmiter's although people whom I know got lower scores this year but there are only three places for OOC)

I do not want put our nearest school into the list because there are plenty of spaces each year in it. Others schools around are definitely will not fit to my son.

Do you think, the list in the correct order or should to exchange position?🤔

I would be appreciated if someone who was/is in the same situation share with his/her experience.

Thank you🙂

[RedskyToNight]

OP, I don't know any of the schools you've listed and I suggest you'll get more replies if you put the school names and/or area into the title.

But I'm a bit confused by what you want to do? It sounds like you are applying to a bunch of schools miles apart (regardless of distance from your current house) and hoping that you get into one of them. And then you'll relocate? You should check the individual schools' admission criteria but quite often distance is a tie breaker, so living so far away will put you at the bottom of the admissions list to get a place.

You say you want DS in the best school for him, but he's failed the 11+ for what you thought was the best school. Unless you feel he wasn't adequately prepared (e.g. he wasn't tutored and you've lost out to less able but more heavily tutored children) are you sure your list is right?

I would also suggest putting your local school as last preference. Relying on there being a place there is not a good strategy.

[Gingercat1223]

@RedskyToNight , OP has posted many times on MN & 11plus forum esp re independent options.

@Lenazayka , I hope you and your ds are not feeling too deflated at the turns in your journey. Maybe as @RedskyToNight has suggested you should consider more local options & support your ds's interests outside school. Best of luck for the coming few days.

[Seeline]

Surely it is too late to apply to those schools if your DS didn't sit their 11+ exams?

[DioneTheDiabolist]

You are one driven mother OP.

[LIZS]

Surely distance is a consideration for most of those and you cannot just move once places are allocated. Has he taken all the relevant exams now? Aptitude places are keenly contested. Choose an area and focus on the schools within reach.

[PatriciaHolm]

Put them in genuine order of preference, but accept that with all of them the chances are low (except 3 possibly if you live nearby). The others you are relying on being one of the 10/20% who are accepted by test, as it sounds as if you live too far to be accepted on distance/feeder school.

If you don't get into any of these, what is your backup? You really need to have a dead cert on there that you would accept if necessary, otherwise you could be sent anywhere that has spaces.

[LIZS]

You should list at least ok one you know historically you would get a place at, even if placed lowest on your application. Otherwise you risk getting a random one from whatever is left. No guarantees from waiting lists, especially if you live far away.

[Zodlebud]

Assuming you are in Herts then you only have four choices and these schools are so widely dispersed that it would be rather foolish to list all four. You need to decide by 31st October and you have until only 4th December to make a permanent move and provide proof of your new address to be classed as on time.

Choose an area with one of these schools within catchment and three other nearby schools you would be happy with and move there. All of them are highly subscribed and unless you make yourself as high up in the admissions priority list as possible (by moving into a property on their doorstep) then you just won’t get a place. It just doesn’t make sense to put four such widely geographically spread schools on your list as a result.

Note as well that you won’t know which school you have been allocated until March so you can’t see which one you get and then move.

[ittakes2]

I don't know if it counts for your borough - but in our borough you have a deadline of including your schools preference list but its a little known fact that you can still swap the order of preferences around until mid-late January by contacting the council. You can't add or take away preferences - just swap their order. So I would check if your borough does the same and then put as many schools as you can on your preference list so if you move you can swap your preferences. Also check with the borough if they let you change to your new address and count this new address as distance to the school before the end of January.
What confuses me about your post is that your son failed his 11 plus but you have at least one grammar schools on your list? I put two children in different grammar schools - took one out. She had passed two 11 plus exams in different boroughs and got 120 for both english and maths in her SATS...but the teaching at grammar schools can be very dry and exam factory like. If your son failed his 11 plus please do not put him through that unless you can find a nuturing grammar schoul (they exist - my son is in one) or I would just seek a good private or comprehensive for him or his life in high school would be miserable.

[Gazelda]

OP, you mention Clement Danes. Did your son sit the SW Herts Consortium test? He won't stand a chance of getting in unless he did - another 11+ from elsewhere in the county won't be considered.

And I agree. You really must put down your local 'banker' school. This years secondary allocation (2019) had many, many children missing out on any of their preferences, even when they put their most local school! Although, to be fair, it was an exceptionally high birth rate this year. Don't risk him being sent to a school anywhere in the county that has spaces.

[MsJaneAusten]

You really should put your nearest school on that list, even if you think it has ‘loads of places’. If you don’t include one ‘banker’ school he could be allocated one anywhere in the county.

[marytuda]

My impression is the OP won't put down any local "banker" school because she doesn't want her DC to go there.
She somehow believes against everything everyone is telling her that if she only puts down her "favourite" schools, her authority will have to offer her one of them. (Whereas if she puts down a "banker" school - that is what she will get; which is probably true).
Like many many applicants she can't quite get her head around the being-turned-down-everywhere scenario - she's not going to believe it can happen until it does. She considers she is doing absolutely the best for her DC (what every decent parent does, non?!) by only considering the very best schools for him.
If she follows your advice, PPs, and ends up with the 'banker' school - you'll have dashed his chances of somewhere 'better'.
She won't listen to me either, but fwiw, in the end the school itself is far less important than the attitude you bring to your DCs learning there. Support him well in whichever school he ends up with and he'll be ok. As for where you live, since apparently you are fortunate enough to have a choice - make sure it's also somewhere which is good for him and your family (not just the school). A happy child from a happy home will honestly thrive anywhere.

[Hersetta427]

Did you already sit the aptitude tests for Hockerill and his score was 84%? If so I am afraid that s too low to get an aptitude place based on data for the last few years- you need to be in the mid 90's to get a place. The previous year my friends son secured a place with 97% for music. The previous scores are on there website but the lowest scores to be offered a place were all around 93/94%

Other than aptitude you need to be living within a few hundred meters of the school to get a distance place. I live a mile away and am too far (although it wasn't our top choice anyway as the town has some other outstanding schools).

[Hersetta427]

Also = a score of 38 for broxbourne - it that a ranking for the 20 places available or a percentage score.

I believe as does all the other posters that you are being overly optimistic with the chances of getting a place at any of these schools and you definitely need to put one local school down (unless you intend to go private - I see that you have made lots of enquires about private schools in herts too).

[Gazelda]

OP, what part of Herts do you live in currently?

[madnessitellyou]

OP, while your commitment to sending your ds to the best possible school is to be lauded, it all reads a little like you are not prepared to send him to a local state school. It is fine to say that, by the way: what people want from schools varies widely. Are you concerned that a state school may allow him to be “lead by the majority” as you put it to the detriment of his education? If so, now is the time to work on that with your ds: schools do not have magic wands.

Agree with others that you really must put a local school down. They may have loads of spaces, but unless you indicate it as a preference, your ds will not get one of them. Are the schools you mention all state? Sorry, I’m not in an 11+ area so have zero choice: it’s all on distance.

[Hersetta427]

Looking at data SCD lowest score admitted last year was 221 and CRGS was 242 so you need to be realistic about your chances. No point in moving (which it is too late to do anyway) if he didn't pass the academic criteria. This may sound harsh but you are clearly targeting highly academic schools when your son just isn't up to it.

[Quartz2208]

I am so sorry OP but at the moment looking at past test scores he did not score high enough to get into any of those schools.

You will not be doing him any favours by continuing to try and push him down a route he will not be academic enough for. He did so much tutoring and still did not to it.

You have to put your local school down at least as one option otherwise you run the risk of not getting a school at all

[MarchingFrogs]

CRGS has no catchment area, but the lowest score to gain a place on the last 4 years was 331.
www.csse.org.uk/images/simplefilemanager/5da4885dcd30c4.74802028/2020%20Entry%20CSSE%20Guidance%20Sheet%202019%2016-9-19.pdf

Also, in the event that your DS did eventually get a place from the waiting list, you will probably be expected to take up the place quite quickly; how would you plan to get him from Waltham Cross to Colchester on a daily basis, pending your house move?

Presumably your dream school was QE?

[QuarterMileAtATime]

just trying to put DC into the most suitable school to him

Sorry OP, but it doesn’t seem like this is what you are doing. If he isn’t academic enough for these selective schools, they are not the most suitable schools for him.

[RedskyToNight]

OP, you seem very sure you will get a place at your local school, even if you don't put it on your preferences form, but this generally only happens if a school is under-subscribed, and on the basis you have obviously high standards for your choice of secondary school, it seems unlikely that you'd consider a school that was unpopular.

You do realise that every single child that does name it on their preferences list will have higher priority to the school than yours? You'll only be given a place if there are still places left after everyone who put it on their preferences list has been allocated a place there. It doesn't matter if the school is next door, you attend the relative feeder school etc. Not putting it on the form puts you in last place in admissions terms, and with the serious likelihood that you will get some random school miles away that you really don't want.