Bluecoat

[Faye1090]

Hi, this is my first time posting I’m not well versed in the workings of the site atm! Just wondering if anybody had any details or experience with Bluecoat school admission’s (recommendations for tutors would be highly welcomed)

thanks x

There are several schools in the country with 'Bluecoat' in their title. Which one do you mean?

Oh sorry it’s The Liverpool Bluecoat School

My daughter goes there; she's in Year 7 now.

The admissions process is fairly straightforward - kids sit the exam (English and Maths, 50 mins each); 27 places are set aside for kids on free school meals - so, essentially they are competing against each other rather than the whole cohort - and the remaining 153 places go to the others with the highest marks. That comprises Group A, i.e. guaranteed places. Group B is the next 40 on the highest-scoring list, and they will get any places available if Group As don't take their place. Obviously the chances vary from year to year, but from what I've read, it seems like usually 20-30 get in from Group B. They used to not rank Group B, but from 2022 intake they've changed that so you know where you stand within the group, i.e. if you're top 10, you've got a great chance but if you're #39 probably no chance.

We didn't use a tutor, but did lots of extra work at home.

@duckydoo234 can I ask what extra work you did at home and where to find practice exams? Thanks

Hi, on application, the school will provide some sample material, but it's not a full practice exam. The exams are a bit of everything in Maths and English, so you kinda have to be really good across the board in both, rather than focus on specific areas in practice papers.

We found Schofield & Sims best for Maths. CGP for comprehension - started with Bond and lost the will to live, and found CGP much more accessible and relevant. But Bond were really good for SPAG, word meanings etc.

Great thank you . My daughter is at greater depths for most of her subjects but we have only now discovered about the 11+ exams and with them coming up very soon we are unsure as to whether to let her attempt it !

I will take a look at those papers you mentioned thank you

So glad I have seen this ! My little
boys going into year 5 next year .. so just doing a little research regarding him going to Bluecoat.. will you keep us updated on everything .. good luck to your daughter too

It’s probably too late for the OP now, but I’d just like to share some information on the school as a fairly recent ex student of the school. If you want your child to go to a school with a nice environment, do not send them to Blue Coat. The atmosphere is horrible - the kids are all competitive to the point of bullying anyone for getting something wrong in class. The SLT don’t care about anything or anyone. They bully the staff (just look at recent news, literally the police being called to union/SLT meetings because of violence). They see the kids as grade numbers and nothing more. The teachers are fed up and this rightly so affects their teaching. The students have reported “relations” going on in school hours between staff members, visibly - and there have been relationships between students and teachers before too. A caretaker killed themselves on school grounds. A teacher admitted during an assembly to killing someone when drunk driving. The school is an absolute mess. I became a shell of who I was while I was there and the best thing I did was leave and go to a different place for sixth form (and no I wasn’t one of the students who was “encouraged” to leave because I got bad GCSE grades - yes that does happen). I really urge you to consider other schools.

Sorry you had a bad time there emg23 . Seems you’re better off now ! Thank you for posting , everything in your post is the reason we opted out of Bluecoat in the end, she placed category B out of over 1100 children that sat the test .
My daughter would have just fell apart there, she already puts so much pressure on herself to do better and we just didn’t want that extra pressure on her.

Op you do know the old headteacher was sacked after having relationships with pupils? And the new headteacher was forced to resign last month and is under police investigation. The staff have had a mass walkout over the issues with the school over management and day to day issues, and they have at least 5 planned strike days ahead of them. When they tried to have a meeting to address the issues and try to work out a way to move forward, it become so volatile that the police were called, they didn’t know which side to arrest as they were both aggressive. The staff are starting to resign and there will be no new head teacher until sometime in 2025. My daughter got offered a place here in 2022 and I’m so fucking grateful we went for an all girls school instead. The results look amazing so people think this is still a prestigious school, but the headteachers are literally child rapists and the bullying and aggressive form both pupils and teachers are unreal.

Just to put a more balanced view across.
Ive got two children at Bluecoat currently and preparing my third for their prospective entry next year. There’s good and bad in every school, I’ve definitely seen some recruitment/retention issues with Bluecoat over the last few years. We’ve had some frankly poor teachers who were clearly struggling for whatever reason and a lot of substitutes. It’s clear to me as a parent who the engaged staff are - the ones who approach us at school community events and recognise my children as siblings of their students. We are thankful that they stay and do all they can for our children.
My children know nothing of a lot of the allegations made by previous posters, they love the school and have formed some really lovely friends. Eldest struggled with the yr7 transition and the LRC have been nothing but fabulous helping her through the anxiety she had. She feels supported and that they listen.
It’s certainly true that it’s the students who drive the high expectations. There’s plenty of competition amongst the boys particularly I would say but not everyone joins in.
The interim head is coming in from the secondary local to me, I’ve met him at various school and community events and if he can bring some of the Chesterfield ethos to Bluecoat it will be so positive.
On the recent issues - there is a handful of people with big mouths and axes to grind. Dragging the students into it has been unacceptable imo, it’s a workplace dispute.
My only gripe would be the lack of real choice for GCSE options.

I agree with PleaseStandUp. I have a child in the school, and we've had a few issues, mainly around bullying - it kinda righted itself but the school didn't do much except "ask" the bully/psychopath to stop bullying others. Anyway, things moved on and the bully is now an outcast, but not because of anything the school did. The recent problems are between the staff and senior leadership, and my child hasn't felt any of it. So, all in all, it's a very good school, high expectations for kids, good confidence building, generally good levels of teaching, the staff crisis isn't visible to the students. Yes, there are some errant kids, and general issues/sh*t that you'll get anywhere, but overall I'd recommend it. Second child will be doing the test in 2025 and hopefully going there too.

FYI, the format of the Blue Coat exam is changing. As of Sept this year, it will be a mixture of multiple choice and fill-in-the-blanks type questions (Maths and English only, no VR or NVR), with a higher emphasis on creative writing. The test is one that is developed by Reading Grammar School. Candidates will have to 'pass' each of Maths, English and Writing to be eligible for ranking.

There are several schools with the name 'Bluecoat'. I wonder if some of the stuff online has become conflated and treated as coming out of just the one school.

This thread is specifically about the Liverpool Blue Coat School

Hi, found your response by searching. Just wondering how you know 20-30 in group B have a chance? My daughter ranks 26 in group B, and not sure if there is any chance.

Sorry, been away so only seeing this now. I followed some threads a few years ago on https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/11plus/index.php (when child #1 was preparing for the test), and although there is nothing scientific, it seemed that typically 20-30 from Group B were successful. I mean, they wouldn't make Group B 40 people if only 5 or 10 usually got in. So at #26 you probably have a reasonable chance but no guarantee.