Blue Coat School, Liverpool

[AnotherTeacherMum]

If you have DC at the school could you please give me an idea of

the NC level your DC were working at by end of y6 (DS likely to be 5b/5a- not sure if all the successful candidates are L6).

Did you tutor/ coach heavily to prepare?

How is the school in terms of pressure/ nurture?

Just need a little help deciding whether it would be right for DS to do entrance exam or not. He is pretty capable but his confidence is easily knocked. Don't want to do it if he has no real chance...

Thanks

I have a friend from work whose daughter applied and got in for sixth form and had got all bare one of her gcse at a stars , she said that she felt pressurised , is this year going to Sheffield to do medicine . If she gets the grades .

Have heard that standards are high , but guessing that kids know what's expected of them . Get bus home from work regularly and there usually very well behaved , seen them working on revision cards etc . For school work , one young boy reads the paper every morning.

Ds1 attends Blue Coat. Tutored him myself for the exam - If I remember rightly he was L5a/6 in yr6. I would think it highly unlikely any child would pass the exam without tutoring. The exam process itself is very demanding. There are always in the region of 700 applicants accompanied by anxious parents on the morning so even if your child is relaxed about the process by the time they have been put into the line for their respective exam hall they are likely to be very stressed - although all the staff do their best to make the process as easy as possible. Personally I would not submit a child to this unless they really wanted to do it and had a chance of passing.
Ds1 really wanted to go to Blue Coat and was keen to do the exam. He has flourished there - the subject teachers I have met all seem really enthused about the subjects they teach and enjoy teaching clever kids who challenge them (if you have a child like this people often see them as annoying smart alecs). I have no complaints about the pastoral care and the support in advising pupils on university choice in sixth form has been very good.
If your child is at a Liverpool school I'm sure his teachers will have some experience of former pupils who have been successful and will be able to advise you if your child should have a go.

I would say they need to be very high 5 or 6. My DC got a 6b in maths in yr 6 and did not come in group A of the exam although he was ill on the day of the entrance exam. I was advised that they would need to be around a 6a.
The year 7 children are taught year 8 maths so I would say a child would have to be naturally gifted at maths. All courses are taught over 2 years instead of the usual 3 and options are picked at the end of year 8.
The school does have a lovely atmosphere and all the children there want to learn, which is what makes the job enjoyable for teachers.
Hope this helps

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