Parmiter's School Watford

[hct123]

we are in St Albans....should we send our child there (if he gets in!!!) or stick with local school where he will know more people??!!

[TheFirstOfHerName]

The academic test for the S W Herts consortium (including Parmiter's) contains two papers.

The Maths paper is fairly straightforward: 50 questions in 50 minutes, standard format. It is similar to the practice papers published by GL Assessment and others.

The verbal reasoning paper is a new style (September 2015 will be the first time the consortium have used it) and is a CEM-style paper focusing on letters, words, vocabulary and reading comprehension. I have no idea where you would find practice papers for this.

[camaymondair]

Hi,can any one please give me the information for academic test parmiters where can I buy the test book.

[LPrimeTime]

hi there! it was only last year i finished my schooling from Parmiters (I am not a mother! i just stumbled across this post!)

Parmiters is a school for gifted and talented, special and educational needs, disadvantaged children and more importantly ANYBODY!

The exam criteria may be high to get into the school but they have the best teachers in the county! some of the best facilities i have seen in whati have been in 3 Senior/Grammar schools!

They are all friendly and do not tolerate bullying.
Will help your children with any academic needs (as much as they can anyway!)

Run lots of extra curricular classes and catch up classes during lunchtimes and after school.. the detention system is very strict.

The detention system is strict but useful! certainly makes you regret not handing in your homework!

i was far from being the "brightest" kid in that school.. of which i do miss very much! but i passed the exams that i needed to in my GCSEs and have since gone on to start up my own IT company.

A very good school for all people! (even if you need to hire a tutor to get them throught the initial exam.. imo it would be money well spent!) ;)

[tunaandcheesesandwich]

Ahh... so sweet of Humphrey89 to post on this thread, shame he didn't get a response. He must be aged 89 if went to Parmiters in the 40's!

[TheFirstOfHerName]

Aaaaargh: sucked into zombie thread. Where was the red writing?

[TheFirstOfHerName]

I have two children who have done the S W Herts consortium test. The second scored high enough to get into any of the schools, in any year (including Parmiter's). He also has SN. SEN /additional needs does not equate to low ability.

We didn't choose Parmiter's as it was not set up to meet his additional needs, but some of my friends have children there who are v.happy.

[comingfromexperience]

I know this thread is old, but I am posting as it the first thing that comes up when you type in 'parmiters mumsnet' into Google. As a student at said Parmiter's (I really only use this website for the delicious recipes, don't judge!), I can assure you, if you only tutoring your child for the exam, then your child will not be able to cope. I know from experience; my friend was tutored for 5 years and their parents paid nearly £5k for the tutoring, as soon as our year were streamed into sets, she was in only in bottom or third set, as she struggled greatly with the amount and type of work we were doing. For example, in Year 8, we were doing GCSE science (but only for those in second and top set) and Maths (same rule applies). I would suggest going for the test if your child is naturally very smart or just don't apply at all for Parmiter's. I don't want to sound pompous, but if your child can only do the test with tutoring, then your child will be struggling.

[comingfromexperience]

I know this thread is old, but I am posting as it the first thing that comes up when you type in 'parmiters mumsnet' into Google. As a student at said Parmiter's (I really only use this website for the delicious recipes, don't judge!), I can assure you, if you only tutoring your child for the exam, then your child will not be able to cope. I know from experience; my friend was tutored for 5 years and their parents paid nearly £5k for the tutoring, as soon as our year were streamed into sets, she was in only in bottom or third set, as she struggled greatly with the amount and type of work we were doing. For example, in Year 8, we were doing GCSE science (but only for those in second and top set) and Maths (same rule applies). I would suggest going for the test if your child is naturally very smart or just don't apply at all for Parmiter's. I don't want to sound pompous, but if your child can only do the test with tutoring, then your child will be struggling.

[Humphrey89]

Please excuse me intruding on your website. I was at Parmiter's School in the forties (yes, 40s!). I was very interested to read the posts about my old school. Clearly the tradition of high standards lives on, and long may it continue.
Fantastic that you have this website. How my mother and wife would have loved it!

[Pusheed]

And I've noticed that as you drive towards Luton the houses tend to get smaller and cheaper and the people more, how shall I put it? Less high attaining?

I think we need a crash helmet each.

[QueenofHerts]

Worship at my feet, pusheed ...

You're quite right I shouldn't have implied that if you have a faith you are more intelligent. I should qualified that my saying something like "those who appear to have a faith according to St G's incredibly complex admission criteria" have higher attaining children. And you've got to admit that houses in Harpenden tend to be on the large and expensive side ....?

I haven't made the SEN/lower/middle/high attainers up by the way. That's from the DfE 2011 league tables, though you have to do a bit of poking around to find it. That's hard data.

[Pusheed]

"You need to secure that crash helmet, Pusheed St G's is selective by faith and by the fact that you need a PhD in admissions procedures to work out its pretty complex criteria and/or a large income bracket to live in the Harpenden area, 'cos that is posher than plebby St A . It also has fewer pupils with special needs, far fewer lower attainers and far more higher attainers than its st alb counterparts."

Do you want to borrow my crash helmet after I've finished with it? :o

There are a few SN parents on MN, sorry, I meant parents with children who have special needs (Apparently 'SN parents' is a derogatory term ) who will take offence at your comments.

You are also suggesting that people of faith and/or who are well-off have cleverer children.

And I thought I made inflamatory posts :) Teach me master. I have so much to learn from you :o :o

[breadandbutterfly]

Parmiters is good; Sandringham & Beaumont are regarded as the best locally in St A. Why not visit and see which ones you prefer?

If you want to apply for Parmiters the rules are changing this year, so everything will be much earlier - the forms to enter the exam must be in by June, the exams done in Sept and results back by early Oct. If your ds doesn't do so well, you've not lost anything, as application forms for the schools don't have to be in till end Oct - mightas well do the exams and see how it goes, as there is now nothing to lose.

[hct123]

oh, and before anyone says anything..i know i cant spell!! smily fce!!! xx

[hct123]

Good evening ladies and time out!!!!!!

Thank you All for your answers!!

Queen of hearts, you have answered me before on other links...thats great, thank you for being my personal guru xx

im not offended by any put downs...im a mum of three..im used to it (hee hee!)

just to update you on St Georges...

they have changed the admissiond criterion from last month.

now its 80% from harpenden and 20% villages...None from St Albans anymore (sad face).

re Parmiters...ive re3ad about the earlier exam and i understand the basics of that BUT!!...i wonder if they will give those who fail the exam an idea of how close they were, so wether or not its still worth applying because others who get a place may not take it up...if u see what i mean.

(i did look around last year, and liked it...i like dissaplined schools.. i think i would have done better if my school was strickter!)

guess when it comes to schools, we all wast the best for our children xx

[QueenofHerts]

You need to secure that crash helmet, Pusheed

St G's is selective by faith and by the fact that you need a PhD in admissions procedures to work out its pretty complex criteria and/or a large income bracket to live in the Harpenden area, 'cos that is posher than plebby St A . It also has fewer pupils with special needs, far fewer lower attainers and far more higher attainers than its st alb counterparts. Still an excellent school, but not quite comparing like with like

[Pusheed]

Queen - It depends on what your expectations are If you compare the academic record of these schools against St George in Harpenden, which is also a non-selective school, then they aren't that great, relatively speaking

[QueenofHerts]

Blimey OP you seem v concerned with getting in to 'best' school! I've answered on one of your other threads.

Parmiters - most children (even the exceptionally bright) are tutored from Y5 for the entrance exam. I know many who have got in there. Like any exam depends on performance on the day - there are some who are not that academic but do well in exam and get in, other bright kids who get offers from STABS or Habs but not at Parm. If you think your dc is bright it's worth a go; if (to judge from your other threads) you have Sandringham/Beaumont/Verulam as options then you've got a fantastic choice indeed and your ds will probably do just as well there as at P.

Pusheed - I am gobsmacked that you think St A schools "aren't that great"

[ReallyTired]

Pusheed, the problem is the national curriculum at secondary school level rather than any particular school. I don't blame you for choosing private if you can afford it.

However I know that some children do extremely well at either Adeyfield or Astley Cooper. A child with the right attitude will do better than some children at St Albans School or St Albans High.

[moscow]

The point I was raising was that I didn't think the statement there aren't any really bad schools in St A was that accurate, even if the term is relative. If you look at OP's original post, it mentions Parmiters... someone considering Parmiters via the academic route (as oppposed to geography) is hardly going to consider FB a 'good school', and tbh, I think few people would, as it has had, and still has, many many issues that may or may not be resolved over the next few years. In my view, all the schools, bar that one unfortunately, could be considered 'good' if 'good' means 'good enough'. But there are some really great schools here, so I disagree with Pusheed as well. But yes, it is all relative...if you want your DCs to go to a school with 100% getting good GCSEs, then not even Beaumont and Sandringham are going to do that for you...

[Pusheed]

We live in St Albans and we went private. Friends often ask why, since the area have a wealth of good schools. We always give a neutral answer that hopefully doesn't make us sound snobbish or elitist but the reality it that they aren't that great. As Really said, the term "good school" is all relative.

[ReallyTired]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/education/school_tables/secondary/11/html/919.stm

If you live in st albans you have a wealth of good schools. The term "good school" is all relative.

Order the list by 5 good GCSE and you will find that the worst school in St albans, Francis Bacon had 49% of its children achieve good GCSEs. Even with Francis Bacon, the value added is quite respectible.

Imagine if you are unfortunate to live between two truely shit schools called Adeyfield and Astley Cooper, then none of the St Albans schools look that bad.

[moscow]

Also, re. what you say about catching religion, of the three faith secondary schools I can think of, certainly two of them would rate fairly low on the 'scoreboard'. The third is much higher up in terms of academic achievement, but is a girls' school, and OP is looking for a place for DS. Not criticising what you're saying ReallyTired, just a bit .

[moscow]

ReallyTired: interested to know what leads you to say 'not any really bad schools in St Albans'? What makes a school bad? And sorry, but I think a lot of people would disagree with you on whether there are any really bad schools. Hopefully that will change though.....

[bitweepy]

If they have changed the system and you find out where you are in the academic test before applying, then that is a huge help because at least it brings more realism to the process and avoids "wasted" choices. Hope that is the case for Parmiters, OP, as will certainly help you decide and apologies again for the "innocent" comment, especially if the change mentioned above by CeciC does come in, which completely blows my response out of the water (I am serious about considering moving house, though, because if your nearest school is not one you would want, then you may not have any other option).