Best place to live in Kent for Grammar school

[vik2017]

Hi,
This is my first question on this board....
and I wanted to know which is the best place to live in Kent and falls into Grammar catchment area and also if my son dont get to the Grammar at least will go to a very good comprehensive school.
Any suggestion will be appreciated even suggest to move to another place considering we both work in London.

Many thanks in advance...
Viki

But not 2 hours from Y4!!

Alas, that is not the experience of one set of relatives of mine in Kent, who got so fed up with arguing with other parents over whether they were being foolhardy not to be engaging tutors from year 3 to make up for the "disadvantage" of having their child in a state primary when so many parents were putting their children through private preps to nab the grammar school places... this on top of some of the same parents having put their children through Kumon maths classs every week from year 2...

Apparently, if their kids did not get top SATs results at the end of year 2, their primary school wouldn't take their grammar school aspirations seriously and they wouldn't be kept in top sets... I kid you not.

Whereas we poor comp parents have to do
none
nyada
zilch
just put three lines on a form
one is the catchment school (no matter how dire)
one is the ideal school
one is the pretty solid chance school
and on allocation day 96% of us get our ideal without further stress

I’m sure it varies across Kent, as it obviously varies with the enormous load in Y5 mumtrying speaks about in Bucks.

As I said, I’m talking about my experience over a few years recently with two children at a state school in Kent.

I’m trying to speak about my reality and experience as truthfully as possible, as there are so many posts on this forum and others that don’t reflect my reality.

Just to add another anecdote to the mix, I have an extremely bright untutored child who failed the 11+. Make of that what you will

I’ll add an anecdote too, for others to make of what they will.

The year my DS sat it, they changed the test to include English, and also to supposedly make it “untutorable”. Many borderline kids in my DCs school failed.

Fast forward 3 years and all the borderline ones now pass.....

Taffeta out of interest what does ramps up after Easter mean in terms of the preperation the DCs in Kent are doing.

Ooh, taffeta! It's almost as if there's some sort of pattern.

Practice anything enough and you're likely to get better at it...

Just to add another anecdote to the mix, I have an extremely bright untutored child who failed the 11+. Make of that what you will grin

You should have just crossed your fingers (protection from Marx) organised some Tutoring and your DS and no doubt your DS would have made the cut !

Posters whose children pass the 11+ without tutoring , try to use it as some kind of 'ego' trip. However, the fact you were able yourself to tutor your DS for 11+ practice and didn't because of an ideological difference ...

I believe firmly in family before politics !

Mum - it was a gradual introduction of actual papers rather than say a couple of Bond ten minute tests.

I can’t remember the exact agenda, but think it might’ve been one or two papers a week after Easter, building up so by the summer holidays (test is first week Sept) it was four papers a week ( Maths, English, VR and NVR ). So lots over the summer, but this is just two months before, not a year before.....

To All: Just to be clear, do you believe that primary with indi is the way forward to the grammar? or state primary + tuition (1-2 a week) is same or less or better?

four papers a week ( Maths, English, VR and NVR )

I assume that is in addition to weekly visits to the tutor?

It's a bit disingenuous to suggest all the parents you know are doing just an hour a week prep. throughout yr5.

test is first week Sep

I am familiar with the 11 plus as I have already been through it once.

do you believe that primary with indi is the way forward to the grammar?

Not if you are considering Grammar with comp. backs up but yes if you are considering Grammar with top indie as back up.

mum - for some reason you seem determined to undermine what I’m saying.

If you read back, I actually said “In reality, certainly in my area, there are also the vast majority - who either tutor once a week or DIY themselves for a year during Year 5.”

I have not been disingenuous, I have been truthful about my experience of going through the Kent test twice with my DC. It’s different to your Bucks experience.

vik,

In my experience - partially grammar county:

Some private primaries are allowed to (and do) prepare specifically for the 11+ throughout the primary years. They have specific timetabled lessons etc. This is their raison d'etre and their selling point.

Other private prep schools do not prepare for the 11+ at all, because their leavers' destinations are private independent schools, so they prep predominantly for CE at 13, with some preparing for 11+ private entry (mainly for girls).

State schools are not allowed to specifically prep for the 11+, over and above normal national curriculum lessons.

Again, IME, almost everyone who is successful both from state and private primaries ALSO has outside school tutoring /preparation, either from parents or from tutors or from tuition centres.

OP - it’s impossible to say as there are so many variables - how good the state or indie primary is, how good the tutor is, what your son responds to etc etc.

Sounds utterly depressing.
Makes me even more glad I'm in Hampshire.

Remember that on a county wide level, exams wise, Kent does no better than Hampshire.
Just the tutoring companies and prep schools in Kent make a lot more money

As to which is 'better', since you have stated that you want to minimise risk, the smallest risk is to go for an independent primary which specifically preps for the 11+ but ALSO feeds into a range of independent schools at 11, both those that are quite selective (in case your DS fails the 11+ on a 'bad day') and those that are non-selective (in case he turns out to be of middle or lower ability).

You should then ALSO have a private tutor (you will almost certainly find this is very common in the school, whether or not people are open about it) 1-2x per week for the year - 18 months leading up to the exams.

That's about as risk free as you will get, apart from moving very close to a good comp, in which case simply attending the local primary and not moving house will do fine....

OP , if you want to more or less guarantee a grammar education , move to Rochester / Medway , send child to St Andrews private school and literally 98% , sometimes 100% pass the Medway test ( apparently easier than the Kent test ) and go on to either Rochester Maths ( Grammar) or Rochester girls grammar or Fort Pitt . The school is historically an 11+ crammer from reception up ( they also have a pre school) and it works because unlike normal primary schools they are teaching the children to pass the 11+ because if they didn’t get the high pass rate the school wouldn’t attract people .

BTW it’s also a very nice little school !

Floralnomad does the prep. feed into top indies/privates?

It’s not a proper prep , it takes children from 2.5-11 so pre school to secondary .From my experience anybody who doesn’t pass the 11+ generally go to either Kings Rochester , Rochester independent college or Gad’s hill which is another local private school . However those children are few and far between .

Floralnomad OP has said that they are thinking about trying for a grammar school with a top indie as back up.