12+ Preparation - Please Help

[Rags]

A parallel is to say, my child has asthma, can he begin the x country race twenty minutes before those that do not because it makes him slower....exactly......daft......We asthmatics have to accept our limitations, so unfortunately the same should apply to any condition for any task in life.

Umm ... I know someone quite significantly asthmatic (i.e. overnight in hospital on occasion) ... who victoriously competed in cross-country for the school, and represented the county in Judo (no allowances made.) You don't necessarily have to accept limitations, if you can find a way to fairly work with/around them. Weaknesses can sometimes be used to make you stronger in other ways, although it is hard.

[southbucks3]

Absolutely.

Judo is fine, x country on a cold or foggy day can be/and is a serious issue for acute asthmatics but can only be judged on a daily basis, each person has to work within their own abilities and not expect favours, nor be expected to perform tasks that can jeopardise their well being.
I used the asthmatic parrallel as it is something I am very familiar with.

Anyway off topic, sorry.

[Rags]

I used the asthmatic parrallel as it is something I am very familiar with.

Anyway off topic, sorry.

Judo is fine - lol! Ok....

Anyway, I intended it to be entirely on topic - I appear to have failed.

My point was that whilst the limitations are real, they are not insurmountable in all cases, and with fair adjustments, and the necessary personal drive, can even be turned into strengths - no matter what form the limitation takes (perception, physical, health, cognitive, whatever.)

[southbucks3]

We will agree to disagree. My son will never be able to speed read, so to give him extra time would be counter productive, he would not learn about the reality of his condition. He must learn to selectively read instead, but where, as in some tests, selective reading is not going to help, he will have to go for high accuracy but accept he will complete less questions than his peers. Put it this way, when I do the election count in a few months there will be very little tolerance round the table for the inevitable person who we always end up waiting for, even if they are missing digits!

I could run a x country one day and the next not even be able to walk outside. However I was very good at indoor rowing and swimming! Judo is a fantastic sport but not known for requiring high vital lung capacity.

[Rags]

We will indeed have to disagree. I believe that by taking account of weaknesses, and having coping mechanisms, those very things can often be turned into strengths. To belive otherwise is to underestimate and denigrate those who achieve greatly despite - and even because of - their 'limitations.'

Maybe try judo - see how you like it

[southbucks3]

Judo is a big part of our lives, thank you, we enjoy it.

A person does not achieve greatly "despite" they achieve greatly at some things as well as having a condition which prevents them from excelling at some tasks, that is what makes us all different. A valuable skill all people can learn to excell at is using their intelligence to realise which things are worth pursuing to higher levels by themselves and which things are best left for others to achieve gold in, after we have grasped enough skill to get by of course. Theoretically that way we people work brilliantly together as a society, rather than all wasting energy and time pursuing individual goals. By all means my son can read Tolstoy f he wants to, that would be his choice and right, but he would not expect his peers to wait for him to finish each page before moving on and if he awarded himself extra time to read it he would have to understand there is only 24 hours in the day so that time could have been used towards pursuing one of his enviable skills. I sadly cannot give him an 25 hours each day to read the book and then declare he read it in three weeks "despite" having poor eyesight.

[sunshineonarainyday1]

Does anybody now when the 12 plus results from SWBGS will be sent out?

[Booklady]

Does anybody now when the 12 plus results from SWBGS will be sent out?

Don't know the answer to this - but I did get an answer to the FOI request I sent to ask for success rates for getting a place after 12+ / 13+ for our 3 closest GS's - makes pretty depressing reading tbh! More may have got in after appeal - but BCC say they do not hold this data. They also couldn't answer any questions about appeal / FCO success - see the bottom of the post for the questions I asked.

Sorry about the table formatting - don't know how to do this - but the numbers read across for the table headings - so 12+ 2014, then 2013, then 13+ 2014, then 2013. Hope that makes sense.


FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST



Thank you for contacting Buckinghamshire County Council.



Your request for information has now been considered and our response is as follows:



1) I am sorry, but all the schools referred to are academies (and their own public authorities under the FOIA) and BCC would not, therefore, ‘hold’ this information for the purposes of the FOIA. You would need to contact the schools directly.



2) The following table provides figures for those who were offered a place as part of the Late Transfer allocation rounds in 2013 and 2014 (split by 12+ and 13+):




12+ 2014 12+ 2013 13+ 2014 13+ 2013

BGS 0 3 0 0

BHS 0 8 0 0

SWB 0 1 24 12


I understand more places may have been offered subsequently as a result of successful appeals, but we do not hold these figures.

We apologise that we cannot fully help with your request.

Regards

Neil Doling


To: Admissions Education

Subject: Freedom of Information Request

Dear Sir or Madam

I would like to request some information (under the FOI act if necessary) please.

1. For the past two years :

How many children went to appeal in Bucks for Burnham Grammar, Beaconsfield High School, and William Borlase Grammar school - both after a failed review, and without going to review


How many of the failed review cases were able to show that the review was not FCO, thus enabling a full appeal hearing


How many children for each of these schools were shown to be qualified for grammar school at the appeal - both after a failed review, and without a review


How many of each of these children achieved a place at one of the schools mentioned above for the start of the school year


2. Also for the past 2 years:

Of the children who passed the 12+ and the 13+ exams, how many of them were successful in gaining a place, at any point, at one of the three names schools above.

[bucksdad8623]

I got the letter this morning and DS has passed and starts at JHGS in September .
He's pleased and I'm proud of him.

I hope everyone else got the outcome they wanted, for those who didn't there's not much I can say other than don't give up.

[BlueBerry22]

Well done bucksdad. We got a pass too. Very happy for my ds. Bb22