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11+ woes

Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 11:20 am
by nia1999
Hi there


Like everyone else on this site my life has been taken over for the last 12 months by the 11+ syndrome .My daughter will be sitting the test this autumn and as we live in Hatch End we are targeting WGGS as well as the usual suspects ...ie Parmiters,Clement Danes,Rickmansworth
My question is this ..As the competition is so tough and so many variables come into it we need to have a back up plan of a good state school as we have ruled out private education .We have a good state comprehensive called Nower Hill which we re not that far from but if we put our choices on the CAF as
WGGS,Nower Hill,Ricky,Clement Danes etc will the fact that we ve put the state school 2nd be counted against us if she doesnt pass the selection test for WGGS? Also if she passes the test for WGGS which is common to Ricky , Clement Danes etc does she get a choice as to where she goes or is this again governed by the caf we submit to Harrow Council ?

Any help would be appreciated !


thx :? :? :?

Re: 11+ WOES

Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 12:00 pm
by WP
nia1999 wrote:Like everyone else on this site my life has been taken over for the last 12 months by the 11+ syndrome .My daughter will be sitting the test this autumn and as we live in Hatch End we are targeting WGGS as well as the usual suspects ...ie Parmiters,Clement Danes,Rickmansworth
My question is this ..As the competition is so tough and so many variables come into it we need to have a back up plan of a good state school as we have ruled out private education .We have a good state comprehensive called Nower Hill which we re not that far from but if we put our choices on the CAF as WGGS, Nower Hill, Ricky, Clement Danes etc will the fact that we ve put the state school 2nd be counted against us if she doesnt pass the selection test for WGGS? Also if she passes the test for WGGS which is common to Ricky, Clement Danes etc does she get a choice as to where she goes or is this again governed by the caf we submit to Harrow Council ?
If you put Nower Hill 2nd and you meet its criteria, that is what you'll be allocated if you miss out on WGGS. (Nower Hill will know only that you listed them somewhere on your form, not where you ranked them or what other schools you ranked.) If that's what you want, then fine. If you'd prefer Ricky or CD in that situation, by all means put them earlier. The only time you have a choice is when you fill in the CAF, so be very careful to put your choices in your true preference order. There is nothing to be gained (and much to be lost) by attempting "tactical voting".

I'd add that Parmiter's take very few people (about 3 per year) from outside their catchment area. If your daughter scored that highly, she'd surely secure a place at WGGS.

Re: 11+ WOES

Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 12:52 pm
by nia1999
Many thanks indeed for the prompt reply .

Sorry to belabour the point but taking what you say on board we would be fine with our true preferences on the CAF to Harrow Council ?

IE WGGS,Rickmansworth,Clement Danes,Henrietta Barnet,Nower Hill

If she doesnt get any of these then Nower Hill wont know that we put them last and hopefully she gets in .Also thanks for the Parmiter info .We will omit that school from our calculations.

Re: 11+ WOES

Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 1:23 pm
by WP
nia1999 wrote:Sorry to belabour the point but taking what you say on board we would be fine with our true preferences on the CAF to Harrow Council ?

IE WGGS,Rickmansworth,Clement Danes,Henrietta Barnet,Nower Hill

If she doesnt get any of these then Nower Hill wont know that we put them last and hopefully she gets in.
That's right: the schools decide whether they can offer you a place without knowing how you ranked them. The only time your preferences are used are if more than one of them can offer you a place, so imagine yourself in that position and decide which of those schools you would prefer. You won't be asked again, so it's vital to express your true preferences.

Re: 11+ WOES

Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 5:40 pm
by KS10
hi nia,

Have sent you a pm.

Re: 11+ WOES

Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 6:18 pm
by SteveDH
this may be a silly question, but does harrow now transfer at 11, when my DD did her 11+ stuff it transferred at 12 so we didn't even have to mention any harrow schools in her form.

that aside, as has been mentioned, put the schools in the order you want them and don't try to be tactical and you'll get what you want.

Steve

Re: 11+ woes

Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 7:50 pm
by KS10
Hi Steve,

Harrow has just changed. DS's year group (the new Yr 7) is the first to transfer at 11. Most Harrow state schools are having to deal with two new cohorts this year instead of one.

Re: 11+ woes

Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 1:03 pm
by SteveDH
so going to be quite a fun year for harrow this year..
I admit it was nice just having to apply for the grammes and knowing that if we failed we had another year to chose a local school :)
anyway good luck with your applications.
Steve

Re: 11+ woes

Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 1:27 pm
by busybeenfun
I would highly recommend visiting all the schools before making your selection (I.e all the Herts consortium schools). Our 1st choice pre open days didn't even appear on our final CAF after we visited. As mentioned, check your postcode falls within the priority area for all the consortium schools as Rickmansworth only takes 2 children from outside the following postcodes WD1-5, HA6 2 and HA6 3.

Re: 11+ woes

Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 1:31 pm
by busybeenfun
I would also use the information from WP's statistics sticky.

If you list St Clement Danes after Rickmansworth on your CAF then it is almost a wasted choice. If your DC does not score a high enough test score to get a place at Rickmansworth (your higher ranked school) then she would also not get into St Clement Danes (as the score to get into SCD is higher than Rickmansworth. In 2010, the lowest score for SCD was 242 and for Rickmansworth it was 222, 20 marks lower).