Watford Grammar School for Boys

[tiffinboys]

Does WGS has any open selection places? Or is it all between inner catchment and outer catchment consisting of local area.

[daisyduke]

hello tiffinboys - if you live really near (like within 850m) then you can just apply on distance. Or if you're a sibling, you're OK. But if you want to apply under the academic test, or the music test, then the catchment area is listed out in postcodes on the school's website, and if you want to, you can work out if your in the inner or outer areas.

I don't know how to quote from other posts, sorry, but I'm a bit confused by Long Journey's comment (& quote) meant by 'outside the watford borough'? If someone lives outside their admission area, ie not in the listed postcodes, then the school website says don't bother applying. Do you mean that you don't agree with some of the postcodes on their Admissions Area list? Sorry if I'm being dense!

Quote from WGSB website:
For many years the school has been oversubscribed by applicants from the Admission Area. It is
anticipated that this will remain the case and that applicants outside the Admission Area have no
realistic chance of being offered a place under these admission arrangements. Should any apply, their
applications will be acknowledged and retained. Such applicants will not be entered for the test on the
date arranged for applicants from the Admission Area. Should it transpire that there are insufficient
acceptances from applicants within the Admission Area to fill all the places, arrangements will be made
for the other applicants to sit the test at a later date.

[tiffinboys]

Thanks @daisyduke. That's what I had thought - no out-of-catchment places on academic basis. Just wanted to clarify the previous posts.

[HenryVIII]

My DS ranked WGSB 1st but was no where close on allocation day. 6 boys from his (state) school got in (2 form in-take, inner area). What marked them as a cohort is that they seem more mature than their years... they are all very confident and good at sports. At least 1 boy was L6 maths and the others I know were comfortable 5As/Bs at the beginning of Y6. 1 boy was aiming for Parmiters & had a tutor but is very bright none-the-less. One fabulously bright girl who was L6 maths wanted WGSG but was pipped at the post.

We thought we'd cracked VR; lots of practice, he really enjoyed it and was scoring c.90%.

IMHO maths is the KEY. Kids who are good at maths are genuinely BRAINY and can cope! Unfortunately, maths becomes such a carousel of different topics that it's hard to stay on top of it if you are a certain type of child... My DS was L4A at the end of Y5 but I am starting to believe that was a bit inflated; the teacher's assessment was higher than his end of Y4 exam mark (4B).

It would not have surprised me if DS scored 80-90% in VR, then 60-70% for maths. These are creditable scores! But not good enough for the GSs. My advice is do not underestimate the quality of the competition and that all of this practice really does no harm, it is ultimately beneficial.

[herty]

My dd's maths was terrible at the start as her v young class had not covered most year 5 topics let alone year 6. I taught her the maths syllabus up to the end of KS2 in 3 months at the end of year 5 - not very hard really as the maths is only aimed at 11 year olds and (unlike at independent schools who can do what they like) cannot by law include material that is not in the KS2 syllabus.

The How To Do 11+ Maths Bond guide sets out all the topics clearly - if you've covered that there will be no topics in the paper you have missed. You don't have to be a brilliant mathematician - I taught my dd and my highest maths qualification is O Level. My dd is no maths genius but is in the top maths set at WGGS now. I think the really important things - once you've covered the syllabus - that make a difference between passing and failing are carefulness - in reading the question properly and laying out working neatly and even in transposing the answer correctly to the answer sheet! and lateral thinking/determination - even the 'hard' questions (and there are only 3 or 4 per paper) don't require any post KS2 knowledge; but they do require candidates to use that knowledge in new and unusual ways/settings they may not have encountered before. So to do well, I'd keep a very tight eye on your dcs accuracy and assure them that they can get 100% ie that they are capable of tackiling all the questions so should not give up.

[Hera]

I think the really important things - once you've covered the syllabus - that make a difference between passing and failing are carefulness - in reading the question properly and laying out working neatly and even in transposing the answer correctly to the answer sheet!

Herty, I have a very messy, careless DS, the youngest in his year. He will get the answer right in his working out and then miss off a number or write the number down wrong in the answer space. To help me help him can you tell me what the maths paper is like? You say answer sheet. Is there a seperate sheet that you write your answers on or is it like the practice papers I have seen where you write the answer in under the question? Also is the paper format the same for both maths and VR?

None-the-wiser I completely agree with your comment that learning is never wasted. We will give WGSB our best shot in the time we have, but wherever he ends up what we will have learnt along the way will stand him in good stead for the future. 6 boys from your son's school sounds like a lot, were they all on exam? I think there were 1 or 2 from my son's, although they would probably have been from the outer catchment area.

[RationalityRules]

Thank you to everyone who is contributing to this thread.

I would be interested to hear what preparation others are doing with their DCs. I am doing one Bond VR paper with my DS per week, and no maths at the moment. He is an able boy and sits at the top of his class in maths so I am hoping that will carry him through. It's hard to know though, and since DH and I both work, and we have another child, and they both have active social lives and several out of school activities, there isn't really time for anything else. I am thinking that we will spend August doing both VR and Maths papers more frequently when there is no school or homework to contend with!

I feel strongly that:

1. I do not want my son to start to resent me for forcing him to try to 'become' more academic than he is. Especially if I do not do the same with his younger brother, who will most likely get a sibling place at whichever school DS1 ends up at.

2. If he does not qualify for WGSB with sensible VR practice, having done well at school so far and being a confident, happy, naturally academic child who is interested in reading but also in computer games and all things sport-related - then WGSB is probably not the best place for him or for us as parents.

Is this a ridiculously naive way of thinking?!

I also have another question. How much of the process has everyone explained to their children so far? I don't want to worry DS1, who is already aware that he will have to take an exam in September which will decide which school he is offered. But I'm sure it will be a benefit to explain to him in detail at some point exactly what is expected and how things run on the day of the exam.

So if anyone who has been through it can tell me what time of day the exam was, whether you dropped your children in a car park or walked with them and got them settled in an exam room, what the exam room was like, whether they were allowed to take in snacks/drinks/their own pens and pencils etc, that would be much appreciated.

Also, as Bel has said, any specific advice on the format of the papers (like where you have to write the answers!!) would be really really helpful.

Thanks so much.

[herty]

It sounds v sensible.

At WGGS, we were allowed to take our dds in but then had to leave them once their name was ticked off and we hung around in Watford till she'd finished. No snacks were allowed I think and can't remember about pens etc but you'll get a letter nearer the time explaining the procedure. Not sure where you write your answers. Will ask dd if she remembers. My big tip is CHECK THE BACK OF THE PAPER - my dd thought she'd failed as she missed seeing the back page of the VR paper and only realised afterwards when she heard other girls talking about qus on the back page! A v easy mistake to make but - depending how many qus are on the back page - it could be quite a major one. So watch out!

[Hera]

Thanks Herty. Just ordered a Bond How to do 11+ maths as well.

RationalityRules, in answer to your question DS is doing a bit of maths and a bit of VR each week. I have explained the whole school situation to my DS as I need him to see a reason for doing the work. I have tried to keep it low key, basically telling him it is very competitive and whether or not he gets in is no big deal (the lies I tell) as long as he gives it his best shot.

[herty]

I don't really see how you could do it without telling them as they have to be prepared to put some work in and do that work to the best of their ability; unless your dc always works to the best of their ability and likes iq puzzles for fun (I did - so it's not impossible ) then you're better off discussing it.

In my case, WGGS was my dd's first choice (not nec mine) and if she ever moaned about having to do maths I reminded her it was so she could achieve the goal she'd set herself not for my benefit! But we always made it clear that all she could do was her best on the day - that the exam is not a brain scan where they can see how clever you are inside your head, it's just a record of how you've performed on that day! so all she could do was her best and what would be would be...