Bucks secondary transfer test invitation email

[lovnishs]

Hello All,

Just wondering if anyone has received the email from bucks for the 11 plus test invitation/venue details yet. It was supposed to be sent on 20th July however I haven't received it so just thinking if its an individual issue in my case or everyone else is on the same page.

Thanks

[Erystation]

Hi, yes we received ours yesterday morning. Could it be in spam? Sorry, I know how annoying that question can be, but someone has to say it!

[Guest55]

May I suggest that all OOC check the GS allocation profiles for a realistic opinion about whether they stand a chance of ever getting a place?

All Bucks GS allocate place on distance and a high score [as long as your child gets 121] is totally irrelevant.

[Aethel]

We have received a letter regarding our application for SEN accommodation: but no actual details of the test venue (we are just over the border so out of cachement but within allocation distance for our preferred GS!)
To be honest Guest55, it's a bit late to post warnings as everyone has already applied and is unlikely to pull their DC out from the exams at this stage! although Slough is after Bucks this year so there may be some "free mock" children whose parents have no intention of sending them to a Bucks GS . That will presumably show up when the pass fogures are released next year.

[Guest55]

I don't think it's ever too late. Even if only one person checks allocations and realises they have no hope then we might avoid those annoying posts giving a score and wailing about not getting a place.

[Aethel]

I don't think it's ever too late. Even if only one person checks allocations and realises they have no hope then we might avoid those annoying posts giving a score and wailing about not getting a place.

Heh. Guest55, I love your boundless optimism!!

In all honesty, I'd love as many well-out-of-area folks to deregister as possible, it will give my DD2 more of a fighting chance. But people who overtutor and obsess with being able to claim their little darling passed five different eleven-plus-tests and then took a place at the superselective they wanted all along rarely think that in order to get their clutch of "passes" they have prevented normal children from being high enough in the cohort to get a place offer. It's mostly because they don't understand the cohort marking system, I think, rather than deliberate malice.

[Sally-Anne]

The frustrating thing is that there are quite a lot of "no shows" on the day of testing. I've heard reports that it can be as high as 10%, and that's a lot of wasted admin. Not to mention the fact that the GSs are absolutely at the limits of their capacity to hold the test, and that could mean that additional premises are hired for no reason.

I just can't fathom the logic behind so many people applying for a test and then just not bothering to turn up, or not telling Bucks CC that they aren't going to turn up.

Mind you, when I look at the hugely depressing list of LAs far and wide from which people apply for testing, it's probably no surprise. I sometimes wonder if half of them even know where Buckinghamshire is, and it's only a couple of days beforehand that they look at a map and think "Oops! I felt sure it was just down the road ..."

[anotherdad]

I don't think it's ever too late. Even if only one person checks allocations and realises they have no hope then we might avoid those annoying posts giving a score and wailing about not getting a place.

Annoying? Or just....sport

[ToadMum]

I don't think it's ever too late. Even if only one person checks allocations and realises they have no hope then we might avoid those annoying posts giving a score and wailing about not getting a place.

Annoying? Or just....sport

On one level, I would agree with you, anotherdad. What would March 1st be without them? None of them is going to affect one of my own DC, so I can just boggle at all these people who 'only want what's best for our DC', yet can't even be bothered to work out how their cherished DC will actually travel to school every day before submitting their CAF.

However, on a more serious note, every person whose DC is allocated a place at a selective school (more especially, a superselective) which they never intended to take up in the first place, or only after allocation day 'discover' that the child really cannot get to, may well be taking a place from another with less inconsiderate / more sensible parents.

So, for those of you who are putting your DC in for the 11+ in areas with which you are not familiar, perhaps try a quick Internet search on 'distance <home postcode> to <name of grammar school>' and just have a think about how realistic that journey really would be, day in, day out - even assuming that the schools admissions criteria even give your DC a realistic chance of getting a place to start with?

[BlueBerry]

I've received my so s invitation to sit the Bucks test. I've been given the location and time of the test. And we are also sitting the Berks/Slough test 2 days later. I already know of at least 3 boys who are sitting the Bucks test as a free mock for the Berks one