KEGS admissions - sift the truth from the myths

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daftidea
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Sep 24, 2010 12:22 pm

KEGS admissions - sift the truth from the myths

Post by daftidea »

My child has just started in year 5 in the Ongar area.

I have been told:
There is no point in even sitting the 11+ in our area as KEGS is the only GS anywhere near us and that it is a non-starter.
Ongar is not in catchment for KEGS.
There are ~ 12 places held for out-of-catchment.
There are so few places for out-of-catchment, the child needs to be achieving 95% to stand a chance.

Does anyone know what the truth may be, or as my name suggests, is it just a daft idea to put my child through it??
Tea Lover
Posts: 38
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:55 pm

Re: KEGS admissions - sift the truth from the myths

Post by Tea Lover »

KEGS doesn't have a catchment area. Anyone can apply.

It would be a good idea to check what transport is available from Ongar to Chelmsford and make sure you think the time involved is reasonable. I'm afraid I don't know about transport from Ongar.

If you think he's up to the task, and he wants to do it, I'd give it a go. You could try the Susan Daughtry VR books if you want to test the waters. They explain the techniques and have a number of questions to practice on.
marigold
Posts: 656
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:14 pm
Location: essex

Re: KEGS admissions - sift the truth from the myths

Post by marigold »

Hello,

KEGS has no catchment area at all. The boys who get in are the top 112 in the exam who put the school as their first choice on their CAF list, it does not matter where they live in the country. Theoretically you could commute from Brighton if you had the energy.

The Headmaster is very hot on the boys taking part in after school activities and parents coming to matches so if you live a long way away you would have to be prepared to do a lot of ferrying around. He mentioned at the new parents meeting this week that he did not think having to get a bus or train home was a good enough excuse not to do rugby training etc and that once you are part of the school you should find a way to get round problems of distance. My son can walk to school and he is already finding all the extras a bit exhausting.

There are two grammar schools in Essex , Westcliffe and Southend which give priority to boys in their catchment area who reach a certain mark in the exam and then the rest of the places are filled with out of catchment boys. If you look on the Essex section of this forum you will see children travel from far and wide.

Your son will not be disadvantaged in anyway because of where he lives when he takes the exam and if you think he could cope with the journey from Ongar to Chelmsford each day then I would say go for it.
onlyme
Posts: 28
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2010 7:15 pm

Re: KEGS admissions - sift the truth from the myths

Post by onlyme »

Hi,

Just wanted to reiterate ...
-KEGS does not have a catchment area.
-There is no pass mark for 11+ - Places awarded to top 112 boys who named KEGS (1st) on their CAF.
-11+ for KEGS (Essex) includes maths, english & verbal reasoning questions.
Check out the verbal reasoning questions as they make up 50% of the exam score. There are 21 verbal reasoning types & if your son grasps these fairly quickly I would definately give it a go.
Y-o-u-t-u-b-e has video examples of all the verbal reasoning types... they were a god send!
- Finally my son secured a place at KEGS this year & we live in the Romford area :D
HTH... Good luck.
daftidea
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Sep 24, 2010 12:22 pm

Re: KEGS admissions - sift the truth from the myths

Post by daftidea »

Thanks everyone - there is a glimmer of hope then!
KB
Posts: 3030
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:28 pm

Re: KEGS admissions - sift the truth from the myths

Post by KB »

If you check out threads from previous years you can get an idea ofthe marks needed to get a place - no where near 95% - although worth noting that most children will score lower on the day than they do in practice tests at home.
We were told to expect a drop of 10% but I dont know if that is still valid.
GibsonES335
Posts: 62
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2010 10:29 am

Re: KEGS admissions - sift the truth from the myths

Post by GibsonES335 »

Of course, there is no right or wrong answer about what mark your son has to achieve to secure a place. The Bond books and practice papers cannot replicate the atmosphere and stress experienced in the exam room. And each child will cope with this differently. All you can do is keep practicing questions so they have a feel for what might come up.

As for scores, I'd say that at least 90% is the target for practice papers. But there are so many other variable which will determine if a place if offered, or not. It's how well he does on the day in competition with all the other candidates. Remember, it really is a race for the line and only the top few get places. Harsh, but true. Like has been said, if you live out of Southend Borough, geography is entirely irrelevant.

Try to eliminate the "silly" errors. I told my 3 that this was like giving away free marks to all the other candidates, and 1 mark really can make a difference.
moved
Posts: 3826
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:42 pm
Location: Chelmsford and pleased

Re: KEGS admissions - sift the truth from the myths

Post by moved »

KB wrote:If you check out threads from previous years you can get an idea ofthe marks needed to get a place - no where near 95% - although worth noting that most children will score lower on the day than they do in practice tests at home.
We were told to expect a drop of 10% but I dont know if that is still valid.
I think the drop is also caused by the sheer exhaustion of the day. Not to mention the alien environment.

Paper 1 - English - very hard comprehension full of incomprensible English.
Very short break
Paper 2 - maths - much harder than an end of yr 6 SATs paper, with tough problems
20 min break
Paper 3 - VR - full of timeconsuming codes, etc. Taken when they are already fried by the other two.
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