Do we need to move closer to Tonbridge?
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Troubled Dad
Do we need to move closer to Tonbridge?
We live north of Sevenoaks (Kemsing) and have 3 kids, the oldest being a boy in Year 4. He is bright and we'd like to try for a grammar school place for him at Judd (since he loves music) or Skinners or TW. I see that Judd and Skinners select on the basis of pass mark until they have two candidates with the same mark, in which case they choose the geographically closer.
I don't want to make my son's chances of getting in too low, so I wondered how significant geography really is in their selection. Do they end up filling almost all the places on the basis of kids with very high scores and just have to apply the geography criteria for the last 10% of candidates. Or do so many score maximum marks that geographic location is used to select 90% or more of the candidates?
Given that Sevenoaks (and of course Tonbridge and T.Wells) are closer to Judd and Skinners than we are up here on the edge of the downs, I don't want to set my son an impossible task...
Or have I completely misunderstood the system???
I don't want to make my son's chances of getting in too low, so I wondered how significant geography really is in their selection. Do they end up filling almost all the places on the basis of kids with very high scores and just have to apply the geography criteria for the last 10% of candidates. Or do so many score maximum marks that geographic location is used to select 90% or more of the candidates?
Given that Sevenoaks (and of course Tonbridge and T.Wells) are closer to Judd and Skinners than we are up here on the edge of the downs, I don't want to set my son an impossible task...
Or have I completely misunderstood the system???
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guestkent
Hi,
We live in the same village, and my son has just got into Skinners with a combined score in his 11+ of 407.
I have not heard of anyone living in the village and not getting into Judd or Skinners because of the concerns that you mentioned. In fact, I hadn't even heard of the selection criteria that you mention.
However, I have heard of children in Otford not getting a place a TW because of the distance.
We live in the same village, and my son has just got into Skinners with a combined score in his 11+ of 407.
I have not heard of anyone living in the village and not getting into Judd or Skinners because of the concerns that you mentioned. In fact, I hadn't even heard of the selection criteria that you mention.
However, I have heard of children in Otford not getting a place a TW because of the distance.
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Man of Kent
Judd and Skinners are not "community schools". They select on the basis of combined 11+ scores, so if you are aiming for these schools, the score is the all-important thing. People with high enough scores can and do get in from as far as Surrey and Sussex....so Kemsing will not be a problem there! If you are not confident that your son will get a high enough score, and/or you prefer the TW boys grammar, then I would be worried. I am concerned myself that catchments are shrinking - I am in Sevenoaks.
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cupcake
As the cut-off for Skinners was 404, this shows that the geographic criteria was probably only used for scores right on the cut-off. I'm sure the school would be happy to let you know such info. However, these things change year-on-year but I think you would be safe where you live. However, there is definitely risks with TW Boys, so not the best first choice if you live further out as you may lose out altogether.guestkent wrote:Hi,
We live in the same village, and my son has just got into Skinners with a combined score in his 11+ of 407.
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Guest
Only about 50% of the Judd intake get 420 (the maximum score) so I wouldn't worry too much about location for that school or Skinners. That is provided of course that you are confident that your son is going to get 420 or very close himself. If you need the "insurance" of a grammar which will take a lower pass then perhaps you need to be closer to TW or Maidstone.