Kes birmingham

[thelight]

hi.. my son sat kes saturday, they told me that they had sent a report to his present school on 6th jan and had not yet had a reply. i rang his school and was told that they only recieved it yesterday. i asked when it would be going back but was just told that his teacher would deal with. i rang again this morning and again was told that they only recieved it yesterday and his teacher would deal with it.

kes have said that they do look closely at the report and as they are marking papers this week i didnt want this to go against my DS if they dont get the report. i get the impression that his school do not want to complete the report and i dont know why. has anyone had this problem ? i dont know how to overcome this. i dont want to seem like i am pushing the school however i want them to sent the report back asap...can anyone help please?

[fm]

If they really only received it yesterday, then you are expecting an awfully quick turnaround from a teacher who may be busy with other items. Should he or she be in the midst of preparing something for the whole class, I would not expect the teacher to drop that just to do a report for one child that may be equally time consuming and need reference to your son's books in order to give a comprehensive answer to questions asked.

Granted, if you are hoping for a bursary or scholarship, then this report being delivered a.s.a.p. may be important. If this is the case, I would call KES and explain that the school may take a little while to repsond due to the report's late arrival; KES should be able to understand that teachers are busy on other matters. Otherwise, it can probably keep for a few days.

Why would you think the school would not want to oblige? Surely if it is an ordinary primary school (rather than somewhere like EHS or Solihull), the school has no reason to delay doing this report other than it having low priority compared to other school matters.

[thelight]

hi... i got a letter from solihull saying that we have got a fee paying place for our DS we are very happy that he has been accepted, however would not be able to afford a fee paying place they have said that we can apply for a fee assisted place but they cannot guarantee.

i am a bit worried now that hw might not get into KES as he found that exam harder. solihull said that he did very well in his exam and thats why they offered him a place but would not give me any more information.

has anyone had offer for soliull and kes? or maybe one but not the other...?

[no_ball]

We received our letter from Solihull this afternoon. DS has been offered a place there and a scholarship interview next week with the head.

In addition poor DS has to sit one final test this week for scholarship in Maths. Its a 45min paper in 2 sections at a school in coventry, any assistance in what type of questions may come up or the hardness level would be gratefully received.

Solihull had only an english and maths paper, in my personal opinion, it is a glorified Comprehensive. No doubt KES was a harder exam, it's all about the preparation and performance on the day that speaks volumes. Fingers crossed.

[thelight]

good luck ! hope he does well!

[um]

I think it may be slightly unfair to describe Solihull as a comprehensive.
There is no doubt that it is easier to gain a place there than KES, but they still cannot admit all those who sit their test and so are selective.
At around £13K a year they're pretty selective in terms of background too.
They are not as generous with scholarships and bursaries as KES; in their case, a scholarship usually only means a small discount unfortunately. Having visited the school, I did like it and they do have excellent facilities. Yes, many will chose KES or KEHS (Solihull admits girls too) over it, but it also seems to really retain pupils who started at 7 - there must be a reason for that.
I have to say that when I've seen Solihull School pupils in Malvern Park nearby or while shopping at Morrisons opposite - they are pretty pleasant and behave VERY differently from the comprehensive school pupils near my house

[mike1880]

Average MidYIS score for Solihull is equivalent to top 8%; it's a little less selective than the grammars or KES but not by very much - if you reckon CHB probably averages something like top 5% judging by other indicators. Not all that much like a comprehensive.

Although co-ed it only has about one third girls.

Mike

[fm]

Solihull had only an english and maths paper, in my personal opinion, it is a glorified Comprehensive

You have obviously never experienced a typical comprehensive, glorified or otherwise, if you think there is any similarity between it and Solihull school in either social mix, academic standards or range of extra-curriculum activities.

Solihull may have decided to skip doing a verbal reasoning paper under the basis that volume practice renders verbal reasoning papers somewhat suspect as a measure of ability. KES probably don't even look at the VR unless the English is on the weak side. Neither independent does non-verbal which is probably the closest test you are going to get that is not language/quality of primary school/education of parents biased.

Often the children say the Solihull exam in English is actually harder. It's just the competition for places is less so you can afford to do worse in the exam and still get a place.

Both schools are testing academic accomplishment to date and this has as much to do with the quality of their primary school education as it has with any innate intelligence.

[narshad1]

I did mention that it was my own personal opinion by the way. It's horses for courses and perceptions etc.

8 got into Oxbridge according to their 2009-2010 results. The facilities are no doubt excellent. I think more went from KES and probably KECH.

This year 6 to year 7 process is a funny old game. I am glad it is coming to an end, though the final decision seems anything but clear cut.

[KenR]

It's interesting that despite CHB selecting the top 5%, the A Level results were relatively poor this year. If you go onto the CHB website site you can read the Head's assessment of the reasons and actions they are taking to improve matters. Lots of boys didn't achieve the grades necessary to meet their university offers

If you talk to most teachers they will tell you that hard work is still the most important factor for getting good A level results, ability is less important - certainly for the kids attending any of the school schools mentioned.