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

My daughter got 117. Do you think that is close enough to appeal. Also in terms of quartile where would 117 sit?

@insomniac1 talk to your head next week and see if they will support a review.

I know a DC who scored 118 and was successful at review next year.

My daughter got 141 in her recent GL assessments!

Unfortunately I don’t think the head will support as she’s currently at a through school which is independent and they are struggling for numbers so are probably happy that she didn’t pass!!

Congrats to those celebrating good news.
So sorry to those who haven’t made it. It’s such a hard system judging these kids on a day. Feel like my kid definitely has it in him to do it but also could so easily not make the cut and I wouldn’t be all that surprised if he didn’t even though I’d be really disappointed.

Pass for my daughter here in bucks but my mind is on those who didn’t receive the result they hoped for. It’s a rubbish system and the children are too young for this level of disappointment. I feel many bucks children are displaced by those applying significantly out of catchment. Doesn’t seem fair that more (as a % and absolute) out of bucks children pass than those in the county.

My daughter passed. It's basically taken money and time lots of it. That's my honest opinion.

If that’s the AI first result on Google it’s most likely wrong.

My son just went in to sit his last exam. Hallelujah. I will never have to beg him to do his Atom Islands again.

Hugs to everyone getting results and dealing with the resulting emotional fallout. It's awful watching a bunch of children who went in all having worked equally hard just get sorted into these black and white "yes/no" piles. I hate this whole system.

Good morning everyone,

We got our results yesterday and our son was 1 (or 2) marks shy of a 121 pass, with 120.5.

Verbal 116
Mathematical 129
Non-verbal 121

We have an appointment with the HM of our school on Monday, in Bucks, so I believe the HM recommendation will have been made ahead of time. I understand a 1:1-2:2 position will be necessary.

In terms of other results he has the following;

Year 5
Reading - Secure On Track, Good
Writing - Secure On Track, Good
Maths - Greater Depth, Good

Year 4
Reading - Expected, Good
Writing - Expected, Good
Maths - Greater Depth, Good

Year 3
Reading - Greater Depth, Good
Writing - Expected, Good
Maths - Greater Depth, Good

Year 2
Reading - all Expected
Writing - all Expected
Maths - mix of Expected & Greater Depth

Year 1
Reading - all Expected
Writing - all Expected
Maths - mix of Working Towards & Expected

I assume we will see the predicted Y6 estimates alongside the HT recommendation on Monday.

The data over the last 6 years shows between a 69% and 86% success rate for 120 scores, it doesn’t give data on 120.5.

1 mark on verbal or 2 marks across maths & non verbal would have seen him over the line.

His grandmother passed away unexpectedly - out of the blue - in February which has made for a difficult year for all of us, he had quite a difficult time which may have impacted his overall preparation but obviously it was a number of months prior to the exam.

His brother (Y8) passed and is at the local Grammer, and thriving.

Subject to finding out a little more on Monday does anyone have any thoughts about likely Selection Review outcomes?

That he passed 2 and missed 1, the 50% weighted verbal, would count in his favour I think?

Grateful for any comments and I’ll update again on Monday after the meeting with our HT.

Just catching up on all the messages. Thank you all for sharing your highs and lows it makes this little forum a real space to get through this 11plus process.

Congrats to all of you who made it through Bucks, there seems to be many of you. For future exam takers it maybe worth sharing best practices as I've seen some amazing scores.

For those who didnt get the results you wanted , sorry to see that despite all your commitment and sacrifices this was not reflected. That is truly the most painful part that 10 year olds have to experience so early on that hard work does not always pay off and as a parent that it's a horrible risk as part of this process that we expose our children to.

If you're feeling up to it , it would be good to share your next steps , so that future posters can see best ways to support their kids through the disappointment or appeals etc.

Thank you to all. We're still waiting for our results, but I've already diverted DS's attention to different schools so that any disappointment doesn't feel so jarring, but he's no fool so I will probably have to prepare myself for any disappointment.

Thanks and yes I just checked and it goes up to 169/170 so phew. Last year’s results by score:
https://www.thebucksgrammarschools.org/_files/ugd/ab3fe9_6341eb1d2e494ebbaeef5cb1cc64465e.pdf

On best practice, we did group tutoring once a week starting in y5. If anybody is in Aylesbury Vale area and wants a recommendation DM me. Homework once a week on a Sunday, from Jan onwards this was one practice paper a week. And then she did 2 mocks in the summer. We didn’t do much over the summer as we were away a lot and she was a bit burnt out from the year. We did sign up for Atom for Jul/Aug only and she occasionally practiced a bit of maths on that. That was maybe once a week. If your child is naturally academically inclined I don’t think you need to do anything more intense than that. (She has been greater depth in reading/ writing/ SPAG/ maths all the way through primary school as an indicator of what level she was starting at).

@Bucksdad76 I can see you’ve also posted on 11+ exams forum, which is a fab place to get really good support with selection review / appeals - on MN you might want to start your own thread to attract those in-the-know, as they may not be browsing this thread if they don’t have their own 11+ DC this year.
Best of luck with it 🤞🏻

DD qualified, but only just, and with a significantly lower NVR score (her stronger verbal helped to compensate). I did say to her, that had she not quite made the cut off, her selection review position would not be strong, as I think they have a policy of all scores needing to be within a certain bandwidth of the 121? I‘m not the expert on this though.
But in my DS’s year, I knew of children who scored around 117 who did pass a selection review.

Thanks TeaandHobnobs I’ll do that!

I've read that they generally want to see scores above 121 in two out of three areas, in which case DS is screwed. We're asking for a review because why not but I hold out next to no hope. Staring at six years of school reports in which he's been brilliant, constantly ahead of expectations, well above national averages on assessments, never getting anything less than excellent for effort and attitude and it all counts for nothing because of one test on one morning and a bunch of selfish twats in London who are too thick to read admission policies.

My advice would be tailor the tuition to your child. For example my DD couldn't do atom she would need a person to talk to her so she did group tuition.

Yes, and the format is different, it’s not easy for some children to switch between computer and paper assessment.

Surely they round up? I would definitely follow through with your case and application x

Bucks do not round up. Our mark was a 0.75 (thankfully over the threshhold) but was rounded down to the nearest mark. Which makes a mockery a little bit of the maths paper that covers rounding quite extensively.

Sorry to hear this @Magnificentkitteh @DolphinOnASkateboard
Have you told them yet? How did it go if so?

Hope you have other options…

when I told my DS about not making the grade at Latymer, I armed myself with the fact that there were approx 100,000 kids of 10-11 age in London. So I was going to fudge the stats and tell him that that means he came 1000ish out of 100,000(!) it turned out he was ok and didn’t need my hyperbole but only because it wasn’t his favourite school, so im saving it for if he doesn’t get into his faves…

Sorry for confusing matters, I was saying me too in terms of I too am v sorry to hear that it didn't go to plan for dolphin's DS. It sounds like he really should have got through. What a shit system. I think for Latymer etc even though they're very competitive it probably isn't as much pressure as when you're in a fully grammar area. I feel for everyone who didn't get the results they were hoping for.

Ah that’s great… I was thinking given your DD ranked so high, I would have been quite surprised if she didn’t get through on R2.
Agree with all, it’s an awful process.
Good luck to all having those tricky conversations..
(Also congrats to all who get through...)

We don't have R2 results yet, so still checking my emails, but not as frantically

Hi,
My DS score is 112. I’m trying to submit selection review but couldn’t able to attach the file as it’s keep throwing error message saying , “ check that you have uploaded your evidence correctly.” The files sizes are in required limit. Do I have to wait for Head teacher forum before I upload my documents online. Please someone guide me.