Unsuccessful grammar school appeal

The thing is with the school in question, there are children that appealed that exceeded the pass mark by almost 20 points. There will be plenty of kids in other years that are in on far lower marks, so a lot of us feel like our kids wouldn't have struggled at all.

I do agree with the previous correspondent, advising to make the most of the allocated school.It might be that if he had got into the grammar school on appeal, he might have struggled. Good luck.

Lots of people move house for year 7 places specifically. I would say when my DC were young over 70% did it. Whether it is for grammar or another state school, there really is no difference? People from abroad who typically rent rather than buy have more flexibility. And if they have good jobs and money, they have the most flexibility. Most rich people already here own their houses so they have to pay stamp duty again.

“A St Albans school uniform”. Could’ve been any school on the city, not st Albans school!

My mistake. Apologies to @Will2

@viques no, OP is not the DH of that poster

Uniform clearly stated St Albans. Could have been a state primary, who knows?!

“I’m not entirely sure how they treat each child’s application for places”

I might have the wrong person here, but if you are who I think you are then in previous posts your wife has made about your son, she has said that you are a headteacher who has brought a school from requires improvement to outstanding. In one post she thought that your contribution to education should have been taken into account in your child’s application.

Is this you? And you don’t understand the allocation process?

@trying29 So not at St Albans then. They start at y7.

it was a primary school child - the SET is only for those in year 6

No, but they might be sitting a 12+ or similar but just at the same time as those taking the 11+. Some grammar schools do have such arrangements for entry in years other than yr 7.

Would a child already at secondary school be taking the 11+ with primary school kids?

Superselectives largely don’t use distance except perhaps for a certain number of spaces. However a pupil already in year 7 or over would not be taking 11+. The post of 4:31 by @SuddenlyBecoming is borderline racist and a sweeping generalisation. Some (including a few dc of mumsnetters) do take multiple tests across the country then move but these schools largely reflect the profile of the wider area in which they are situated.

St Albans is a senior school! Fee paying so maybe parents would move? Don’t schools have distance rules?

I saw a boy in a St Albans school uniform at the Sutton tests when my son took it this year, I thought that would be a long way to come but seems its normal. The poor kids taking so many tests

@SheilaFentiman my LA goes to huge lengths to stop false addresses being used for school applications. A lot of evidence is required for how long parents have been at the house and bills. The pass mark here has not changed so if more Indian families are here (nhs doctors?) the other dc cannot be bright enough to get the pass mark. No idea why that would be. Tutoring is rife.

If you think applications are being made from the wrong addresses, you can flag this to your LA.

@LIZS yes, OP would have had the score ahead of the CAF deadline

Random set of cut off scores from the 11-plus forum:

2012 - 232
2013 - 223

2015 - 229

2017 - 229
2018 - 229

2020 - 228
2021 - 229
2022 - 234

2024 - 237

So looks like the cut off has been broadly trending upwards, even before the VAT policy came in.

Yes true, it’s probably one of those things ppl claim that are not actually happening (like a child starting school called La-a - urban myth). Anyway it’s done away with now evidently

DS who is still in year 7 has a boy in his class who came over to England to sit various grammar tests from India, all over the country. The parents then moved to England and locally to DS’s grammar school. Both parents now work here. So the kids from London get displaced as well and so some parents then do it elsewhere. And we had people from Manchester and Gloucestershire sitting exams in Kent, Sutton, Essex, for QE, St Olave’s too. Just to point out it works both ways.

I notice on the Kings admissions faq(presumably similar for other 11+ consortium schools)
“On the day:
My son is ill or not 100% – what should I do?
Please notify us by e-mail ([email protected]) as soon as possible and we can then re-arrange a sitting in the weeks following the 11+. Please do not send your son for testing if he is not feeling at his best.”

@Will2are you trying to argue that for one paper sitting he felt ok and the other not? Did you notify this at the time? if you had his score in advance of the CAF deadline you might have realised it was borderline at best.

Things like the 30 mile rule being
introduced at this school restrict this, as fo
inner and outer priority areas such as there is at Tiffin. Basically, a lot of selective schools have some kind of distance criteria as well. Not to mention that there is a fairly short period (6 weeks or so, Sep and early Oct) in which selective state schools run their tests, so it’s not physically possible to run around the country to all of them, as there will be clashes

I heard of people taking the 11+ around the country. Then moving closer to the school they got a place at.