Numbers sitting 11+ in 2024

[SaturdayGiraffe]

Does anyone have the final number of children who sat (and the number who passed) for Kent 11+ this year?

Is it higher or lower than previous years? Just wondering where to find this info as I’ve heard a lot of conjecture that the independent schools closing/being taxed means more private school kids trying for grammar. So more competition.

Also; do they ever break down the results by private vs state?

Thanks

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/oct/05/grammar-applications-drop-despite-claims-swamped-after-vat-private-school-fees

The information is normally published by Kent council every year and it breaks down to Kent state school and independent/ooc. I am not sure how this information would help.

(Edit) - sorry OP I see you want figures for Kent. However on that Guardian article above I notice they left out the areas where numbers had increased. This article was published earlier this year about the 20% (!) increase in registrations over 2 years for the Glos exam: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c89w9j520k8o

The KCC website has the report for this year's exam (KCC state schools vs other, boy / girl entrants), plus tables from som years back, so ypu can compare the totals from those.

Thank you, yes only Kent test we’re looking at for the moment.

From the Guardian article it looks like 226 fewer applicants nationwide and 520 fewer in Kent.

But I’ve just found this https://theisleofthanetnews.com/2024/10/17/kent-test-results-will-be-received-today/

which says:

This year a total of 16,446 children sat the Kent Test – 10,912 who live in the county and the remainder from other local authority areas. Of the Kent children who sat the Test, 4,792 were assessed as being suitable for grammar school.

A far lower number - is it normal to have so many drop out?

Although the headline from the Guardian was demand for grammar dropped if you look at the DOE numbers it appears there would have been small increase in % of year 6 pupils that sat for grammar tests this year vs last year (this is all public info).

If you use the year 5 numbers for England for the last school year (as these are the most recent and would be the current year 6 cohort) and assume no significant movement there appears to be a very small increase as a % of total eligible students sitting these tests even if the total numbers have dropped.

So my guess it’s not a case of people dropping out, it’s more a case there are simply less year 6 students this year than last year so there have been less students taking the tests. You can search these DOE tables down to local authority so may give a good indication as to whether there are less overall students regionally in Kent.

As for impact - I guess it depends if previous years grammars increased their PAN to take into account the bulge years and now with an over all smaller number of year 6 students before are they now being asked to reduce the PAN again? If not then it’s good news as there will be a higher number of grammar places as an over all % of students.

Thanks for explaining!

The important point this year might not be so much how many took the test from private schools, but how many then decided to take up a place at a grammar.

I used to work as a private prep school and we always had a lot of children who took the 11+ but then went on to a private secondary. Some took it for the practice, some to give them a back up, some only wanted a super selective grammar and went private if they didn’t score high enough. Maybe this year more of those from the private schools who took the test and passed might decide to take up their places? All entirely speculative but I’m just saying that looking only at the numbers taking the test doesn’t give you the whole picture.

I should have added - this was for Kent.

Does anyone know the chances of being offered a place at Tunbridge Wells for boys when living in Orpington?