Sutton Grammar School - Why all the secrecy if they have nothing to hide?

Well I know what you mean - but even those parents for whom my erroneously named 'bog-standard' comp is very much a likelihood aren't in the main inspired by it....

But it is very difficult. We have many friends with DSs in our DS's class who did the 11+ exams and haven't to date passed any of them..... so it's horrid feeling proud of DS (but at the same time very apprehensive that he might not get a selective school place) but at the same time really feeling for friends and their plight.....

We have a lot of parents of DCs in DS's class who haven't applied for the obvious comp options at all and I fear that there is going to be widespread disappointment on 1st March....none of us is confident!

Anywhere another day of mulling over the subject and another day closer to the dreaded O Day......

CustardCake and other Mumsnetters, I hang my head in shame - you are right that I shouldn't have been so disparaging - . One of the perils of emails etc.... flow of consciousness without reviewing.

SO much rests on how they perfomr for that hour on that day, doesn't it?

I was looking back at some other threads, and see that although Graveney admit a high number of places on the highly competitive selective test, they do not use that test for streaming children once they get in, and quite often 'test' entrants are in the Upper, rather than Extension sets, because the banding is done on Sats results and other assessments, not the Wandsworth test. Ergo the Wandsworth test is jut a snapshot of how they perforom in set of tests, on one day. So much pressure and such big decisions.

Thanks CustardCake - I've PM'd you.

CustardCake - My DS only passed two but not feeling very confident as am thinking they may be scrape throughs as I didn't tutor. When he sat the first exam which we didn't really prepare for he came out so, so happy to the point he found it quite easy. I found this quite ironic given that initally we weren't going to apply as initially DS wasn't sure about it however he's since changed his mind. The one he didn't pass he missed out by a couple of points. Part of me feels really guilty and feel that I've let him down slightly as I should have done more. However it's been a valuable lesson so will probably do things a bit different with my second DS.

Am hoping he gets into our third choice which is an outstanding comp and I know he'll do well there too and will be happy. I'm just worried he won't be offered a place there either.

HI Mumwithtwokids! I so hope we are not one of those families.....It somehow seems illogical that that happens. As CustardCakes says and my FIL (who is highly intelligent agrees) passing three would tend to indicate very solid passes whereas passing one (and failing the others) would generally indicate a scrape through.... It must happen because of the sheer numbers of boys taking the exams but statistically it is a blip surely? And if we're talking about passing Tiffin but not the other three well that is a different kettle of fish as the Tiffin exam is quite different isn't it, so taps into different skill sets.....

I am probably sadly deluded but we will be so, so disappointed if he ends up at the bog standard comp after all the effort DS has put into the 11+ exams and all the ensuing anxiety....

Thanks Banter - that is good news.

custardcake - totally agree and find the waiting unbearable. I've resigned myself to the fact that my DS will end up in the school he's destined for and no amount of worrying will change that.

KLA73 - Surrey allows parents list up to 6 preferences, not 3 - see page 12 www.surreycc.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/177697/Secondary-schools-admissions-booklet_WEB.pdf

Hi CustardCake - I know of a few children who only passed the 1 exam and were offered a place, and of those who passed all and weren't offered a place at any.

Sorry don't want to be doom and gloom but you just hear so many stories so not sure what to make of it all anymore :(

Aha - we get 6 preferences in 'the smoke'.

3 is a bit tight - why don't they just give you more preferences, then the whoe timetable wouldn't be so squashed in the first term of Yr 6?

The earlier the tests take place, the less indicative they are of future potential, IMO, so the least valuable.

We are in Surrey (on the border with Sutton) and with only 3 choices I think it is reasonable to know if you are at least in with a chance at the selectives before you 'waste' a preference or 2.

Don't worry the CB is going to the Dad!

Yes, agree totally - we are in a situation where we know DS has passed three 11+ exams but we have still been advised he might not get a place which seems unbelievable. If it is indeed the case that you can pass 3/4/5 selective exams but still not score highly enough to get a place then what is the point of knowing by the end of October -it just makes the agony of waiting twice as bad/disagreeable/unfair.....

If we had had to choose 6 other preferences on the CAF then goodness knows what we would have put down - the new Michaela Academy !

gazz - the address the CB goes to is one of the deciding factors in our borough...

RE selective results in advance of CAF deadline "Selective schools are encouraged to give the outcome (pass or fail) before the deadline for admission applications so that parents don't waste a preference on a school where their child has no chance of getting a place. " From the pov of someone who has not listed any selective schools, there is a way in which that gives those who do a double bite at the cherry. Lots and lots of people will effectively be 'wasting' a preference by listing a school which (whether they might be expected to know it or not) they have no chance of getting a place. Isn't there a case for all the schools and all the applications being on the same basis? You list your preferences in the genuine order you prefer, and you get the school which offers you a place (on whatever criteria) whihc is highest up your list. Otherwise 'selective' parents could end up having made 4 selective choiuces in our area (Sutton grammaras and Graveney - possibly 5 if you include the selction by music or sports scholarship at Kingsdale), and then if none of those come off, get another 6 preferences in the open CAF.

Also, knowing your child had passed but with no guarantee of a place sounds like a tortuous guessing game and leaves you not much further forward if you were secure that your child was a 'passer'.

Oh dear.....yes, know a family (parents have just split up) where the Dad has moved to a flat specifically to be literally between two of the desirable comps in Sutton - but who can blame him....

I thought most of the comps in Sutton are good?

Out of interest, what do you believe are the 'good' comps round that area and which are the 'bad'.

I suspect that they have a minimum standard hence the pass/fail and if you meet this minimum standard then whether you get a place depends on how many above you in the rankings accept the offer.