St Mary Mags Academy Islington governor’s exam

[Mrsfrumble]

Any experiences? How competitive is it, for example?

DS is in y5 at a local CofE primary, but based on previous years we live a bit too far away to qualify for a place on distance. The idea of sitting an entrance exam for a comprehensive seems bonkers to me, but it might be our only hope!

Thanks in advance 🙏

This is a situation where the school allocate 10% of places (21 total) for pupils who show an aptitude for languages via a test.
Not sure how the school would carry out that test or you as a parent would know whether you child has an aptitude for languages. However I suspect that there are a lot of potential pupils who do take the test

One of my friend's children sat it. They were on the waiting list and probably would have got a place but ended up putting it 5th on their CAF as it has pretty similar outcomes to other schools that were nearer them and didn't feel it was worth the journey. How does it compare to other schools nearer to you?

Hi Stokey. Our closest school is actually your namesake, but I expect we’d be too far if DS performs to the best of his abilities on the banding test. Otherwise it’s CoLAHG or Skinners. The main attraction of MM over the others is that we know people with children there who are very happy, whereas no one seems to know anything about Skinners!

@admission

This is a situation where the school allocate 10% of places (21 total) for pupils who show an aptitude for languages via a test. Not sure how the school would carry out that test or you as a parent would know whether you child has an aptitude for languages. However I suspect that there are a lot of potential pupils who do take the test

To be fair, they have published the format of the most recent test online:

smma.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/document/Governors-Aptitude-Test-Information.pdf?t=1614882468

Thanks LarkDescending, I did see that. On the surface it looks pretty low-key. I was wondering if anyone had idea how many children sat for it. For example, knowing that 2800 children went for the 190 places at Latymer last year is terrifying but at least helpful in terms of perspective! I’m guessing there won’t be so many prep school kids going for MM, but I might be wrong.

It's something like 650 kids that sat it this year for those 21 places so it's pretty competitive. I've heard that if you are in the top 40-50 you have a pretty good chance of making it due to people choosing other options.

Oh bloody hell adoptedlondoner that’s loads! Thanks for the information though.

I really love where we live, but my god, the school situation is bonkers!

@Mrsfrumble the Latymer figures are scary but remember they do include a lot of out of catchment kids who only do it for practice. 48% of the top 650 were OOC this year and so immediately disqualified after the 8 January cut off date for moving.
I'm a bit further away than my namesake now but know the banding system in Hackney adds a whole new level of complexity to applications. I'm afraid I don't know much about the other two schools you mention, friends favour either Stokey or Mossbourne, but it is a bit of a lottery depending on where you live.

I didn’t know that about the Latymer numbers Stokey. I can’t imagine getting DS to sit exams he didn’t need to. I probably lack the competitive edge necessary to be a successful north London parent!

For the top bands, the catchment for SNS shrinks to practically the doorstep. I imagine it’s even worse for Mossbourne, so I haven’t even bothered looking too closely as we’d be way too far away.

Hi @Mrsfrumble, numbers sitting are north of 500, and last year you got a letter quite soon after the test (before state application closing date) with a ranking if in the top 200 or "sorry you are likely to be unsuccessful" I think. They said they were expecting to go down 100 or more on the list as a lot who sit get a place in one of the other categories (sibling, proximity, feeder primary) or go elsewhere.

The test is for those academic places specifically, but also for a chance to get onto the Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP) which is one class group once they start. They do test again at the start of Year7 for this, but if you do well on the Governors test you stand a pretty good chance I think of being able to do the MEP (regardless of whether you actually get in on a governors place or not).

My DS enjoyed the test, more than any other entrance test he sat (even though there were hoards of people it was nothing like as scary as e.g. QE). I think it helps if you have good vocab and good pattern spotting skills. Hope that helps.

That’s really helpful MajorGeneralDogsbody. DS has ASD and collects words with same enthusiasm that he collects Lego bricks, so it sounds like his sort of thing.