Missed 11+ exam - what are my options?

[mjahandad]

We're moving to UK (Birmingham) in December 2024, and have missed 11+ exam for my daughter who's currently in Year 6. I was wondering what are my options now?

Well you won't be able apply for the grammar schools without having passed it so you'll need to do a late application for your local state secondaries. Talk to the council or look up the process.

If this happened in my area, your daughter would be given the chance to sit it at a later date, however if she passed she would only receive a waiting list place.

Best thing to do is to contact the people administering the tests, whether it was the council or the school.

Yes, read the admissions policy of your target school. It will be a late exam and if they pass they'll sit on a waiting list. Sit the test but have low expectations of getting a place.

You can also still put her down for state comprehensives and independent schools.

Yes but if she doesn't have any address surely it'll have to be a late application?

Check with your LEA as some areas run a second test in March. This is not for people who forgot but more likely children who couldn't sit the original due to illness etc so you may get an opportunity that way

The deadline for Y7 secondary school applications is 31st October 2024 though and you cannot apply without a UK address. So you will be a late application.
You can apply to independent (fee paying schools) now though.

Actually, the guidance is that local authorities shoukd process applications from abroad, but obviously using the home address there would put an applicant way down tge list on distance where that is a deciding factor.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/schools-admissions-applications-from-overseas-children

Apply from whatever address you are at on October 31st, through the Common Application Form of the local authority where you intend to live. Name your preferred schools in order, with the (preferably catchment - look for the maps on the KE Foundation website) grammar school first, if that would really be your first preference if your DD were to be offered it somewhere down the line), then other schools in the area you are moving to in your true order of preference.
On March 3rd, you will be offered the highest of your preferences that can be met - probably none, but you may be offered one of them first off, if the school isn't oversubscribed. By then, you should have a local address to confirm with the LA, if your move goes ahead in December, which will improve your ranking on the post allocation day waiting lists of schools ranking by distance. With a confirmed local address, the LA will also allocate a place (somewhere) to your DD.

In the meantime, you can sort out how to get your DD to sit the West Midlands exam. The admissions policy for the Handsworth girls' grammar, for example, states
Test registration is made electronically via the relevant website and must be submitted by 4pm on 28 June 2024. Candidates who are not registered by the deadline may only be tested in exceptional circumstances and considered after the main round of allocations has been made in March 2025,
which indicates that it is at least in theory possible. Not being aware of when you were moving to the area until it was too late to register on time would be counted as a reason in our area (but I'm not in Birmingham).

Obviously, you can name more than one grammar school on your CAF if you want, but your DD might be most likely to get a waiting list place at your catchment one, if she manages to get to the point of being eligible to have her application considered.

By the way LEA means local education authority. If you’re not from the UK that might not be obvious!

Thank you everyone for your insightful replies. I have approached a couple of schools and explained my situation. They said my DD can still apply for 11+ exam, however we can only do so once we're in the UK.
I am going to contact the council now to see if they'd let us register for the exam before we arrive in the UK, as we own a house in the UK and can provide a proof of address.

Legally as you’re arriving from another country state schools must give you a place at one of your chosen 3/4 schools even as an in-year admission. As you have a UK address then while you arrange the 11+ enroll her to your nearest non-selective state primary.

No, it doesn't have to be one of the schools the parent has applied for, if there is no place to offer in that year group at any of them.

All mainstream state primary schools are non-selective. They must all have published oversubscription criteria, which they use to rank applicants if there are more than there are places available, but if there are only as many, or fewer, applicants than places available, all must be admitted.

If the OP's DD is in the country in time to be in a primary school here, then their application for a secondary place, even if late, will be dealt with in the normal way; the home LA will either offer a place at one of the schools applied for, or at the nearest school with a place available at the end of the on time allocation process, if none of their preferences can be met.