Bucks/Kent/Slough grammar catchments for DS

[Daylight7777]

Hi all,

Going through a divorce, have ds aged 6 (yr 1) at pre prep in SW London. Was on course for St Paul’s Westminster etc at year 3. StBexH now refuses to contribute to school fees post pre-prep. I am assessing life plans and looking to move to Bucks /Kent for the grammars there. My question is which areas of these 2 counties should I live in to maximise catchment for as many grammar schools as possible? It looks as Tunbridge wells falls into catchment for both judd/skinners but not sure about the rest and also clueless re Bucks/Slough in this regard. Thank you !!

@Daylight7777 Around 20 years ago (or more) Bucks altered catchment areas because some parents had loads of choices and others had few. Now you usually get one or two. So Amersham has DrCG and Chesham Grammar. Aylesbury has the SH Floyd and AGS for boys. However High Wycombe has 2 boys grammars: RGS and JHG. Most people do not necessarily want a big choice. They just want a grammar. I would say live in catchment for your preferred non grammar and grammar! The non grammars in some areas are great. Others less so.

My top picks would be Amersham, Marlow and Wendover. Remember the met line only goes to Amersham and Chesham. It’s slow. If you don’t drive, take care about villages. Also how much money do you have? Some areas are £££

If you look on the Bucks website you can see how grammar school places were allocated last year which might help. You might also want to look at Burnham which has a mixed grammar school but is also near to Slough which has 4 grammar schools. There is one exam for entry to all 4. BUT will need to look at the admissions criteria for all of them as most offer a proportion of places on a top score down basis. And there is still time for admissions criteria to change before you are ready for admission. Historically of the children who take the Slough and Bucks exams the Bucks is easier to pass. You might also want to look at Windsor where there is an excellent non selective boys' school. As others have said it is very early to judge whether your child is likely to pass the 11±.

@TizerorFizz thank you. I like the sound of rgs and John hampden but I don’t hear good things about high Wycombe (never been, just what I read about it - I could be wrong). But yes I would have to live in a town or on met line

@Bert2e thanks. What is Burnham like to live in? I love Windsor but thought the state school offering was poor?

That’s why, if you move into Bucks, you must look at the non selective schools and live easily within catchment for them. Some are around 2 miles so it matters.

I could probably have guessed who was likely to get to a grammar in y2. I found DC who read well and were good at maths didn’t regress. Plus look at the jobs the parents do.

Personally I would avoid Slough. However part of South Bucks around Burnham has 3 stations on the Elizabeth Line. That might be attractive. Not sure if the non selective schools are great though.

RGS and JHGS are very different from each other so one size doesn’t always fit all.

seriously though if you want JHGS live in Marlow - you’ll be in catchment and deffo get in and then you have GMS as a more then good backup should they not qualify. There is a school bus to JHGS from Marlow and the Marlow train line to Maidenhead really is OK.

Alternatively I’d live Furze Platt / Pinkneys Green - you will get into JHGS from there and you have Furze Platt and the other Maidenhead comps + the Lizzy line.

That said I would choose SWBGS above either JHGS or RGS. Also re single sex boys school depending on what sport your son plays that may affect your decision.

Thanks all v interesting re the different grammars.
atm Ds not the sportiest boy - he’s a bit geeky and introverted. But they change very quickly !

Burnham is a mixed bag depending on where you live. Where did you hear that state schools in Windsor are poor? TWBS gets results on a par with the grammars and is currently rated as good with an outstanding sixth form by Ofsted. Windsor is an oddity in that it runs a middle school system so you don't go to secondary school until Yr 9. Windsor is excellent for sport, rugby and football in the winter and if you son wants to row they have a world class rowing club.

@TizerorFizz ds is yr 1 currently - reading at level of 7-8 year old and top of the top stream maths set at his pre-prep so hopefully grammar school material.

When you choose somewhere in Bucks just be sure you are happy with the non grammar alternative as they are a mixed bag. However bright your child everyone can have an off day.
The non grammar offering in Burnham is a particular problem at the moment I believe as they closed the upper school. I'm not at all sure where children go from Burnham now. Possibly the Maidenhead schools?
I would echo the recommendation of Amersham, or maybe Gerrards Cross. Neither are cheap of course.
Have you looked on the 11 plus forum?

Honestly it may not be enough, it is VERY early to try and gauge it. Are you looking at tutoring? Many families tutor from year 3 to try and get into the grammars and many of them don't make it. I know several children who were at that level in year one and didn't pass the 11+.

My boys are all at/have been at Skinners' - I think it's brilliant. I would have thought that if your DS was on course for Westminster or St Pauls, then he'll be fine for Judd (or Skinners). We knew very early on that DS was bright and his Y2 teacher said she thought he'd go to Oxford or Cambridge. I laughed it off, but she was right..! As @mynameisuna says, if you move to West Kent, then you do need a plan B if you don't get the grammars and there are limited options in Tunbridge Wells that would be comparable. Bennett was the only non grammar we seriously considered - it gets great results, but you do need to have a priest's letter (ie be a regular church goer) to be high up the admissions list.

Friends are in Amersham and seem to have more choice of non grammar schools......

@Bert2e you may be right. His teachers hsvd recommended that he apply to St Paul’s Westminster etc. For 7+. He is having light tutoring and they say he is also spa material. So who knows?

They are shipped to Bourne End Academy which was rated Requires Improvement but got Good last year.

Most from Burnham needing a non selective school go to Maidenhead as the Slough non selectives have very small catchment areas.

To add a different perspective I know no one who tutors before year 5. I didn’t - we did a little tutoring for 2 terms.

But yes in general you know who will pass.

Children in Bucks are not usually tutored until year 5. They need to be in the top 30%, so it's not like some other areas. That said, note my comment above that anyone can have an off day.

I suspect your son will fly in the state primaries as preps push them harder earlier, so he will arrive ‘ahead’ and probably stay there. However be prepared that it’s a less hierarchical system in state. They don’t stream year 1 kids. I could probably tell you who the brighter ones in my daughters class were but they aren’t pushed ahead in the same way.

But yes in general you know who will pass.

What are you basing this on? Given that the 11+ is a non-curriculum based exam, it's quite difficult to extrapolate directly from DCs who are performing well in class to those who are best equipped to do well at the 11+…

No need to be so aggressive!

I didn’t claim to be basing my comment on anything. But in general there are never any surprises as to who passes based on 20 years of being in Bucks.

The 11+ is flawed in many many ways and biased towards certain groups. Selective education is also unfair and I say that as someone whose children have benefited from it.

However that doesn’t change the fact that there are never really that many surprises each year.

Aggressive?

I'm sorry if you saw it as aggressive, it was just meant to be a question.

You make some interesting and informed points in your posts about Bucks schools, which I enjoy reading.

However, I happen not to agree with your view that there are never any surprises in the Bucks 11+. I don't see why my opinion is any less valid than yours.

I agree that there are surprises every year. You only need to look at the appeals section of the eleven plus forum to see that.

I’ve lived in Bucks all my life. My parents before me. I would not say there are never any surprises but not lots every year. I’ve found it most likely where Dc don’t read enough or don’t pace themselves in the tests. Also where parents think Dc are brighter than they are. Some are totally invested in a certain school they are blinkered regarding reality.

The child does need to be considered in the round. I was well aware when I was a governor, some DC didn’t get enough educational enhancement from parents. Others got a lot. This makes a difference. Also I didn’t find many surprises when dc were at school. Only question marks were over borderline Dc and whether years of tutoring would pay off. Yes, years! Not one year!

It’s also totally incorrect, in Bucks, to say top 30% get to a grammar. You only have to look at the stats at individual schools to see this is nonsense. The leafy lane schools with high achieving parents tend to do well. Look beyond these and you find a very different story.

The Windsor Boys doesn’t get the same results as most Bucks grammars. However it’s a very good Comp! Again reflects catchment.

Also parents wanting an appeal can also be a false measure of what Dc are really like. The parents I know who have appealed have massively over inflated dc’s capabilities and simply hate the idea of a non selective school because they are biased against them and will not want Dc in them. Utter snobs in other words. The non selective schools I mentioned earlier will do a great job. I didn’t add Waddesdon as it’s too far North but The Misbourne and a few others are very good schools that parents desperately want too. They have a high number of appeals too. So live in catchment and offer distance for the best non selective schools. In many ways there’s no bad grammar in Bucks. (The old Burnham non selective school
had been awful for decades!)