How does entry to secondary school work?

[Imsosorryalan]

Im a long way off secondary school as my eldest dd is only 7 but it got me thinking about sec. Schools and how you choose. Is it like primary where you get choices and they base it on criteria or can you just choose any you like? We have a grammar or a rough secondary and it worries me that if she doesn't make the grammar, we will have to choose the 'satisfactory' comp.

You get to state your preferences, the number you can state depends on your LA. In our area we could put down up to 6. They each have an admissions criteria which will be used to allocate places. It was a totally new experience for me because DD is going from home education to secondary.

I highly recommend going to have a look round the schools you like the look of a year before you have to apply. That way when it comes to applications you can look more seriously at the ones you were keen on. Open days/mornings/evenings are usually in September/October and the application has to be made by the end of October. That doesn't leave you very long if you only start looking the year you apply.

Yes, essentially the same, so you would need to read the criteria for the schools you would like to see if you would meet them. Many ordinary (as opposed to grammar) secondaries go on distance etc just like primaries, but there are also many that have other criteria - taking a certain % of intake based on a specific talent, for example, or taking bands of ability, or having a catchment! You would need to read the admissions criteria carefully.

Hello Imsosorryalan

Was in much the same position as you for DD1 (grammars or less than stallar comps - now both in special measures).

Our solution was up the work at home for DD1 (who finished Y2 on NCL1 on KS1 SATs) and move to avoid 'sink' schools.

If you can't move (for financial/ personal reasons) then really put in that time at home.

Several things can make a huge difference at ages 7 - 9:

This is the time to ensure that reading skills are high and that vocabulary is developing. Really encourage nightly reading - it makes a huge difference. Read to your child - don't drop this - read books that they are interested in but can't access yet or read to them at weekends from books you both enjoy (your childhood favourites, series - Lemony Snicket is great fun is you like dark humour, etc...).

Work on those calculation skills: addition/ subtraction/ multiplication - you really want them capable of handling all of this to 3 digits & really 2/3 decimal places. With division - at this age - really aim for by 9 able to handle inverse multiplication facts - so 36 divided by 9 is ? And instantly knowing it's 4 because of the 9s times table facts.

If you work on that for the next 2 years - by Year 5 (the year you seriously have to prepare for the 11+) you should be in a good place. We didn't start seriously working on preparing for 11+ until Sept of Year 5 - starting with things like bond books/ free downloaded materials off 11+ websites. DD1 actually did pass the Birmingham grammar test to get into one but it was quite far away (1 hour commute) and our local option (having moved) was good; so we agreed with her decision (she didn't want to do buses on her own) to go to the local comprehensive.

Finally I'd advise following discussions for your region on the 11+ forum - usually at the top of the regional page there will be discussions on best resources, typical content of past tests, etc... which can help you guide preparations in Year 5 (ages 9 - 10) toward success on the test. Link here: www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/11plus/index.php - just scroll down to regions and find yours.

HTH

Do you not know any parents in your area who can tell you about the schools? They will know how the process works and what hoops you have to go through.

Just one word of warning - check you are not in the catchment of a failing/inadequate school as your preference may well have no bearing on your allocation - preference NOT choice.

It depends where you live

the three counties with Grammar systems and the handful of other LEAS with superselectives dominate the threads on Mumsnet

most of the rest of us have much simpler admission systems

your council website will have all the links you need

I'd also advise having lots of conversations with other parents who have dc already at the possible schools over the next couple of years - build up a picture from listening to lots of parents.
Then the secondary schools nearly all have open evenings in September - if you do have a realistic choice, then go and look in Yr5.
As others have said, you express a preference (here you get to put 6 schools down in your preferred order) and then the LA allocate them according to criteria.
It doesn't matter if you've put School C down as your 3rd choice, if you don't get in to schools A or B, but come higher up the criteria list than someone who puts it as first choice, you would still get that place.

I think it sort of depends where you live, here we don't have a choice, the school is determined by catchment and unless you meet requirements for a faith school then you go to the catchment school