11+ 2025 support thread #2

[AquaPeer]

we are on the home run now! Continue to support, love and share in this thread

link to previous

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/5200929-11-2025-support-thread?page=40&reply=147336748

continued good luck to all x

So sorry to hear that

Me too, dolphin. Hope you're ok

Good luck to all those waiting for results today.

Ours have definitely been delayed to next week

@DolphinOnASkateboard @Magnificentkitteh I'm so sorry to hear that. Hope you're both OK.

122 in Bucks! In disbelief as really didn't expect a pass. We knew she was borderline but assumed she wouldn't quite get it.
Good luck to everyone else!

131 in Bucks very happy and relived.

So sorry, hope you are ok 💐

I'll be alright. he's absolutely devastated. Hope things are ok your end.

I'm so sorry - there's nothing worse than when your child is devastated. You know he'll be OK, but right now, he won't be able to see it.

There was a thread a while ago about "positive outcome stories regarding DCs who didn't get the 11+ results that they wanted". It may be worth searching it up once the initial shock is behind you.

Total disaster here in Bucks, too. In disbelief and very sad to see how upset she was. Now considering if we appeal based on the shitshow that's be going on here that no doubt affected her.

Congrats to those with successes. For those with less-than-hoped-for results, it might be helpful to know the process in Bucks:

1. If your child is close to the magic number, consider a Selection Review. This will involve you and your headteacher putting together a case for your child, and should include any exceptional reasons (family bereavement, severe illness etc., not goldfish dying). Your review will be stronger if your child has been Greater Depth across all measures since Y3. Your head will give the child a rating between 1-4 on Suitability for Grammar School and Academic Ability (e.g. attitude and aptitude) - this will have already been done before the results.
2. "Close to the magic number" is closer than you think - you can check out the stats, but acceptances fall off very sharply after 119 or so, even with excellent headteacher reviews / mitigating circumstances. Do think if you really want to be "on hold" again until February, potentially for a second disappointment.
3. Appeals only come in if you feel the criteria have been wrongly applied - e.g. the council have miscalculated distance, forgotten to apply sibling priority etc. You can't appeal 11+ results after the Selection Review.
4. Please, please don't bother with the 12+ - although you can take it, pretty much nobody actually gets a place through this. Some schools deliberately admit over PAN so that they don't have to accept new pupils if pupils leave, as they're still technically over numbers.
5. Do sell the benefits of the upper school your child might go to to your child. There generally are many - for us, it's the fact that you would gain an extra hour leisure time each day not having to get a bus both ways.

Sorry if any of this sounds preachy, but it helps sometimes to have the info to hand.

149 in Bucks & all her best friends have passed too. Huge relief as she told us she’d messed up!
Sorry to those for whom it hasn’t gone as well, it’s such a stupid stressful system

I thought the highest score in Bucks was 141?

hers definitely says 149(?)

Sorry to those who didn't get the qualifying score.

My DC passed which is a relief so he can join his sibling next year

Now I’m hoping it’s not a typo / error ?!

140 Bucks here, August child very proud ! Her two best friends have passed as well. Sorry for those who it didnt work out. Rubbish system !

The standardised score goes up to 170 but I've never heard (personally) of people with scores higher than about 145 - so well done to your DD.

For anyone feeling even more shit in the news of other people's successes, I know you know this, but it's a snapshot of how well they did on one test on one day. The system is brutal and doesn't measure how well they draw, or how good they are at football, or how resilient they are, how well they pick up languages, how amazingly they can sing or play the cello or how reliable and kind they are. Kids with parents who care about their schooling (that's you!) generally do just fine in the end.

It won’t be a mistake as our maths score was 152!

I don’t even know how peoples kids can get scores like that. He’s worked so hard for so long and come nowhere near what he’d set his heart on. I feel like I’ve utterly failed him as a parent. We tell our kids that if they work hard and do their best they can achieve their dreams and it’s all a fucking lie.

It's a fucking miserable system. At least here you can choose whether to subject your kids to it. We're not even going to try with DS2.
I'm so sorry to everyone whose kids didn't get what they'd hoped for.

Google says 141 max I am so confused.

If you go onto the 11+ Buckinghamshire website here’s the link with the data from a previous years and it goes past 140
www.thebucksgrammarschools.org/_files/ugd/ab3fe9_6341eb1d2e494ebbaeef5cb1cc64465e.pdf

Well done to those who made it and I'm so sorry for those who didnt. My biggest fear is having to deliver bad news to my daughter when our results come out. I'm proud of her regardless, but she will be devastated. I hope the weekend is a good distraction for you all xx

I’m really sorry @DolphinOnASkateboard and @Backinthedress