grammar school question

[kikilondon]

re entrance tests...do you know whether your child has got a top 80 place before you complete the CAF (after results are out)? or just that they are of selective ability?

thanks

thanks for posting. kind of think that means pointless doing entrance for us as we'd need to know for definite before filling in CAF (though is CAF equal preference?)

we'd really want dd to go to a particular other school if she didn't get top 80. confused!!

thanks

your dd's school may have the actual score - you could try asking them

kikilondon - you need to look on the Eleven Plus Forum at the area relevant to you. The eleven plus has endless permutations across the different areas that still use it. You will find area, if not school, specific information there.

Yes, CAF is "equal preference" so you don't damage your chances of getting into a particular school by making it your second or third preference.

Under the new Admissions Code grammar schools are supposed "take all reasonable steps" to give parents the results of entrance tests before the deadline for submitting the CAF so that you don't waste preferences on schools where you have no chance of getting a place. Having said that, it would not surprise me if some grammar schools get this wrong this year as this is the first time they have had to do this. Previously many grammar schools only administered the test after the CAF was submitted.

The problem here is that different grammar schools do different things. So locally there is a specified pass mark and then admission criteria which are mainly around distance to the school. I would be confident that these schools will simply inform the parent whether the pass mark was met. It is then up to the parent to decide what preference to give on the CAF to the grammar school.
Some grammars work on the principle of taking the top X scores as recorded in the tests. To be honest I am not sure what they will do in terms of what they say, as to give an actual figure is going to lead to a lot of arguments around whether this is within the admission code or not and also how much inference there is that such a score would be sufficient to gain entry.
If the pupil does not meet the grammar school standard in the tests, then my reaction is that unless there is large amounts of back up data to show that the pupil is of suitable standard, that is already working at 5A level or above then putting the grammar school down as a preference is a waste of time and effort. You are simply deluding yourself and more importantly your child about their academic capability.

In our LEA they gi ve you your score and also the number of in and out of catchment candidates who achieved the cut off mark.