Birmingham Grammar schools

[BeDandyBird]

Hello ladies,
So, my son just passed his West midlands 11+ with a score of 268 and we live in Telford, Shropshire with the nearest Grammar school options as Habershader's Adams and Queen's Mary.
But we would like to apply for Birmingham schools (we parents will benefit from the move as well, job wise)and just not sure which ones are flexible with the catchment rules and consider children outside Birmingham .We know Bishop Vesey intakes children purely based on the score, so that one will be on our list.
Can you think of any other schools please - do Camp hill or Five ways consider children from far away distance?

Any advise will be much appreciated, thanks

Hi. Yes all the schools consider Out Of Catchment students, with both Five Ways and Camp Hill both having a limited number of spaces (typically less than 5 each year). Camp Hill admitted 4 OOC students for Sept 24 entry, with the lowest score being 260. But with that high a score you're very likely be in top 5. BV is a great school, but probably miles behind CH (see rankings).

Also note that you're unlikely to be offered a place on 1st Mar, but will likely get a position at Camp Hill off waiting list. Five Ways is a bit more tough, as they usually have more children achieving priority score in catchment, so even if you're 1st or 2nd on waiting list, you may have a bit of a wait.

Are you thinking of moving closer to the school or will he get the bus? It's a long busy day at grammar school and they pile on the homework so I wouldn't recommend a long journey on top - it also affects their friendships as they just can't see people outside school/go to after school events etc as easily. QM is fabulous with lovely grounds although still quite far from you - BV and the Birmingham schools would be too far / school day too long to be worth the travel time in my opinion.

Can't comment on catchment etc but if you can get CH I would. I attended the girls and my brother (and father, and great uncle) attended the boys and whilst a good few years ago now I think the ethos and style has remained similar based on reputation and we all adored our time there.

It would be a horrendous journey. Seems almost insane to me.

Generously, I interpreted the post as meaning that the family would move to Birmingham, though not before October 31st, rather than that they would all travel in and out from Telford every day?

Even if the family relocated, the West Midlands isn't the quickest place in terms of travel. New Street is a hellhole and trains get cancelled regularly. Roads are clogged slowing cars and buses. The M6 is virtually static at peak times. So unless the entire family gets new jobs and a new set of friends, it seems a huge faff just for a school that is perceived to have the edge over nearer ones.

A friend taught at Adams school near Telford. It seemed an excellent place.

@pocketpairs We will keep Camp Hill first in the list while applying through council then. Thank you for the response.

@Userxyd , thank you for the response - yes, we will move closer to the school. We are living in Telford for 9 years now, but always had this plan to move out to Birmingham or somewhere central once DS starts secondary school. We both are Software Engineers and hubby's office is in Birmingham. It will be easy for me as well to look for another job when needed (now I mostly work from home).

@MarchingFrogs , that's right. Our plan is to shift once we have the offer from school. I have a younger daughter who is just of nursery age.
Shifting is going to benefit my husband as well , as his office is in Birmingham. We don't have much IT jobs here in Telford, which is a pain as we had to travel a lot in the past sometimes overnight stay in the work location.
Trying to gather some more information on neighbourhood, commute etc around different Birmingham schools and pick the one which best suits us.:-)

The Camp Hill schools are currently the highest achieving grammars in the Birmingham area and rightly have an excellent reputation. However, catchment areas were introduced partly to level the playing field as the KE Foundation believes all their state schools are equally good and were bothered that the Camp Hill schools attracted the highest ranking students and therefore achieved the best results.

In summer 2025 the first cohort since the KE introduced the catchment areas will get their GCSE results, and it is expected that the attainment gap between the Camp Hill schools and the likes of Handsworth and Aston will reduce. We watch with interest!

My daughter goes to one of the Birmingham / Sutton Coldfield / Walsall grammars, and we have friends with children in most of the others. They are all excellent schools, and I truly believe that a child capable of 9s would achieve 9s at any of the schools. They all have a good range of extra-curricular activities and it is rare to hear a bad word said about any of them.

The problem for you with Camp Hill is that, whilst a score of 268 is extremely likely to get a place, it might be a late waiting list offer or you might be unlucky and miss out due to a larger-than-usual number of catchment children qualifying. You would be very unlucky to miss out, but it is theoretically possible.

The same goes for Five Ways as it generally fills up with catchment children.

Your DS would definitely get into the other schools with catchment areas (Handsworth and Aston.)

He'd also definitely get a place at QMGS in Walsall and BVGS in Sutton Coldfield as they are both super-selective - I know a child in each school and they and their families are delighted with their school.

Hi
Just wondering if my son attend QMGS in Walsall and he has a chance to move to BV in Sutton as Sutton is better area. But he likes the school. Is it worth moving him?
I think the kids might be much nicer and less tough as boys in this age are hard already?
Thanks

If you were talking about local comprehensives schools you might have a point.

However, these are both super-selective grammars, filled with boys from all over the region. No doubt some students at BVGS will be commuting from Walsall and some students at QMGS will be commuting from Sutton Coldfield!

If your son currently currently has a long commute to QMGS or you are concerned about the immediate area around the school maybe it's worth moving, but in my view it's unlikely that your DS will find 'nicer and less tough' boys at BVGS.

Thank you so much. Appreciate your reassurance.