Registration Walsall Wolverhampton and Wrekin 2017 11 plus

[quasimodo]

I have just noticed the online applications to register for the exams for the five schools in the consortium are now open.Closing date for applications is the 1st July 2016 at 4pm. The consortium are strict with the deadline for registration.Please note there is also a separate timetable for those whose children will require special arrangements to sit the exam

https://gsconsortiumsww.org.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[quasimodo]

I have noticed on the instructions for completing the application form "BOYS' parents will receive only ONE results letter from the school at which their child has sat the test."

I am aware that some boys parents had problems not knowing the score their son scored in applying to Adams Grammar.Those boys who applied to Adams and Queen Mary Boys were able to find out their results from QM Boys.If parents want to know the score then they may have to give some thought as to whether their son should sit the exam at QM Boys even though Adams is their first preference.Apart from the inconvenience on the day of the exam with travel I cannot see any other disadvantage as knowing the score can really help in making an informed decision as to which schools you should apply and your order of preference particularly if you are aware of previous years cut offs for individual schools. If there are any disadvantages that I cannot see I would be grateful if they could be pointed out to assist other parents.

[Thumbsup]

Have just registered DD. Having only gone through this process last year with DS, it appears to be a much more coordinated and streamlined process.

For example, last year the registration forms were available to be downloaded from each schools website and you had to post back. Now there is the one consortium website where you can only apply online.

It certainly will be interesting to see the reporting of results in October. AGS were so secretive about the actual score. QMGS seemed to be more open and direct with parents. Even when it came to the speculative date of the 2017 entrance test, the QMGS Head verbally indicated it would be held in Sep 2016 and it was also announced quite early on the QMGS website. Whereas AGS waited until 1st March to formally make the same announcement.

[Inspector General]

I have noticed on the instructions for completing the application form "BOYS' parents will receive only ONE results letter from the school at which their child has sat the test."

I am aware that some boys parents had problems not knowing the score their son scored in applying to Adams Grammar.Those boys who applied to Adams and Queen Mary Boys were able to find out their results from QM Boys.If parents want to know the score then they may have to give some thought as to whether their son should sit the exam at QM Boys even though Adams is their first preference.Apart from the inconvenience on the day of the exam with travel I cannot see any other disadvantage as knowing the score can really help in making an informed decision as to which schools you should apply and your order of preference particularly if you are aware of previous years cut offs for individual schools. If there are any disadvantages that I cannot see I would be grateful if they could be pointed out to assist other parents.

A good point. I notice that the online application now asks parents to prioritise either Adams or QMGS (defaulting to take the test in the priority location) rather than last year on the paper version where there was no prioritising and parents could choose where to take the test. I suspect that prioritising QMGS on this form makes no difference to the opportunity to put Adams first on the CAF form at a later stage, so Quasimodo's advice seems sound to me.

Clearly this application is designed, in part, to allow Adams not to publish scores (whilst allowing QMGS to continue doing so), nor to allow parents to find them out anyway (which must have been galling this year!) by the simple expedient of ticking the QMGS box as well. It is rather clever of Adams (and NGHS?) in their secretive way but Quasimodo seems to have the answer! (It is likely though that only the few parents reading this forum will know about this so Adams scores will become even more mysterious next year ...).