hindsight's a wonderful thing! Post 11+ thoughts

[minecraftfansmum]

My little minecraft fan managed 100% in his non-verbal reasoning test - giving him an IQ of 131+. However he missed out on the 11+ by 3 points in September 2012, the pass mark was 236 he scored 233 - which I think is fantastic since verbal reasoning isn't his strongest area. The appeal by the headmistress of his school was unsuccessful. He's always been a shy little dreamer - head in the clouds and chatterbox in class (only child) and his Y5 sats results were level 4s (he's a young end of July birthday). His new Y6 teacher called me up to school a few times to complain about his talking in class and moved him to sit with a group of girls for a while. This upset him a lot, hours of sobbing at home, however his sats practice tests have shown a big jump in his ability and I'm thinking he needed the kick up the proverbial! He's passed for St Anselm's, which is wonderful, managing 77% in their English papers and 81% in the maths. I'm wondering if it's worth appealing to the grammar admissions board on March 1st - or whether to leave it as St Anselm's seems to be a great school? Does anyone have any advice? (ps if your practicing for the 11+ do lots of timed work - don't let them diddle daddle!)

[springlamb]

The on-site farm seems fairly common where we are moving to. Two out of DD's first choice secondaries offer the rural curriculum, hence the farms. One also offers exotics husbandry, tarantulas and that. It will be a change from South London to be sure.
I admit to a huge sense of relief when dd's criteria for her secondary application was 'no all girls schools, gotta have a farm, gotta have a good music department'. Her first choice is mixed, rural curriculum, performing arts specialism with on-site theatre!

[NewFerry]

Erebus - St Edmunds school? Portsmouth?
Just trying to understand where the people are travelling 40 miles from.

[Erebus]

St Edmunds is a girls SM in Salisbury! Its results are actually very good considering it is fairly and squarely in GS territory. The point being that the sort of parent who is committed enough to drive 40 miles each way for a GS doesn't tend to be the type who'd willingly send their DD to the SM 'fall-back', however good!

I know someone who lives in Chineham, just to the NE of Basingstoke who goes every day, and her DD is, conveniently, close friends with a DD who lives between Marlborough and Swindon which I think is also a similar distance from Salisbury?

[NewFerry]

Sorry Erebus, I think you have misunderstood me.
The point I was making is that for most of Wiltshire there are no Grammars and secondary moderns. There are comprehensives. Salisbury excepted.
And that for most people, except those living with easy distance of Salisbury, the Grammar school would not figure as an option.
I think you are saying you know 2 parents who drive there from a distance, 1 from Wiltshire, and 1 from the neighbouring county of Hampshire. I am sure there will be others, but I think they will be in the minority.
If, on the other hand, you were arguing that people are willing to drive a great distance to avoid the secondary modern school..............?

[Erebus]

No, these girls DDs are quite 'the norm'. Seriously. Academically, it is a Very Good School (I believe pretty much always in the top 10 state schools in the country). My mother's neighbour's DD goes, though it's a mere 12 miles for her (as it was for me 'back then'!). This is the source of the info. I have a passing interest because it was my old school! The neighbour is 'lucky' in that they live 6 miles from a very good comp in the next county (where her other DCs who didn't pass the 11+, go), a true comp cos Hants was one of the first counties to go 100% comp., but that option wasn't available back in the day of catchment-or-nothing!

I guess the 40 miles each way'er parents consider it an 'easy trip' compared to £12k a year in private fees which is where quite a few non-passers in 'the area' go!

As an aside, parents of non-passing boys in Salisbury have a rather more difficult decision to make as none of the boys (or even co-ed) SM's shine.

[piggywigwig]

Erebus
"Fwiw, I went to SWGS a thousand years ago but it was a very different beast back then, full of local village girls from the surrounding catchment. Even back then, and even being a SM (as really, it still is) St Eddy's got quite a few girls into our GS 6th form as opposed to a lot of the other SMs who barely managed an O level between them.

Hmmm - I went to SWGS more than 30 years ago and we never had any girls from St Edmunds in our 6th Form. We had one or two from La Retraite and one from Goldolphin. We even made the national rags when I was in the Upper 6th, as we had a boy in our year - the only one in SWGS' 57 year history at that point...but no St Edmunds girls.

Erebus
"Academically, it is a Very Good School (I believe pretty much always in the top 10 state schools in the country). "

Are you talking about SWGS, I wonder? If you are, then I wondered if there was a typo with the word "country" ie an erroneous "R"? It may well be one of the top ten in the county but according to the state selective school league tables, it sits at 91st place, by "A" Level results. It tops the results for the county of Wiltshire with GCSE's and is third with "A" Levels, trumping BWS.

[piggywigwig]

I've checked the Telegraph's state school "A" Level results..SWGS is 64th I think

[Erebus]

I was thinking about GCSE results, the ones that've just been issued.

In my L6th class (LVIS! Miss Sweetnam!) out of 24 of us, 6 were from St Edmunds, 2 from La Retraite, 4 from elsewhere, the rest had come up through the school.

I was at SWGS from 1973-80. And can only tell it as I found it.

[Yellowtip]

SWGS is comprehensive for the sixth form now though? I thought the last HT brought that in?

[Erebus]

I actually don't know!

[Yellowtip]

It is comp in the sixth form Erebus.

[Erebus]

Um- doesn't sound particularly 'comprehensive' at least in terms of entry requirements to me! Q from the webpage: "To enter the Sixth Form you will need to have gained a minimum of 6 GCSE passes at grades A* to C. If you want to continue a subject to AS/A2 level, you will need to achieve at least a B grade and least a B grade in English, Maths or Science. We expect students to study 4 AS level subjects and AS level General Studies".

We needed 6 'O' levels to be allowed into the 6th form in 1978!

[seeker]

How can an6th form be "comprehensive"? Presumably you have to get at least minimum entry requirements?

[mummytime]

Erebus that sounds pretty much like the entry requirement for my DCs (definitely comprehensive) Sixth form. Although DCs school has introduced a "foundation year sixth form" for those needing to do more GCSEs or not quite ready for 4 A'levels. Their schools does expect those wanting vocational courses to go to the local (or other) FE college.

[Yellowtip]

SWGS is comprehensive in the sixth form seeker. You could always give them a ring to find out.

[seeker]

So it doesn't have any entry requirements? Wow- what are its results like?

[Yellowtip]

I don't know a ghreat deal about it but I think it has broadly the same entry requirements as the average comp and significantly lower than the entry requirement for joining most other grammars in the sixth form. It was a pretty radical move to introduce it seeker, so don't be too sneery.

[Yellowtip]

Sp, sorry.

[seeker]

I'm not being sneery! I've just never heard of a no entry requirement 6th form, that's all. And for it to be "comprehensive" it would have to take all comers.

[seeker]

Comprehensive schools don't have comprehensive 6th form!

[Yellowtip]

The general concept is different from other grammars seeker. I'm not here to champion it or defend it; it's not my patch.

[piggywigwig]

Erebus

SWGS was 21st in the GCSE tables for England 2012, according to The Telegraph. This table also includes indies.

[Erebus]

Er- no, SWGS 6th form does not have comprehensive entry if by that you mean- like a secondary comprehensive which cannot discriminate against any DC, regardless of ability (for instance). Needing 6 GCSE passes discriminates against the less able. Therefore its entry is not comprehensive.

21st for GCSEs is pretty good, isn't it? I mean, taking the very ablest DDs from miles away and turning out 21st across the country inc indies, hey?

[Yellowtip]

It's as comprehensive as an ordinary decent comp, but not more so. That's the thing which distinguishes it. I'm not going to get wrapped around the axle with semantics.