There has to be a better way

[Moderators]

I have to say, I thought the purpose of this forum was to provide support to each other through what is a stressful process for everyone.

Absolutely right, PurpleDog.

A number of posts have been removed as they breached forum rules on courtesy.

Moderators do not have time to follow every thread on the forum.
If anyone has any concerns about a post, please click on the red exclamation mark that appears with every post and PM.

Rather than provoke any unpleasantness on the forum, the best thing to do is to click on the red exclamation mark that appears with every post
and PM.
Please note that the default complaint is "Warez » The message contains links to illegal or pirated software"!
This can be changed via the drop down list.

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 90#p346290" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mystery]

Uncle Bob, I agree with most of what you say ...... [edited by moderator]

I don't really see why Kent owes the OOC any special favours apart from perhaps letting them sit the exam on the same day to avoid the leaking of information. OOC have access to real comprehensive schools after all, with real top streams, unlike the good people of Kent.

A word of warning to all those obsessed with tutoring and getting into a grammar school: my bright Year 7 has just spent their first week at a top super selective and has spent the entire weekend wrestling with a huge amount of French verbs and spellings. At grammar school there is no place to hide. This is not primary school any more. Coasting is not allowed. There will be no sympathy for tears or if the homework is not done or if the French test is failed, in fact there will probably be a lunch-time retest. If your child is not up to it, do not do it to them.

There are some real top streams at the church comprehensives, and maybe increasingly so at the very popular non-selectives like Hillview. So you either have to attend church ( which does not necessarily involve believing) or be a girl living at the right end of Tonbridge.

But I still don't think that means that OOC people shouldn't be able to attend a Kent school. How does that follow? And who was asking for special favours? At the same sitting that Purpledog's child found nerve-wracking there would also have been some good people of Kent (as opposed to wicked people from Sussex and Surrey!)

Does that make you feel a little more sympathetic, Bristols?

I thought you also had a child sitting this September, Bristols? If so, how did it go? Any news for us on the grammar school and Trinity building? We have missed your updates during your absence from EPE. Things have gone silent. Welcome back. Sorry to digress Purpledog.

[MerlinFromCamelot]

I don't really see why Kent owes the OOC any special favours apart from perhaps letting them sit the exam on the same day to avoid the leaking of information. OOC have access to real comprehensive schools after all, with real top streams, unlike the good people of Kent.

Really??? If this is the case can someone please let me know where I can find these "real" comps with "real" top streams in Bexley because I seem to struggle to find them. I accept that Bexley also has a GS system but is surrounded by non GS areas who look at the Bexley schools. If this wasn't the case I doubt there would be so many Bexley parents desperate for their kids to pass the Kent test.

I can only go by what I have seen but can tell you the the circumstances under which some children had to sit the Kent test were not great. All I'm asking for is reasonable conditions I/e not staff who really do not want to be there and no timings that are so far out that the DC are starving hungry by the time they sit the last paper. I can not see how that would be unreasonable.

Also DD1 is now Y10 at GS always been middle of the road at primary and yes she was tutored rather a lot, albeit DIY. Still so far she has not had any problems keeping up at GS. If anything she is top set in most subjects. The idea that a tutored child well struggle with GS is a myth.

[FortyNinePence]

Can I ask a dumb question?

Do people that live in Bexley get two bites of the 11+ cherry? In other words, as well as the Bexley 11+ they just have to pass to get into GS, is it the same for the Kent test? Are there Kent schools they can apply for, having just passed rather than got a top score?

Or is it that they have to get a top score in the Kent test, as non Bexley residents do in the Bexley 11+?

[MerlinFromCamelot]

I have not looked at the criteria for entry in to Kent schools this year to be honest. All I know is that we live close enough to the border to qualify for at least 1 Kent GS with a pass rather than a high score in the same way that Kent residents close to the Bexley border can go to a Bexley GS with just a pass. In fact it is more likely to get in to a Bexley GS with just a pass if you live just over the border in Kent or Bromley than in the North of Bexley as the entry criteria in Bexley are mostly distance.

I know of a lot of people on the border areas who are doing 3 sets if tests; Bexley, Kent and St Olaves or Newstead.

[MerlinFromCamelot]

Also forgot to add that you will only need a top score in Bexley as an Out of borough resident if you live far away. If you live within reasonable proximity of the school it is not necessary to be in the top 180. The admission booklet and council website has information as to what the catchment for each school has been over the last few years so this should give you a good idea as to which schools you can apply for without a top 180 pass. Hope this explains...

[Iceskatingtracing]

Spare a thought for the home educated kids, they have no choice but to sit as out of county even though they are local. The test is much fairer now that everyone does it in one day in Kent. Not the cars for my Dcs though and cattle market described the setting very adequately!

[mystery]

Yes, I agree. I mentioned up thread some other categories of Kent children who would sit the test at "out of county" Saturday tests but I forgot to mention homeschoolers.

[FortyNinePence]

Thanks Merlin. I see what you mean now, I've looked at the catchment areas for Bexley schools and didn't realise they went out so far.