Factual information relating to the Gloucestershire 11+

Eleven Plus (11+) in Gloucestershire (Glos)

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gloucestermum
Posts: 739
Joined: Sat Feb 03, 2007 5:14 pm
Location: Gloucester

Factual information relating to the Gloucestershire 11+

Post by gloucestermum »

Hello all,

Following requests from forum users,I have created this "sticky".

The "sticky" is to be used for factual information only-information such as test dates,test format etc.All discussion is to remain within the normal Gloucestershire forum.That way,the sticky will hopefully be a useful addition to the Gloucestershire forum,and especially helpful to new members,

Regards,
Gloucestermum

10/10/2013
This sticky has been updated and some information has been archived. If you would like to view the archived information from previous years you can find it here


Changes to the Grammar School Entrance Test

Dear Parent/Guardian,

The Grammar School Entrance Test (11+) is changing in Gloucestershire in 2014, for entrance in September 2015.

The seven Gloucestershire Grammar Schools: Marling School; Pate’s Grammar School; Ribston Hall High School; Sir Thomas Rich's School; Stroud High School; The Crypt School and The High School for Girls have made the joint decision to use Durham University CEM tests. CEM are one of the largest independent providers of educational assessment and monitoring systems in the world. They have been developing selection assessments since 1999, and provide tests for a number of grammar schools in other counties.

The schools are concerned by the amount of tutoring that currently takes place. CEM design their tests to enable all children to demonstrate their academic potential without excessive preparation. They do not produce commercially available practice materials, however familiarisation material will be made available via the Gloucestershire Grammar Schools’ websites in January 2014. CEM further advise that beyond the familiarisation material, the best preparation for their tests is to read books and use mathematics on a regular basis.

Please be aware that the dates for registration for the test and the test dates have changed for 2014.

Key Dates


Monday 2 June 2014 On-line registration for 2015 Entry opens
Friday 4 July 2014 Registration closes at noon
Saturday 13 September 2014 Test day
By Monday 13 October 2014 Results sent to parents

A familiarisation booklet can be found here (PDF) http://www.pates.gloucs.sch.uk/admissions/28-admissions" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
gloucestermum
Posts: 739
Joined: Sat Feb 03, 2007 5:14 pm
Location: Gloucester

Admissions Arrangements

Post by gloucestermum »

Useful Links

EPE has collated the information for Gloucestershire
gloucestermum
Posts: 739
Joined: Sat Feb 03, 2007 5:14 pm
Location: Gloucester

Re: Factual information relating to the Gloucestershire 11+

Post by gloucestermum »

An explanation of Score and Rank
Information posted by Capers in 2010 -
toffeeapple wrote:
That's interesting Capers, so are you saying that post allocation day last year and pre appeals the wait list got down into the 200's? I know that my DD's score of 226 would have comfortably got her a place on allocations day last year but as, with that score, she is much further down in the rankings this year I thought that are chances were minimal? If we know (which i think we do from this forum) that the offers could not have gone past 185 on allocation day last year as 186 got in on appeal is there really that much movement post allocation, I was under the impression that the movement was minimal with only 1 or 2 declining places to go to Indie?
There's three figures. Score, Rank and Waiting List position. The ones we're looking at at the moment are Score & Rank. The Waiting List is not drawn up until Allocations day.

The reason that a score that would have achieved (for example) a rank of 190 last year only gets a rank of 220 this year is because more parents have ticked all the schools on the grammar application form this year than last year. They can't take a place at all four schools come allocations day!

There are 120 girls for each of the three schools, plus 60 for Pates, who are going to get offered a place at each school. If those children all ticked all 4 schools, then number 420 on the SHS ranking would get a place! Of course, not all parents tick all the boxes, but a lot have this year - more than ever before. The schools can tell, because they ask that you take the test at the school likely to be your first choice, but then see all the scores coming forward for their school from the children sitting elsewhere.

Also can you tell me whether the school are able to offer from the wait list pre appeals? I am still a little bit confused about how it all works post allocation day.
Appeals and waiting lists are totally unconnected. Once the initial offers go out on March 1st, parents may decline the offer, or ask for reconsideration for another school - and if it's granted it frees up a place. This is then offered to the first person on the waiting list. Sometimes they wait until they can offer a batch of 10 spaces at the same time, but the later it gets, the more likely the places will be offered one by one.

Once the appeals are heard, the schools are likely to go over PAN - or over-full to put it another way. Then no more places are offered from the waiting list until numbers drop back down below PAN - which may never happen!

Quote:
I wish I had found this forum earlier as we were very naive going into this process (DD only looked around SHS in June and completely fell in love with it) and we only ticked the box for SHS, although, to be fair, I don't think we would consider any of the other grammers it was just that we love the vibe at SHS! We are very fortunate that we have a very good comp as a fall back.
Yep, there's some good comps round here. However, just because a school has a good reputation, does not mean it will suit your child. F'rinstance, one comp not far from my office is very highly thought of and was very oversubscribed last year. Yet we thought our children would not do well there - too calm & quiet for them, and couldn't see them fitting in. Yet some of their friends & relatives thrive there (and that has nothing to do with academic ability - again I know of 11+ passes who chose it instead of the grammars).

We're just so lucky in our part of Gloucestershire to have a real choice!
mitasol
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Re: Factual information relating to the Gloucestershire 11+

Post by mitasol »

Gloucestershire Entrance Test for 2015 entry Familiarisation Booklet (PDF)
http://www.cryptschool.org/pdf/gloucest ... -final.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Information
This familiarisation booklet is designed to inform parents and candidates about the Entrance Test in order to:
• Give a feel for the appearance of the actual assessment.
•Introduce some of the symbols and phrases used in the assessment.
•Inform parents and candidates of the invigilation procedure.
•Indicate the range of disciplines that will be tested.
•Highlight the range of answer formats used in the test.
This booklet also includes examples to indicate the range of skills required to complete the assessment and the
manner in which questions are answered. This familiarisation booklet is NOT definitive and the inclusion of any
question types does not guarantee that they will be found in the final assessment.
Please note: there are no commercially available practice test papers for these assessments
capers123
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Location: Gloucestershire

Re: Factual information relating to the Gloucestershire 11+

Post by capers123 »

In another post I gave this info as an explanation of what happens to the papers and how places are allocated. It was suggested that it be put somewhere easier to find, so here it is (with a couple of additions)

Immediately after the test, the papers are handed to a local company who will mark the papers (twice electronically, using two different types of machine so if -say- one machine picks up a faint tick and the other doesn't, then an error is flagged and the paper marked manually). This company marks the papers for all the schools in Gloucestershire, then sends the results to CEM. CEM have the lists of which child has asked for their results to be shared for which school, and will take all the raw scores for an individual school, standardise them against each other, then rank them.

The standardisation is for age, down to the exact day of birth. It is very unusual, but not impossible, for twho children to have the same standardised score as I think it goes to two decimal places. However, if there are two, then each schools admissions policy gives the criteria of which gets a higher rank, e.g. distance from school.

CEM then sends the ranked order back to the schools, who will never see the raw scores or answer papers once they have been collected from the pupils on test day.

The school will then send parents the letter saying how they did in the test (met standard or not), so they can fill in the GCC schools preference form. Note that most will have set a pass mark to ensure that they are going to be full, so Pate's will set a pass that gives around 150 pupils, but they can only admit 120 (their 'PAN' or 'EAN'). A qualifying mark does not therefore ensure admission - it ensures the right to be considered for that school during allocations.

Later, the LEA will send each school a list of all the children who have expressed a preference for the school (irrespective of what the preference was), which the school will then put into rank order and send back.

Before Allocation Day, GCC will go through starting, I suspect, with the top ranking child at Pate's, then work their way down, allocating up to PAN of the 1st preferences for each school. As soon as a 1st preference for a child is unavailable (say they were number 121 for Pate's), their second preference becomes their new 1st preference as if it had been 1st all along.

There are, however, complications to this, and this is, again, down to each individual schools admission policy: A student who has reached the qualifying mark but irrespective of ranking who is either 'in public care' (a 'looked-after' child), or a child from a family entitled to Pupil Premium, will be allocated before taking the highest ranked child. It may well be that a child with a full EHCP (aka statement of SEN) where the school is specifically named in the statement, would also be allocated first, but again, only if the child had reached a qualifying mark.

Just before Allocation Day, each school will be given a list of the pupils allocated so they can send out a 'welcome' letter to arrive just after GCC tells the parents.
Capers
Wolczr
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Re: Factual information relating to the Gloucestershire 11+

Post by Wolczr »

Hi Capers

While your explanation is theoretically excellent I am still bemused by the Glos sustem. My son got a 690 ranking for Crypt (which seems to get him a place) but 360 for Tommies (which doesn’t - I don’t think). I have no idea what is going on. Can you help?
Legofan
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Re: Factual information relating to the Gloucestershire 11+

Post by Legofan »

Hi Wolczr,

At the risk of being shot down in flames it's basically as follows, the top 150 crypt rankings will go to pates, the next 300 will go to tommies and hsfg, quite a lot if the next 300 will chose SHS or Marling or Ribston, meaning a rank of 690 is very likely to get a place.

For tommies roughly the top 75 ranks will go to pates (assuming girls and boys do equally well) so the next 150 get to take a place at tommies. So in theory a ranking in the top 225 places is needed for tommies, but as some will choose Marling or crypt or private they will go a bit lower but not as far as 360.

Edit: In reality (as Amber says below, thanks for the clarification) is it's much more complicated with many moving parts, not every child shares their results with every school, some test takers will still choose a local comp over a distant grammar, some may prefer a closer grammar that's nearer over one that some people perceive as better or because they know they have a qualifying score and want certainty where the child will go or they may choose to go private.
Last edited by Legofan on Mon Oct 15, 2018 4:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Amber
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Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Re: Factual information relating to the Gloucestershire 11+

Post by Amber »

The only thing I would say to that, Legofan, is that you are assuming that everyone who applies to sit the test wants their child to go to Pates. They don't. People choose other schools over it every year, and a few years back they ended up having to call people who weren't even on the waiting list to fill their places. So while you have broadly got the principle correct, you also need to factor in that it isn't quite that straightforward and people don't necessarily want the 'top' school on the list. It applies to a lesser extent further down too as some will choose Crypt* over STR and Ribston (increasingly) over HSFG.

* though goodness knows, yet again, what Crypt are playing at this year.
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