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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

11 plus support thread 2022

623 replies

PalindromemordnilaP · 23/09/2022 20:35

Anyone else have a DC sitting 11+ this Autumn?

If so, would you like to chat on a support thread?

DD is sitting her exam tomorrow.

Anyone else? Waiting for the results will be nail-biting.

OP posts:
MKDmumofflash · 27/10/2022 16:42

But yes, food for thought definitely.

yoshiblue · 27/10/2022 17:04

@MKDmumofflash Is option B (grammar) state? If so, I'd be putting that first!

You don't mention if she has any friends going to C. If not, it looks like she would be making new friends at both B and C.

MKDmumofflash · 27/10/2022 17:25

Both are state, to confuse matters further.

But yes, she'd be making new friends at either 🙂

yoshiblue · 27/10/2022 17:29

Oh right, are there boarding costs though and how significant are they?

MKDmumofflash · 27/10/2022 17:40

There are costs, yes, although they are partly offset by the travel costs of option B.

Pearfacebanana · 27/10/2022 20:17

@MKDmumofflash does option C begin with an O?

MKDmumofflash · 27/10/2022 20:38

Pearfacebanana · 27/10/2022 20:17

@MKDmumofflash does option C begin with an O?

No, but now I'm really intrigued 😂

Pearfacebanana · 27/10/2022 20:41

@MKDmumofflash haha no it's just a state boarding we are looking at

MKDmumofflash · 27/10/2022 20:55

Pearfacebanana · 27/10/2022 20:41

@MKDmumofflash haha no it's just a state boarding we are looking at

Happy to chat if you want as I know its a bit niche subject 🙂

Pipsquiggle · 27/10/2022 20:56

@MKDmumofflash does the boarding option begin with H?

MKDmumofflash · 27/10/2022 21:33

Pipsquiggle · 27/10/2022 20:56

@MKDmumofflash does the boarding option begin with H?

No 😊don't know if its too outing but its an R

ElvenDreamer · 28/10/2022 11:56

@Pipsquiggle H was going to be my guess too 🤣

Has everyone done their CAF? Forgetting to submit was my biggest fear 1st time round, to the point where I rang the council to check I'd done it even though I had an email saying quite clearly that I had! This year I'm a little calmer, sort of ...

Aethelfleda · 28/10/2022 13:48

yep, put in and checked about 5 times on the email!!!

UsernameOfMine · 28/10/2022 15:44

I've checked and rechecked about 10times since I submitted it. I did submit it before we got the 11+ results, but DC passed so nothing has changed anyway.
I've also waved the email and online portal in DH face and DC face so they can check I have in deed put the correct school first lol.

Jules912 · 28/10/2022 18:03

I've triple checked and asked DH to check. Didn't help that it mentioned a supplementary form, que lots of checking and still not 100% convinced they just meant he had to actually sit the exam.

MKDmumofflash · 28/10/2022 18:29

Agh! In the process of checking, I clicked edit and the application was cancelled!

Beware anyone checking in case you have to completely resubmit 😳

Emimoo84 · 28/10/2022 19:12

So bit of a moan, my son didnt pass the 11 plus, surprisingly he was ok about it. The thing is his so called best friend at school so happened to be off sick the day before 11plus exam then couldnt take exam he got to do test 3 week later and pretended to be sick being off school all this 3 week to revise, my bestie lives across and saw tutor going in and also the boy playing on a vr at park etc not looking sick.

If my son had those extra 3 weeks of tutor maybe he would have passed. Just feel so gutted for him as he is now just like so if someone off school skiving for 3 weeks they get in grammar and he who head boy and excelling at primary doesnt get to go grammar? I just told him cheating gets you no where in life and he will excel at the comp school while his so called friend will probably struggle at grammar, is he gonna skive before every test ?. Sorry for the rant but just really annoyed.

Mum3ch · 28/10/2022 19:53

If he was off sick the day before and on exam then he had to sit alternative - that’s not cheating.
i know of people that kept their kids off from summer and didn’t send back so that they could focus solely on exams - personal choice I guess. And some test centres filled up and people applying late had to sit the alternative date so they all got extra 3 weeks and if serious about exams then I guess will all have used the time for extra prep. Bit unfair to say the child was cheating.

yoshiblue · 28/10/2022 20:46

@Emimoo84 I can understand your annoyance, though I would say there are always people trying to maximise their chances, one way or another.

I'm not sure a delayed test makes much difference, especially when you could have crammed all day ever day over the Summer holidays. Either way, I don't think it's a healthy way for any primary school child to revise, it puts far too much pressure on the situation and not what I'd do personally.

I would try your best to move on and big up the school choice to your son. It's really not the be all and end all. 💐

Aethelfleda · 28/10/2022 23:06

@Emimoo84 how frustrating! But 3 weeks prep won’t make a difference, most kods who have been mega tutored will reach a natural ceiling of how fast/accurate they can be and further practice won’t improve that.
I am sorry your son didn’t get it (mine missed our most local exam and we have asked for a review for the other where he was 0.5 points short) we all know the system is unfair and random to a degree.
Our kids will do well no matter where they go, but yes it’s unfair how some able kids are denied the grammar stimulation and facilities and other perhaps less able children get it because their parents had deeper wallets, more emotional pressure or an insistence on total life immersion in the process for 2-3 years.
what’s equally frustrating is every year there are children at the grammars who really struggle because they were so tutored up beyond their natural ability… and then need “extra” tutoring all the way through the school, where really the place would have served another child better. but their parents can crow that their children are “at the grammar”. It’s a messed up system.

starpatch · 30/10/2022 17:20

Jules912 where I am (East Kent) most of the grammars give pupil premium priority and have a supplementary form for this, wondering if that is what your one is referring to? You only have to do the form if you want to request pupil premium priority (it seems that hardly anyone knows about this so it is not much used).

Pipsquiggle · 31/10/2022 19:31

Just checked for the eleventy billionth time that I had submitted the secondary school application form.

I also just checked the admissions policy of our favoured school and noticed that they were changing their admissions policy for 2024 - I am guessing to stop 'exam tourism' that previous posters have stated.

After all the top admission requirements e.g. passing with 121 (or 110 pupil premium), looked after children, Children of staff - all the usual top criteria, they've then stipulated:
6. Children living in the catchment area of the school must be living in their home continuously since 1 September 2023

I am guessing that means they have to live in catchment before they take the 11+ so people can't swan in from far and wide to go to that school. I just thought it was quite interesting

elevenduck · 31/10/2022 21:38

Pipsquiggle · 31/10/2022 19:31

Just checked for the eleventy billionth time that I had submitted the secondary school application form.

I also just checked the admissions policy of our favoured school and noticed that they were changing their admissions policy for 2024 - I am guessing to stop 'exam tourism' that previous posters have stated.

After all the top admission requirements e.g. passing with 121 (or 110 pupil premium), looked after children, Children of staff - all the usual top criteria, they've then stipulated:
6. Children living in the catchment area of the school must be living in their home continuously since 1 September 2023

I am guessing that means they have to live in catchment before they take the 11+ so people can't swan in from far and wide to go to that school. I just thought it was quite interesting

But 2023 is next September, surely? So they could take the exam this year and as long as they're in catchment before the next school year starts, then they're ok? Not sure how they'd assess that though when places are handed out in March.

Pipsquiggle · 31/10/2022 22:05

@eleve

Pipsquiggle · 31/10/2022 22:12

elevenduck · 31/10/2022 21:38

But 2023 is next September, surely? So they could take the exam this year and as long as they're in catchment before the next school year starts, then they're ok? Not sure how they'd assess that though when places are handed out in March.

Show quote history

@elevenduck

Sorry, I forgot to state it wouldn't affect the children who have just passed the 11+ and who would start secondary in September 2023, however, it would affect the intake for September 2024. I just thought it was interesting that they were changing the admissions in the future, probably due to exam tourism.