Grammar schools in East London or Essex

[zaineb17]

Hi,
Does anybody have experience of applying to grammar schools in Essex and East London? Is the application procedure different for each school or is there one test for all? I'm quite confused at how all this works? Can I apply to as many as I want. Will applying for a certain school have an impact on the others? Any advice would be appreciated. TIA

Have you looked on your local authority websites or www.elevenplusexams.co.uk? There is loads of information & advice on there

Can't answer for East London but I don't think there are any given the amount of applicants for the Essex exam. I assume you are out of catchment for the Essex Grammars? If so, the scores your child will need to achieve will be significantly higher than the kids in catchment and only 20-25% of the places are available to OOC applicants once the scores are known. It is highly competitive. Do you have a boy or girl? There is a difference. The boys sit one test only - the CSSE exam. Look at their website for further details of the consortium of schools included. Girls sit CSSE exam for some schools only and then Chelmsford county high for girls organises a different test on a different day. The whole process is not for the faint-hearted and I know that tutoring for OOC generally begins in Y3. Hope that helps!

Chelmsford county high school for girls sets the CEM exam.

The other Essex grammars are covered by the CSSE exam. You apply to sit the exam in Spring, sit in September and hear the result in October. You apply for the grammars in the same way you apply for all other schools, you get six options, but it's wise to leave one space for a non-grammar school you are guaranteed a place at just in case. The minimum score last year was 301 for in catchment. 350 is what the most desirable schools ask for.

I think the forms have to be back in by January and then you hear in March.

Not all Essex grammars have in catchment and out of catchment scores. The Colchester super selectives and I believe one or two others have no catchments. They have a higher admitting score, but waiting lists can move up to twenty places before September and can go down up to twenty points lower than the stated admission score. Be realistic about journeys though, DD is at Colchester girls and some of her class come from East London and have on occasion fallen asleep in class. It's not an easy journey, even from Chelmsford.

If your kid needs to be tutored from Year 3 it's worth considering how they will manage in a high pressure fast paced environment. It's not easy and many of DDs friends are struggling, it's easy to feel like you are failing. Homework is intense and expectations are very very high.

DD needed six weeks of exam technique and gap filling before the exam, she is bright and motivated and was desperate to go the the grammar. The worst bit was waiting for the score and then paying for the uniform (ouch).

Another poster gave the link to a very useful forum, they have an Essex board. I think Redbridge has a separate board but I know very little about that area.

If your kid needs to be tutored from Year 3 it's worth considering how they will manage in a high pressure fast paced environment

Our experience, albeit with SW London superselectives, is that most children have been quite heavily tutored since Year 4 (or earlier) and many continue to be even once they're at grammar schools...

Essex and East london is a massive area covering 3 or more possible grammar school areas: Essex, Redbridge & maybe Edmonton/Enfield.

It would be madness to try to cover all the possible schools. Be practical about journey times. Personally a 60 min journey is probably a bit too long so ignore all schools outside that radius. Then check the public transport options for the remainder. It it involves multiple changes and longish walks then think hard about if this will be OK on dark winter nights. If in doubt take your DC and do a mock journey. This might seem like a lot of effort but it will be better to find out now than after 3 years of prep and stress..... Every year there are people who've thrown everything at the non catchment north London super selectives - they win a place - then what?! Oops they can't physically get their child there

I don't know about Essex but fortunately someone's covered that above.

Redbridge have Woodford County High for girls and Ilford County for boys. Their exam is CEM in September on "super CEM Saturday". You have to live in catchment (oversails Redbridge boundaries) to attend. If you are looking at several CEM schools you need to check if you can sit once and transfer the results - not all school's share.

You may have to prioritise schools based on exam date as well as distance.

Since last year The Latymer School in Edmonton does not share an exam with Redbridge. It now has its own Maths and VR test (GL Assessment type?) in June - no catchment to sit. The top 500 (or 650 maybe as the admissions rules are changing slightly year to year) are asked back for an English paper. The top 186 (or maybe a few more next year) get places unless music/pupil premium/EHCP rules apply but you have to live in catchment (designated postcodes across North and East london) to take up a place.

Your prep should be strategically aimed at the specific school exams your DC eventually sits. However in Y3 or Y4 you should really just be establishing a good working relationship with your child and getting the basic reading/arithmetic skills well consolidated. Reading books with good vocabulary and learning to look up a dictionary a key focus. Maybe also tracking down a tutor to help with the final 12 months of prep - the good ones seem to be well hidden so take a while to find. Avoid tuition centres unless your local one is particularly well recommended or has a good track record for your preferred schools. Good luck

Thank you for the responses. Some points I hadnt even begun to think about. Will definitely take all your pints on board. Thank you again

Our experience, albeit with SW London superselectives, is that most children have been quite heavily tutored since Year 4 (or earlier) and many continue to be even once they're at grammar schools...

Then it's worth OP considering whether that is right for her child. DD has found the fast pace, testing and homework hard going at times, it can be relentless. She gets much less downtime and hobby time than her primary ex-classmates at other schools. Luckily she doesn't have a long journey to get home as well.

DD is at the Colchester girls superselective and I'm not aware of any extra tutoring, I can only say that DD hasn't needed it to keep up.

DC1 is at a SW London one and it seems to be quite common amongst their cohort, particularly for those on a trajectory to certain degree courses/unis. I would imagine it's not necessarily something that all students would own up to though?

We have a family friend who went to Colchester Girls and she had a tutor in the sixth form (she arrived from another school) for at least one subject. Girls, perfectionists that they are, may be less keen to own up to having extra help?

Agree though about the pace (which is fast and furious) - we always reckoned that grammars cover in two terms what most comps do in three (or more...). DC1 took until Year 11 to fully understand what was required to keep up to speed and do well. Also struggled for quite some time with going from being one of the brightest in class (and a clever class) - consistently all the way through primary school - to being below average at grammar school. His confidence hasn't recovered to date!

To thrive at grammar school, you need to enjoy tests and academic pressure. I did, went to one and carried through to Cambridge quite straightforwardly.
We are in east London. My daughter is very different and even if we had got her through the entrance, I think it would have broken her. She went to an outstanding girls comp and then a big 6th form college where she thrived. Went to a Russell group university, got a 2:1
Our neighbours very bright daughter went to Woodford, and found the constant pressure made her anxious and miserable. She called it "the horrible house of homework"!

Oh sure, I can see it for GCSEs and Alevels (and DH has tutored some year 13s from the school) but continued tutoring amongst the younger years would surprise me, especially Year 7 or 8.

You really need to be a certain type of child to thrive there, DD has blossomed but her friend has not and it is so sad to see. For a motivated and academic child it is a fantastic experience with so many oppportunities, but you really can't slack off at all during term time.

OP you can find collated cut offs (scores which gained an offer of a place) on the Essex 11 plus forum mentioned above for the Essex Grammars. The fact is, OOC scores are significantly higher that IC where the most desirable schools are I.e KEGs and CCHS (Chelmsford). Where there is a distinction between IC and OOC your child will need a near-perfect score to stand a chance of gaining a place from the outset, enjoying the pre-term activities etc. This is why parents tutor - to get the best score on the day - not necessarily because they need it once term starts given the fact that their scores will generally be higher than those children in the 75% of accepted places. This year, the scores for OOC at CCHS (Chelmsford) ranged from 131 (OOC) down to 107 (available only if your daughter was IC) - this is a massive difference in the raw scores when maybe only 20% of the places are open to your child.

This is the CSSE guidance sheet from this year to give you some idea. You can see which ones have catchments and which ones need the highest scores.

csse.org.uk/images/simplefilemanager/guidance.pdf

The eleven plus forum gives a good idea of actual entrance scores, obviously the schools fill from green first, then down the other applicants, then down the waiting list.

Also (I am procrastinating today and avoiding a task, can you tell?), the high score available on the CSSE test is around 400-420 (varies year to year).

To get around 370 you need around 50 points out of 60 on both English and Maths papers. The 11+ Essex forum has lots of similar statistics and a collated cut off section so you can see the lowest admitted grade each year.