11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi everyone. Just wondering if anyone knows if my son has any chance at all of getting a place at STR. He managed a 210 which is the qualifying score. I know he won't get offered a place in March. Anyone know when a second or third or fourth round of offers is made? Do children offered places in March have a deadline to accept offer or could places be declined as late as September?? Anyone know the qualifying score for previous year and lowest score of any boy offered a place?

Thanks for any info.

Hi,

I think there is a date for the 2nd round of offers, but 3rd & 4th tend to be just as a space is turned down. The latest date for 3rd & 4th, etc is always the last day that the appeals are heard, in that if the panel allows any appeals, the school will then be over its entry number. One slight caveat to that is that some grammars are undersubscribed, thus may still have places post appeals, but as your son reached the qualifying score, that won't apply.

Have you put him down for Crypt?

As for the other questions, I really don't know how many appeals are allowed for STR or what the scores go down to. No doubt someone else here will jump in.

Good luck.

Tolstoy is the expert here, I think....

Hi Ozziemum,

I think that people have two weeks to accept/decline school offers that are made to them on 1 March. So there will be a few people then who know they definitely don't need the place and that will free up a few spots for others, which will be offered in the second round.

In addition, there will be some people who accept a place in March but continue looking at private schools / considering moving house etc - and they may not know whether they need the place or not, until much later. So places become available in dribs and drabs over the course of the summer. Sometimes an expected child simply does not turn up on the first day in September!

The issue with STRS is that I think I am right in saying that its permitted admission number is still only 108 (4 classes of 27) but the school has demonstrated that it can run perfectly happily with more in a class. Lots of the current classes have up to 30. The only way of being offered an additional place is to make an appeal. The school cannot itself go above 27 per class - only an appeal panel can make them do that.

So, if you feel that STRS is the right school for your DS and can stomach making an appeal, I would say do both: go on the waiting list and appeal at the same time. There's lots of helpful information in the Appeals section of this forum. As your son scored 210, yours would be an "oversubscription" appeal, rather than a "non-qualification".

Don't forget to accept whichever school your DS is offered, even if you are appealing, so that you are guaranteed a place somewhere!

The cut-off point for offers made in the first round varies from year to year. It's been between 210 and 220 over the past few years. There will be children in the school who scored lower than that who got in on appeal, due to mitigating circumstances.

Yep very well summed up by Cairo, I certainly could have done no better

Thank you Capers and Cairo for all the info. I will consider whether to appeal or not. Do you think the school itself will know how many boys are on the waiting list after the first round or is that something only the LA know?

I did put our first pref as STR, then Marling, then Crypt. I know he will be offered Marling but I would like to change 2nd pref to Crypt if he can't get into STR. Is there any way of changing prefs at this stage?

I am pretty sure that you will be able to contact the school and find out where your son is on the waiting list if he is not offered a place.

then re Crypt, you can accept your Marling place to ensure you have a school sorted and then ask to be considered for Crypt in the second round.

Historically there have been spare places so with your son's score he would more than likely be offered a place at Crypt. Once confirmed you could give up the Marling place to someone else and then wait out the situation with Tommies.

Thank you Tolstoy. I will contact STR for waiting list position and accept Marling when offered in March then ask for Crypt.

To be honest, we don't know much about the gloucestershire grammar schools as thought we would be living in Australia but now not to be and will be moving from Sussex to Gloucestershire (probably Gloucester) in the summer. DS did test with about a week of practice tests only and we haven't visited schools as overseas for open days. So just know schools by their ofsted reports and published exam results. So any help regarding strengths/weaknesses/ of Marling vs Crypt would really help us decide where DS should go. Our son is quite shy, slightly immature for his age and doesn't make friends easily. He prefers to read at school break rather than play soccer. (although Dad will be encouraging him with rugby as was housemaster/rugby coach at a boarding school once). Doesn't like or excel at sports except swimming but is good at maths and he has no idea what subjects to study in the future. I am happy to receive private messages from anyone who has views on either school.

Thanks to everyone for their advice.

A small point only but Marling certainly have no swimming on their curriculum

It sounds like you have a pretty good appeal if you ask me. Your DS did well to pass with such short notice and in those circumstances. Tommies has a pool but I don't know enough about the boys schools to tell you much more. Your son sounds a bit like mine! He will probably be going to Tommies (and he will be the only one from his school so hoping to make friends) but I did like Crypt when I looked round it. I do know they do well at cricket there. Perhaps you could arrange to look round the schools before March to get more of an idea which one/s you like? Tommies have some summer courses on such as introduction to secondary science etc but I am not sure if Crypt and Marling do these too.