11 plus support thread 2022

[PalindromemordnilaP]

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.

I have received my son's score and he missed out by 5 points so gutted, I have seen on here that if you are in receipt of pupil premium the pass score is slightly less, if this is true it hasnt been taken into account for my sons score does anyone know any thing about this if true, if there is a official link etc I can find more info out.

I am appealing the score as last year it was 20 points less than this year so he already got 15 more than last year with no private tutor as we couldnt afford and with a worried mind about poorly family members so I am hoping someone knows about appeals, pupil premium etc. trying everyrhing for him 🙏Thank you

Oh that is so close.

I dont know enough about appealing (when I looked into it it seemed to vary a lot by area but elevenplusforum have a section on it and helpful moderators if you are going to.)

I do know about grade boundaries though- they vary each year depending on difficulty of the paper so you can't compare a score one year to the next. So a hard paper the pass mark will be lower. If its easier and lots of people do well then the pass mark will be higher.

That's so close @Emimoo84 . I think the pupil premium thing works differently depending on each area. In ours, if you rank high enough to be deemed 'selectable' and you're in receipt of PP, you'll be offered a place ahead of those that are ranked higher than you, but only if you're high enough in the first place. Then the places are given out from the highest rank onwards, until all places are full.

I hope the appeals process is not too stressful.

@Emimoo84 , follow this link to the Appeals section of the Elevenplus forum. There is a lady on there called Ettiene (at least I think she’s a lady!) who has over 15 years experience of helping people virtually with their wording for Appeals for all areas, the top section has lots of info abojt how you go about it and then if you want to you can register a pseudonom just like on here and start an Appeal support thread.

Elevenplus Forum Appeals Board

Checking what the school you want says about Pupil Premium scores on their Admissions Criteria is also imporant : our local grammar sets aside 6 places for PP pupils who are up to 6 points short BUT that application kust be done by contacting school directly on a specific address as well as naming the school on the CAF form. See what your school says…

Have been lurking on the 11 Plus Wirral forum but it is dead and found this thread.

Wondering how everyone is getting on with the wait for 1 March. Can't talk to DH as he doesn't see the point in thinking about this until 1 March. Don't want to talk to DD as I am trying to appear laid back. (Second choice is nice local comp and an extra 45 minutes in bed!)

And no friends' children have sat the exam so can't speak to them in real life.

But need to speak to someone!

I guess it's out of our control at the moment. I will probably get nervous the night before but there's not much we can do at the moment

The other DC that passed in my DS class put a different 1st choice school down which they will 99% get an offer for based on previous years' catchment and distance.

I hope I haven't made a massive mistake as I dismissed this (very good) school due to logistics, I didn't even go and see it. It's a train and a bus ride away and the times of the train/ bus don't marry up so it would mean a really early start and lots of waiting around. Both DH and I work full time in the opposite direction. I just couldn't see how to make it work.

Having the same fears.

I know it's all out of control now and what will be will be but I just want to know.

The school DD has applied for as first choice has admission criteria, for those who had eligable scores etc, of 1 child in care 2 pupil premium 3 rank order.

DW doesn't want to talk about until nearer 1 March.

@Maybetoofarsouth I feel your pain, I too have a husband who doesn't see the point in talking about something we have no control over until March 1st plus def don't want to talk to DS and worry him. However, obsessing talking things over is a bit therapeutic for me, I need to do it every now and again! So short story, the wait is driving me crazy. Our plan B and C are both local schools that might be ok but we are OOC for, catchment school is a bit of a disaster really, DC1 might have survived there (thankfully didnt need to and currently having the best time at grammar), DC2 it will really really not suit so dreading having to be positive and make it work, which I will of course do if it comes to it.

I do wonder why it takes 4 months to sort out secondary school places. Surely 95%+ of the borough's / county's cohort will be a straight forward allocation by a computer based on the admission criteria.

It would be interesting to know if there's an admissions officer on here to explain the complexities of it all.

I had wondered the same but assumed that with all the private schools seemingly having slightly later entrance exams/interviews this is what causes the delay?

Ooh thanks for all the replies. @ElvenDreamer sounds tough. Will DC2 benefit from being a sibling?

Our system is once you've passed the 11 plus, the score no longer matters. Comes down to the usual criteria: looked after children, siblings, distance. Historically anyone who passes gets in but so many girls passed last year that the catchment was significantly reduced which gave people a real upset as they were counting on getting in. On the grapevine (I don't know anyone who has applied only friends of friends) I've heard of girls failing (many more failures than passes) so I wonder if they made the previous exam a bit easier because of covid, bit now normal service has been resumed. Hopefully, anyway for DD.

@Maybetoofarsouth sadly siblings count for nothing. In my area there are 4 single sex grammars, 2 are super selective, 2 have a catchment with 5 percent reserved for OOC. In all 4 cases though the schools are so sought after that your mark has to be crazily above the so called 'pass mark', even in catchment, to even stand a chance. DC1 is a daughter and DC2 is a son so they have to apply to different schools anyway, but when I get to final DC in a couple of years time, siblings still count for nothing!

1st march seems such a long time away. I've obsessed and been back to check I filled in the form with correct first choice multiple times.
The school/s we want give places on rank, but a student on pupil premium in top 500 will automatically get a place before rank order places are given.
DC2 is far enough up the rank to be offered one of the schools....as long as there aren't too many pp pupils

I just keep telling myself it's two months now. Two months.

(Yes they are the two most miserable longest months of the year but hey!)

And at least one of those months is shorter, not long now. If I keep telling myself that I'll start to believe it maybe!

I know, its such a tough wait isnt it? I'm not an Admissions Officer and I agree the time it takes is so frustrating, but in some ways I'm glad of the delay. The pain of the test has faded and if DD doesn't get a place then at least its less raw.

But mainly because our local Admissions Team GOT IT WRONG. Our first choice is in a different local authority with different DFE codes for different types of place. Despite being given all the information, they allocated DD in the wrong category. Luckily the Admissions Team where the school is had their eyes open and spotted the error and flagged it, cc-ing me in. The local team have confirmed they've corrected it, but I'm glad there was time to do so!

I'm hyperventilating gently over what might happen if the error isn't properly corrected though. Is it grounds for appeal?

@MKDmumofflash Yes, a mistake would be very strong grounds for appeal. I'm not an admissions expert but I believe that strictly speaking if there was an error then it should be corrected immediately and you offered the place that should have been yours without appeal, even if it puts the school over PAN. However, some LEAs avoid this and force you to go to appeal (which you should almost certainly win), so it sounds good that the error in your case has already been corrected before places are offered.

Thank you, that's reassuring. Hopefully it's been resolved before it becomes an issue. And thank goodness for the other local authority's admissions team!

Happy new year all. Just checking in. 55 days to go until D Day for those of us who don't have places yet!

Good luck to everyone waiting.

For anyone appealing, hope it goes well too, if it's any consolation, a child has just joined the year 7s at my dc grammar school. I'm assuming they managed to finally get a place through the appeals process.

Fingers crossed for all

@CowsInFields

Had anyone in Yr7 left for this new DC to join the year group?

@Pipsquiggle I'm not entirely sure. They are in forms (also the house they are in). It could be that a dc from one of the other 3 houses has left.
However, I would have assumed the new dc would have taken the space in that form.

I understand one of the children attending knows this child from primary school and has mentioned they both sat the 11+ together. But don't know the details.

I've assumed it was a long winded appeals process, but I could be wrong.

Ha ha, pleased it's not just me still counting down. Get through Jan and then it's only a month!

Definitely not just you counting down! I'm trying not to think too hard and just praying we're not having to deal with the waiting list game, I want this over sooner rather than later. 😫

six weeks til we get the review (pre-appeal) results back to see if DS has a pass. (two weeks after that to find out if he can get a place, but only if the review is successful. Need to distract myself til mid Feb!