Wandsworth Test Results

[gazzalw]

DS got 95% in his WT today - we are very proud of him but gather this won't be enough to get him a place at Graveney ....

I am not an expert on this but some other Mumsnetters are so watch this space.

As far as I know based on the information we used (we are not in Borough and probably not in catchment either) the top 60 or so in the Test get offered the selective places (but if they are all in catchment too they will get the selective places too if they score highly enough) but the others are all based on being in catchment which is some ridiculous distance of less than 760 metres (something like that!). But consider that a lot of those who score well in the test will (like us for DS) have done other selective exams too (which are higher on our preference lists) so it might work out that actually children scoring virtually 100% have other schools (for which they may well get offers) higher on their lists.

The very clever girl we know who got 99.3% has Graveney as her third option not her first..... so if she gets her preferred first choice she will obviously not get a place at Graveney too....

Still all seems a bit of a minefield....good luck with getting your choice of R/C schools!

OH God(sorry about pun)..I give up! I wiil just get bubbley in for celebration or wine for drowning of sorrows and working out what i do next..nice that we get a whole w/end to drink it before we can do anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a son at graveney. I also have a .year 6 who scored 135 and 134 in wtest. You cannot get the percentage score in the way some of you have described as it is standardised scoring. If you google standardised scores you will be directed to the NFER wbsite where it is all explained and has a chart telling you the percentages for your childs scores. Its brilliant. Very proud of my son who acheived 99%!!!Good luck.

So gazzalw if your child got 95% by working out in the normal way you may want to check out the NFER web site as you may be surprised. I thought my son had 95 too but actually worked out at 99% which should be enough for Graveney. We live in catchment and get in on sibling too so we wont be taking away a selective place. To confirm........ If you live in graveney catchment area you do not take a selective place even if you get100%. You just get in on area.regardless of score.

Oh thanks for that! Well done to your son - you must be very proud. So the standardised scoring presumably takes into account their birthdates does it? Will look later on - just being lazy!

Not sure I totally understand it as I cannot see in that explanation where birth months are factored in, but it would seem unless I am missing something that with DS's scores he would be at 99% too! Wow.... That is more exciting and made my evening!

By the way father of DS's classmate who scored so highly (as mentioned above) is by profession a number cruncher so assume he's done it the proper way to get his calculation result!

gazza, there is hope for your fingernails yet!!

Good news.

That's made me feel a lot more confident Blu (hello!) and Sgray!

Glad i could help. Signed up today!!!!

Have letter from council which explains birthtdates are taken into consideration.

Sorry to those who don't want it to be this way but i'm pretty sure that if you would have got in on distance but score highly enough to get a selective place, then you get in on a selective place. The only difference between you and others on a selective place who are outside the distance is that your siblings also get in.

As for the percentages, they're not really relevant other than as a means of talking about the result. Ds1, for example, got full marks in the test but has a summer birthday. So i've always thought that meant he could have got some questions wrong but was helped by the late birthday when they came to the standardising business. Of course i could be talking nonsense, in which case, apologies.

I really feel for you all. I know how agonising it is from last year. I'm just having a year off from it all - I'll be there again next year with ds2.

Wasn't aware that the scores could be given out. What info do I need to give the council?

Hi skone ,amazingly all i gave was DOB and name !!!! Bit worrying how easy it is !!!!

Pretty sure though that they probably mark off that someone has phoned for the result so hopefully they wouldn't give the information out to anyone else....

So are birthdates taken into consideration in the raw scores they give you or is that what they tweak around with when then determining who gets the places...?

As i said earlier i have a son at Graveney who could have got in on test but was accepted on distance which gives his sibling a place too. This then did not take one of the selective places.
In the letter from the council which my son was given at school on friday it states "The standardised scores take into account a pupils age"
Hope this helps some of you.

I have an out of catchment friend whose DC1 got in on the test in the days when selective places also got a sibling place. DC2 also got very high test score which would have won a selective place, but the sibling entitlement came first. That is what she was told, anyway.

As I understand it, Iris, the selective test places are the last 'slot' an applicant slots into if they do not qualify on distance or sibling.

It is of course in the school's interest to take as many selective applicants as possible.

Believe me, Blu, I'll be absolutely delighted if that is the case! I have always been slightly irritated at the thought of children taking selective places when they could have got in on distance. (Not their fault, obviously, for scoring highly and living close.) I'm still not convinced, though.

Surely if the first category in the admissions policy gives 60 odd places to the top scorers in the test, then they award those places regardless of where those top scorers live? Yes, if those 60 top scorers would have qualified under distance as well their siblings get treated differently from those who get a selective place but live miles away. Then under the next categories places go to the looked after children, children with specific social or health needs, siblings (depending on when the older siblings were admitted), and then finally they get to the distance places .

They then run two waiting lists, one for selective places and one for distance. Presumably a child who scores highly and lives nearby could be on both lists in different positions?

Who knows! All I know for certain is that I am very annoyed at living literally a few metres outside the area with a child already at the school and younger siblings who won't automatically get in. We should have bought about eight doors down the street and they could have glided in on ds1's coat tails!

Iris, I would agree that the admissions information states that the 63 selective places are offered irrespective of whether the applicant is in catchment or not, as you said.

When my ds1 got in i asked the admissions team if he got in on test or catchment and they told me that they keep selective places only for children outside the area despite high marks.so rest assured local children are not taking places from the selected few.
I agree its a shame that the catchment area is so small which is made worse by the amount of people who rent in Furzedown just to get their child a place and then move out a few months after application. That surely should be checked out but there lies another discussion!

sgray - you see, my friend came away with the same message. But the admissions info they have on their website says :

"Category 1
All applicants applying to any Wandsworth School will take the Wandsworth Year 6 Test consisting of two papers ? Non-Verbal Reasoning and Verbal Reasoning. The 63 places offered at Graveney will be offered to those applicants scoring the highest aggregate score in these papers, including applicants who would otherwise qualify under Category 2"

Category 2 is siblings / special medical need and then distance.

So that is in direct contradiction to what the school are telling people

However, it does mean that the boundary for distance is then a little wider as any selective-succeeeders within catchment won't be taking a catchment place. And there are surely as many 'catchment' applicants biting their nails as selective hopefuls.

Also, Iris, there is provision for siblings of 'selective' places IF the 'selective' older sib was ALSO in catchment that year...as far as I understand what they say in ii C below:

"Category 2
187 places allocated in the following order:
(i) Children Looked After
(ii) Applicants not admitted under Category 1 who have a sibling attending the school on the date of admission, and whose sibling was:
(a) admitted under Category 1 or Category 2 before September 2008;
(b) admitted under Category 2 from September 2008;
(c) admitted under Category 1 from September 2008, but whose address was within the distance from Graveney School which would have qualified for a Category 2 place"

lost !!!!!!!

It means that this who qualify under category 1 no longer (since 2008) give a sibling priority to siblings who do not qualify under category 2 as well. So a "selective place" sibling only transmits sibling prioity if the older sibling got the place under category 1 but would also have got it under category 2 as well.

Or, to put it another way:
If a child gets a selective place but would ALSO have qualified for a distance place, their sibling will qualify for a sibling place.
If they get a selective place but live out of catchment, their sibling will not be eligible for a sibling place.

Oh, well thanks, sgray and Blu. I no longer need to worry about friends' high scoring children who live a bit nearer to the school depriving mine of a place!

It is actually a real shame that the children who get selective places come from so far away. Nearly all ds1's friends live miles away which means it is far more difficult for him to socialise out of school than it is for his friends from primary who are in upper and middle and thus have all their classmates on their doorstep.