Secondary admission conundrum

Ir you are practicing Catholics you have an excellent chance of getting a place at Loreto College in St. Albans. They normally can offer to every baptized catholic from Hertfordshire who applies.

Yes, that’s what I meant! They said put it as 1st preference if he really wanted the place, and they expected he would get it. They couldn’t guarantee a music space but likewise if we listed somewhere else higher then he may have got that one instead.

Sounds like a good plan, very similar to ours in SW London. My ds is current Y6 and got a music place at a good school out of our catchment area and a place at a local private school.

The music assessment was straightforward, but stressful as ds’s class bubble burst less than 24hrs before the test and we only had a week until submitting school application form but they were great and set him up on zoom instead so I saw the assessment. They asked him general music questions including naming pictures of instruments, naming types of notes, asked him to point out the treble clef and time stamp, questions about what ‘tempo, melody, pitch’ mean, the difference between a minor and major scale. Then he played one piece on his clarinet and that was it. He’d only started clarinet in Y5 and was yet to take grade 1 at that point but he’s pretty musical, enjoys listening to music (headphones on 24/7) and had been doing music production club since Y3.

They emailed the next day to say he had successfully passed the assessment and scored highly enough that they’d expect him to get a place through the music criteria if we listed the school as first choice. This was October so just before the deadline to submit form! He did get offered a place on 1st March as his 1st choice. Good luck!

In any case, apply for the SW Herts tests, both academic and music first and don't miss the deadline. Check which schools you are in priority postcodes for. It is complicated but all details are on the school's website.

If your DC is in the top set, then they have as good a chance as anyone to get a place. There are actually quite a few selective places in the system. But you do need to prep for Maths and verbal reasoning. The scores needed for the Watford boys and girls and Parmiters are high, but Rickmansworth and Queens not so much.

As said above, the music test is well worth taking, as it doesn't require much prep and quite a few places available. The first round you can get online materials to practice (for familiarisation of test format), the audition can be any instrument, voice included. The scores required for Rickmansworth is not that high, the music score for Croxley Danes is actually quite low. The main hurdle would be clearing the first round, it can be unpredictable but defo not dependent on grades. My DC went thru it this year and they found it quite fun and not at all stressful.

The number of applications can be a bit of a red herring - if everyone uses their 6 preferences, you’re looking at 6 times the number of applications across the area than there are children (oversimplified, but you get the gist).

I definitely recommend going down the musical aptitude route.

Locally, the current y6 is a bulge year, so it's going to be stressful for those children applying for places. Your year should be a tiny bit easier. But I'm afraid it's always difficult and lots don't get a school they'd particularly like.

It feels very unfair to have these partially selective schools in an area of such high population. Some year groups have fewer places than children, leading to the children being allocated places miles/hours away. The partially selective schools take children from many, many miles away, leaving local children without a place.

I'm guessing you want to avoid being allocated W?

My DD went through your same dilemma 2 years ago. If it's any comfort, that was also a bulge year and there were lots of very disappointed families. But after some people took up private school offers, and many went down the appeal route, I know of none that are left without a place they are at least satisfied with (even if it wasn't on their original list of choices).

The admission criteria for croxley danes is not that unusual. There will be few who meet the admission criteria 1 or 2 to do with being looked after and it is the number of siblings in the school which will predetermine how many places are available on distance. The PAN is 180, so 18 places will be allocated on musical ability after those admitted on sibling criteria. After that is straight line distance from the school to the home.
It is not clear from the school's website as to whether in fact the school does actually have year 10 and 11 pupils at present. If not then you are looking at siblings from a smaller cohort of pupils than it will be in a couple of years, when the school has years 7 to 11 on site.

If you look at the private route and 20k is a stretch, do consider schools which have good bursary schemes. Some schools have surprising high thresholds, for awarding a discount, providing your DC does well in the exam.

@daisypond There are seven schools in the consortium the OP is talking about and each offers up to 10% of their places for children with musical aptitude. In other words, there are lots of places available across all the schools. I know someone who had never done a music exam ever but was a good singer who got a place. Of course there will be many talented children applying for them but it’s not as hard as for say a music scholarship at an independent school.

All these schools have very complicated admissions arrangements which include places allocated on distance and places allocated on either academics, music, or in one case, sport but outside catchment. It’s not easy to navigate.

I’m not in your area, but music places can be difficult to achieve - again, it depends on how desired the school is. One of my DC tried for a very desirable comprehensive. I was very naive. Grade 5 in instrument at 10 and at a junior conservatoire. Did not get an offer. There are DC who are on grade 8 and are astonishingly good.

Singing is classed as an “instrument” for these tests. The CD test is very achievable if you have have practiced the types of aural tests and your daughter has a good ear.

The second round is performance based. You could be Grade 6 or Grade 2 but marks are awarded between accuracy, musicality and communication. Someone who can captivate an audience at a lower grade stands a good chance as well as those who are bonkersly good.

www.swhertsschools.org.uk/music-aptitude-test/

hahah that should be < 48 good thing I'm not a maths specialist!

Hmm I just looked up the admission criteria for Clement Danes and it says siblings are first (well, after LAC) which I agree might be an issue; but then up to 24 children with musical ability, then up to 24 children with academic ability. No suggestion of 50 on academic ability in the area and another 50 outside.

So that's what, say 100 siblings in a year (which sounds like a high figure) and a further > 48 for music or academic ability; still leaves almost 100 places on distance. How far are you from the school OP? Furthest distance in 2020 was 2.7k if I am reading it correctly.

What about a music place? The tests are based on aptitude and not achievement. If your daughter has a musical “ear”, doing some work on aural music with a good teacher could help.

It depends on the primary school, but top five would not be enough to get a place in such a comprehensive where I am. Only about one child per two-class year group would get in, and perhaps two in the “next tier” comprehensive. However, places do filter down as people accept other schools.