DD YEAR 5 when do we start looking at schools?

[SunSeptember]

I thought It would be next sept no? Am so confused?

I would like her to try for grammar too and not sure when I should be starting to prepare her or putting her name down

your first stop should be your council school admission website. they wil be able to give you accurate advice for your area.

You need to do the open evenings in year 5.
Year 6 is too late. IME.
Then you can go back to the schools you liked in year 6.
Applications usually need to be in near the beginning of year 6.
But it may be different where you are.
You need to look on your local authority website.

For grammar schools I would look at the options now and start thinking about tutoring if you want to go that way. There is no point in putting in loads of work preparing for the 11 plus if you and she love the comp/secondary modern down the road. Also look at elevenplusexams.co.uk for regional advice and tips.

This month probably, we're going to one today. Have a look for open evenings and visit a few. Then you'll have to visit again and make up your mind next autumn.

Ah, missed the bit about grammars. Don't know anything about them I'm afraid.

Definitely try to see the schools both this year and next. I found it very interesting and after the visit at the beginning of year 6 my opinions had completely changed. You should be able to find the grammar school arrangements for your area easily enough online.

Definitely look now. My LA is comprehensive but we border a different LA which has 11+ - they took the exam last weekend. I think the deadline to apply to those schools was July so you'd want to know well in advance if you want to apply/do the exam prep etc.

Depends how much choice you have in terms of schools you might actually get into. We had one school and one long shot, so didn't bother until Y6 open days.

I would go and look in Year 5 (we went to an evening and morning session) and then you can return in Y6 if you are still interested. Applications need to be made by the end of October in Y6. And yes, you need to find out the deadline for applying to sit the 11+ in your area. Unless you live in Bucks for example, whereby every child is entered unless you say otherwise. Even if you are only choosing between one grammar and one Upper or Comp your child might appreciate the chance to visit several times in order to decide where they want to go.

ok brilliant. So I just look at schools opening days then, and its a free for all and we just go along?>

Your local paper should be full of open evening information. Ours had loads in a couple of weeks ago.
If you have missed the adverts you will need to do some googling.

We visited our main school of interest in July when dd1 was in yr4. We have the other one next week and we’ll go back to the first one again next July so that we have a clear idea of our preference come this time next year. I can’t even believe I’m thinking about high school, time has flown.

When I was looking, some parents went by themselves in Year 5 (and Year 4 too, from memory), and then went with their child to visit their preferred schools in Year 6.
I would also find out the relevant dates for grammar school entrance e.g. when the exams are. If you are intending to get a tutor, it is possible that a lot of them will already be booked up so you may need to move quickly on that front if you are intending to tutor.

We went with DD in Y5. There is not much choice but DH and I wanted both to go and see the school and with no childcare in the evening or weekends there is no choice but taking her. A lot of her classmates came as well, I think only a handful of parents came alone.

If you are thinking of Grammar schools check when the deadlines are for applying, one near us closes admission to the test in the Summer holidays for a test end of September to give parents the results before the secondary school admission deadline, absolutely no exceptions. Others are more flexible. Tutors can be booked up fast, a lot in our area also tutor for SATS, so their diaries are filling up fast.

In Y6 we now re-visit the schools we really liked. This time we do a tour first and then the talk to maximize the time. Ideally do some homework if you know parents at your primary school who already have children in the relevant secondaries. Read the website, prospectus, newsletter, see what they say about trips. We also asked about mandatory GCSE subjects.

Definitely recommend 2 visits to schools. Some areas have open days in June - so you go end yr 4 and end yr 5 or our area is September so we went sept yr 5 and sept yr 6. They are very busy and you can't see it all in one night. Plus it gives you chance to think.

Our local authority had a list of all the dates online with the schools application info.

If you just go year 6 some open evening are just a few weeks before final CAF deadline.

We disliked one school and revisited with fresh eyes year later and still had same reaction so knew it wasn't going down on the list (ofsted outstanding dead cert of a place but not for us or DD)

Grammars you need to register to sit test - closing date is usually summer before or first week September yr 6. So they children sit exam September and get results before online applications are done to local authority by 31/10.

The grammar school open evening should give info on the type of test - there are different sorts eg GL or CEM. Plus some schools test non verbal reasoning some don't, some essay, some multiple choice.

elevenplusexams.co.uk/forums is a good place for info - there is a section for each area.

My children's secondary school open evening is this month so check local school websites for details.

We went on the official evening with Ds1, plus a day time one for parents only during term time and when we had decided on the school we went on a normal school day.

We met the transition lead as our child was going to a secondary school with none of his school friends. This way we got to see the school when they were not expecting visitors and therefore being on their best behaviour. Just a normal school day.

But yes, definitely look in year 5, year 6 is too late. Our admissions open up 1st August and the deadline is 31st October so seeing a school in the September/October is too rushed I feel.

Yes, look now. Of the schools in our area one has already finished their open mornings for the year. Our Borough has a list on the website of open days and evenings of all state secondary schools. We also need to check the schools of the next borough.

My Y5 DD had an assembly today by one of the local secondary schools. There are open days later this month, so we're planning to go this year and then probably go back again next year.

Our local grammars mostly do their open evenings at the end of the summer term, we looked round in year 4 and went back in year 5. We also visited one comp at the start of year 5, as a comparison for the grammar.

We're year 6 now and in the middle of scheduling a bajillion open evening/day visits over the next 3 weeks.