Buckinghamshire grammar schools scoring method

[kittymum]

yes,but not a feeder school... We have never received a word about grammar schools or 11+

I have asked many parents (especially foreign) how they found out about the test and they said "my nephew did it",My friend's child did it,my neighbour did it....a colleague's child... Not a single one found out through official channels,a letter...

Some found out in year 1,some year 3,some only a couple of months before the test... They all believed our locals schools were the only option and no entrance exam necessary. Many were in shock when they learnt of it yet some others prepare children for it practically from the preschool.

There are no feeder schools.

If you are at a Bucks Primary school you were given tge information- how can you say you didn't know of Bucks CC if you applied for a primary school place.

I have 2 children in Bucks Grammar schools (yes, I live in the county) and know of no one who prepared before year 5 at the earliest. As you keep talking about your local school I can only assume these are not in Bucks do you are Out Of County. My children are at their local catchment school - it is a Bucks Grammar School. Which grammar schools are you catchment for?

As the Bucks test is an opt out system I can only assume you are not in county / ignored all the information the school sent / a troll

I will go now and as Scary said, stop feeding.

[anotherdad]

yes,but not a feeder school... We have never received a word about grammar schools or 11+

I have asked many parents (especially foreign) how they found out about the test and they said "my nephew did it",My friend's child did it,my neighbour did it....a colleague's child... Not a single one found out through official channels,a letter...

Some found out in year 1,some year 3,some only a couple of months before the test... They all believed our locals schools were the only option and no entrance exam necessary. Many were in shock when they learnt of it yet some others prepare children for it practically from the preschool.

I'm not quite sure what you mean? So your child is at a Bucks primary school but it's not a "feeder school"? What do you mean by that?

Are you prepared to name the primary school in question? Along with other posters, I can't quite believe that a Bucks school would keep their parents in the dark about the selection process?

Are you by any chance in Milton Keynes? They are a unitary authority and have a comprehensive system, even though they are geographically within Buckinghamshire.

[streathammum]

Would you mind telling us which local authority you live in, MimiTa? It makes a big difference about how likely you are to be told formally by your child's school about the 11+.

I live in Lambeth and we have no grammar schools in our borough, although every year a few children from my school go to the grammars in Sutton. The school does not provide information about the Sutton tests and I wouldn't expect it to. I would hope, though, that people who live in the borough of Sutton are told about the tests as the grammars are their local schools.

[BucksBornNBred]

yes,but not a feeder school... We have never received a word about grammar schools or 11+

I have asked many parents (especially foreign) how they found out about the test and they said "my nephew did it",My friend's child did it,my neighbour did it....a colleague's child... Not a single one found out through official channels,a letter...

Some found out in year 1,some year 3,some only a couple of months before the test... They all believed our locals schools were the only option and no entrance exam necessary. Many were in shock when they learnt of it yet some others prepare children for it practically from the preschool.

If your primary school is in Bucks then it is a "feeder school" as Bucks has the 11+ system and all primary schools have to inform on the process. As for it not being fair, well the test is supposed to separate the naturally bright not necessarily the tutored so even if you moved to a new Bucks school in Sept Yr 6 a gifted child has, in theory, as much chance as all the ones that were tutored.

[loopylala]

I am very surprised by how many parents have never heard of it.

Why are your surprised? There are only 164 Grammar schools dispersed across the entire country. The vast majority of parents don't know anything about the 11 plus. The vast majority likely don't care to know as their DCs can't realistically travel to one.

As I previously asked, do your local secondary schools distributed information about your local education provision to families living outside the area?

[Sally-Anne]

Are you by any chance in Milton Keynes? They are a unitary authority and have a comprehensive system, even though they are geographically within Buckinghamshire.

And Milton Keynes actively discourages applications to Bucks Grammars because it creams off the brightest and best from their own comprehensive system ...

They certainly don't publicise the existence of the test, but nor do any of the rest of the adjacent Local Authorities. Individual schools may make their own decisions to do so though.

[drummer]

Do you live in Bucks MimiTa? It seems odd if you live in Bucks to not be aware of Bucks County Council. If you got your child into a Bucks primary school then you would surely be aware of BCC's involvement in school admissions?

There is a HUGE amount of information on the Bucks CC website about the secondary transfer process including a familiarisation booklet for the test. There is also a LOT of information passed down to schools and parents including a very thorough presentation made to Year 5 parents. There is no secret. Most of the rubbish passed around 'by word of mouth' is between people who for whatever reason have chosen not to engage in any of the many ways they can access the real information fully available to them. Understandable perhaps, as conspiracy theories and rumours are invariably much more interesting than the truth.

Regarding children from families where English is an additional language. Actually the important factor here is the social deprivation/education level of the household, not the language. Many children from EAL backgrounds outperform their native English speaking peers. If ESL children are truly 'gifted' then there are highly likely to qualify and if they don't, will have a good chance at review (if their school agrees that they are indeed gifted).

On tutoring, I am personally doubtful that a lot of the tutoring that goes on has any real effect. Just look at the complaints on this forum about 'test content not matching what was practised'. Many tutors seem to still be 'coaching' or training children to tackle specific types of questions when what is in fact needed (IMHO) is solid, curriculum-based tutoring that supports what is being learned at school with a bit of test practise thrown in. And even good tutoring will probably only bring marginal gains - most tutors know after the first session which children will likely qualify or not - many will only accept those that they are already confident will pass!

And I simply don't recognise this at all

Many of those who do pay attention to the vocabulary from Foundation,give the children word lists regularly,test them etc. They simply know in a few years' time they will need vocabulary badly.

I think you'll be much happier (and better informed) if you stop listening to the misinformed playground gossip and having come to this forum to ask 'people in the know', believe the facts you are being offered on here.

Ultimately, what matters most is what is going on at school and if the children you are concerned about are doing well academically then they will likely do well at the test.

[MimiTa]

Are you by any chance in Milton Keynes? They are a unitary authority and have a comprehensive system, even though they are geographically within Buckinghamshire.

And Milton Keynes actively discourages applications to Bucks Grammars because it creams off the brightest and best from their own comprehensive system ...

They certainly don't publicise the existence of the test, but nor do any of the rest of the adjacent Local Authorities. Individual schools may make their own decisions to do so though.

yes,I am in Bletchley,MK. MK is a Labour-led council and adamantly against grammar schools,so much so that they refuse to consider the plea of thousands of MK parents for a grammar school in MK but reply to them that MK council is totally against it hence has not applied for one. Therefore MK families are kept in the dark compared to some other councils.
Mk council actively discourages anything about grammar schools as considered unfair on other children.
Hence many families do not even know about the existence of grammar schools and that their children can apply in Aylesbury or Buckingham.

[kenyancowgirl]

...but MimiTa you posted this in early Sept:

MimiTa wrote:
There are tens of thousands of foreign parents around the UK-Indian,Pakistani,Chinese,Eastern European,African....preparing their children for 11+ and the children passing the test despite the parents having strong accents,wobbly English and different maths terminology. I personally know quite a few of them as several foreign children from my kids' schools get into grammar schools every year,most taught by their parents as well as tutors.Foreign terminology certainly does not hurt them.


And you also comment that you found some 11+ stuff for your DD a year ago...so I think you actually know more about the 11+ than perhaps you are letting on.....!!

As MK is a unitary authority in its' own right, and you know that it is adamantly agaist GS etc, the fact that you know this shows you have done lots of research. You cannot expect, what is effectively a separate county to hand over information about another counties education system...why not ask MK to give you info on Bham and Warwickshire as well...and Gloucestershire - you could apply for them too....

[loopylala]

yes,I am in Bletchley,MK. MK is a Labour-led council and adamantly against grammar schools,so much so that they refuse to consider the plea of thousands of MK parents

OK, I'm confused now. Very few parents in your area know about Grammar schools yet thousands of them are requesting one in your local area?

Therefore MK families are kept in the dark compared to some other councils.

So which other councils are distributing information on Bucks Grammars (other than Bucks of course)?

Mk council actively discourages anything about grammar schools as considered unfair on other children.

Well they do have a point. Introducing Grammar schools in your area will remove the choice for those wanting comprehensive schools.