BUCKS SCORE 120 ,NEED TO APPLY FOR SELECTION REVIEW

[11plusseeker]

Hi my kid scored 120 just 1 mark less for cut off mark for bucks.we live in wycombe high school catchment .
but we prefer going to william borlase and its 3.52 miles away from home.

is selection review process is like face to face or they will consider our supporting documents.

how will selction review be like

It's all online, nothing like an appeal, you won't be face to face

120 is so near the qualifying 121 mark, that you stand a good chance.

The onlu caveat is your child really needs to be working at GDS (not EXS) and the heatecher gave them two good score for grammar suitability (so a 1.1, 2.1, 2.2). The scores are given to the council before the test, so they cannot be changed retrospectively.

It's a simple process, you fill in a form, the head gets a short form to fill, then you attach the head's bit with your application and submit.

You upload any documents to back your case. For example the last few years school reports, showing your child was working at GDS.

Do not include any extra-curricular activities (such as sporting achievements or instrument playing), as it's based on academic attainment only. Also it's not an appeal, if you succeed your child will be considered qualified for any grammar school. Sporting or instrument playing, etc, is only considered at appeal for a particular school, which a SR is not.

Also include any extenuating circumstances, that show why your child didn't pass, but very briefly, as you are so close. So don't labour the point, and only include it if there are any,botherwise it can hinder, rather than help.

Do not include illness as a factor, even with a GP note, as it cannot be considered unless the school were aware before the test.

Do speak to the head,vso they know you are doing this and can look out for the form.

You are only one point away, so really the proof of consistent attainment, for the last few years, is all you really need.

Great advice from @blackdogatmyheels

@11plusseeker you might also like to look at the elevenplusexams forum - 11 PLUS APPEALS - 11 Plus Exams Forum (elevenplusexams.co.uk)

I did this last year, 120 score selection review and he is now at Borlase. We are in catchment but still weren’t guaranteed to get in as quite far out! @blackdogatmyheels is totally spot on, good luck with it all.

“Do not include illness as a factor, even with a GP note, as it cannot be considered unless the school were aware before the test. “

That’s not correct. If child was ill in the immediate aftermath of the test then you can mention it, and if there is proof , or the HT mentions it in their statement, it MAY be taken into account. It may however be less convincing if the invigilators or school were not made aware of this.

Long while ago now. My son got 120. Successful appeal. He is now 36. Best thing we ever did.

My friend's son (scored 119) did the selection review and he was successful and now in SWBGS. She mentioned her child got distinction in grade 8 violin and DELF A2 in French which she thought it made him stand out among applicants So as long as your qualifications of other aspects are strong enough, it is a proof of the learning ability and academic potential.

I'm pretty sure your friend is wrong. These things are not considered, the only thing is academic evidence (not potential) & extenuating circumstances.

Hi there,

My dd got 119 in her recent bucks.

HT is out of county and has graded her 2:2 and she has EXS for everything from year 3 to year 6 predictions.

Her character reference from HT is lovely.

What are the chances?

I don't think a character reference is considered in a revie (or appeal for that matter), it's purely on academic proof &/or extenuating circumstances.

In a similar boat with my DD this year, keen to know what happened in your case??

Are you in or out of county?

If in, what score did the HT give your DD?

Selection reviews are worth doing if your DD is EXS and has been consistently. Also if the head gave 2.2 or above. * *

119 is so close to the mark that it's got a good chance of succeeding.

The only caveat is, that doing an appeal after an unsuccessful review is very, very, likely to fail.

However, going for an appeal has more problems. Firstly your DD will not get a place at a grammar school on selection day. You then have to argue for each grammar separately. It's not as easy as other appeals, as you have to show the panel that your DD should have qualified, and convince them to admit, if the school is oversubscribed.

Honestly, go for the review. If it fails, then there is the 12+ and I know girls at AHS that have been admitted follthst.

This assumes you are in Bucks, as different areas may have different criteria.

PS my DD got in at selection review with the same score.

Thank you for your kind response. We moved into Bucks area just a fornight prior to 1st September cut off date. So, my DD started her year 6 in a near by school just this september. As she is still relatively new to her school, her teachers don't really know my DD that well enough.

I went to speak with them earlier this morning and her class teacher suggested that we go for a review and to write an email to the Head Teacher asking for her recommendation letter. I don't know what score the HT gave my DD, I was sugegsted to email her.

From last years selection review stats publsihed on Bucks Council website, 66% of canidates with 119 were successfull.

My worry is that, if we are unsuccessfull, she will end up going to a state secondary school with very low EBacc ratings. So I feel very conflicted on whether I should apply for a "selection review" or "to enteriely moved out of the area again to go to an area where there are outstanding secondary state schools" before the 31st October CAF Deadline.

My worry is that, if we are unsuccessfull, she will end up going to a state secondary school with very low EBacc ratings.

A comment on this. Surely it is not surprising that a 'secondary modern' (ie a non grammar school in a grammar area) would have low EBacc scores? You have removed the top 20-30% of children.
Plus some schools force some/most/all pupils to do EBacc whereas others don't.

What you need to look at instead is maybe the progress8 / attainment8 of the 'previous higher attainers'.

There will presumably be a bunch of children like yours who just missed on a grammar place.

From Google Gemini - "EBACC Score is a school performance indicator in England that measures how many students achieve a good grade (5 or above) in a specific set of GCSE subjects: English, Maths, Science, a language, and a humanities subject. It reflects the number of students taking and succeeding in these key academic subjects considered important for future opportunities in higher education and employment"

Going by EBACC Score definition above, it looks to me that this is a score we can analyse to understand if a school is focussed on academics or not ? Also, there are some secondary Outstanding rated state schools that do have top EBACC scores.

Are you sure your new address will be taken into account? Bucks 11+ is so competitive that the LA apply very strict criteria regarding residence for school applications.

@Prav86 I know what EBacc is.

My point is that an EBacc % being low tells you much less about how your child will get on in the school than looking at Progress8/Attainment8 for previous high achievers.

Across the country about 30% don't get a 4 for Eng Lang and again for Maths. A whole bunch of less academic kids will choose, if given the choice, not to take an MFL. Some schools force certain children to do EBacc, others let each individual child choose.

Ah ok I see, wasn't aware of this, thank you

Yes for the schools in HW and Chesham, they state that we need to relocate prior to 1st Sept. We moved here around August first week.

can you please tell me what reasons you gave in the selection review?

And you have no other address or house to sell?

None of my children achieved the EBacc because their(grammar) school didn't insist on them doing all the EBacc subjects.
As PP said, look at the progress 8.

You can still begin the process for the selection review, which means the HT will be asked for their view on your DD's suitability for grammar and the score they gave before the exam.

You will be sent this. You can then decide if you want to proceed or not. It is started via the link on BC website, and they send you the head's form. To proceed you have to then upload your own evidence along with the head's report. You can leave it at this stage and the review will not happen, but you at least get to see what the head says and their score.

I'm not sure where in Bucks you are. There are some better secondaries in some places than others.

If you do go for a review, you will need to include previous years reports, which show that your DD consistently got EXS in reading, writing and maths. As the school your DD is at won't have them, it will be incumbent on you to provide them.

It's also important to remember that only academic ability should be included in a review. Anything else will be discounted and may prejudice your review as they only have minutes and need evidence of academic ability, not leadership, musical ability, sporting ability, etc.

Are there any extenuating circumstances? Anything major happened or illness, that could explain why she didn't pass?

If you do have any extenuating circumstances they can be included, but bear in mind they should have been reported to the school before the exam.

Are you really going to hop around the country in the hope of finding the perfect school for your child? What was your plan for if they didn't pass the 11 plus? Would you be able to find another primary school for your poor pressured child? Do you have other children? This just baffles me tbh.