11 Plus Exams Forum

We went to the New year 7 parents evening at RGS last night. The school is still under subscribed with I think they said 174 pupils in this year so anyone thinking about the 12 + might be interested in this news. They are also piloting a new day boarding scheme for year 7 where you stay until the evening and join in with meals, prep etc in the boarding house, so presumably boarding places are undersubscribed as well.

It was a good evening and ds is getting excited about his transition day next week.

why is it undersubscribed? It seems really strange as I thought it had a very good reputation and was a preferred school? If fact we nearly moved to get into catchment (until head at our local Grammar changed for the better)

I think it could be that in previous years boys have been disappointed because even though they have put the school as first choice they have not got a place, possibly because they live on the edge of the catchment area? Playground rumours along the lines of "there's no point putting RGS as nobody from round here gets allocated a place" means that fewer boys have put it down preferring to opt for a school they are more likely to be offered. Just a thought. There may be a similar situation next year when the new transport charges are introduced and more boys opt for their closest grammar school.

I agree with AndyB. Playground news was that some Bledlow Ridgers were told by County when querying filling in their forms that it was unlikely that they would get RGS. So they didn't bother putting it down despite it being their catchment school. It's a bit of a 'mare.
Also, do RGS do the 12 plus? I thought it was just their internal entrance exam for entry during year 7?

You might be right as I heard some parents recently saying that they had put school 'A' first on the CAF because they thought it more likely they'd be offered a place than at school 'B' their actual preferred choice.

However, I don't understand why anyone would do this. Surely one of the great strengths of the Bucks system is that you CAN put your genuine preference on your CAF safe in the knowledge that it is being processed objectively by county, ie that the school you put second can't say 'we're not offering a place because you didn't put us first'. And we have 6 choices, More than enough to cover Grammar and Upper choices.

I know that JHGS was also 'all offered' this year and Dr Challoner's (boys) also went out a lot further than it usually does (11 miles) so perhaps there were just fewer boys in South Bucks this year ?

Could it be that as the papers get harder less children pass?

No. The top 30% ish will pass each year. If the scores overall are lower it will still be the top 30%. If the scores are high the 30% will be bunched up together. They are standardised by age.

Don’t know if this helps to explain any of the differences it’s amazing the things that you’ll do to make yourself feel better whilst waiting for the first round allocations. Only did the analysis on schools which would take boys in the area as at the time it was all I was concerned with.

First Preference Choices Excluding Successful Appeals

Change in No's
School PAN 2011 2010 2009 2008 2010 - 2011 2008 - 2011

Burnham Grammar 150 86 64 53 54 22 32
Chesham Grammar 180 104 110 92 101 -6 3
Dr Challoners Grammar 180 159 177 214 196 -18 -37
John Hampden 150 117 129 99 80 -12 37
*Royal Grammar School 182 139 194 222 182 -55 -43

Total 842 605 674 680 613 -69 -8

Percentage Change -10.2% 0.9% 10.9%

*RGS excluding Boarding


The total number of first preferences for the school in 2011 was 10.2% (69 pupils) lower than previous year.

2008 was the last time a similar number of applications received.

RGS 43 less and Dr Challoners 37 less applications than in 2008.
John Hampden 37 more and Burnham 32 more applications than in 2008.

Possibly based on the previous two years of oversubscription to RGS and Challoners people were playing the numbers game and switching their first choice to Burnham and John Hampden.

Between 2008 and 2011 John Hampden’s catchment area changed as did Challoners admission policy, so this will probably have made some difference.

This only helps to explain to explain the past as for the split next year probably a crystal ball is the best method.



Apologies table has no uploaded too well!

Hasn’t JHGS shown a marked improvement in the past couple of years? I may be wrong in that, but if so, perhaps more people are choosing it than in the past…

Also was at an Amersham School event last night and HT told us they are oversubscribed for Y7 for the first time in many years so that could possibly be a factor too.