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Applications to school

Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 3:29 pm
by Hopeful Den
My son, who attends an independent primary in Birkenehead, has just started his 11+ journey in year 5 so I thought I'd start looking for extra tutition and papers etc. I've happily stimbled across this site which I shall probablt be pestering to death over the next year. He finds maths easy but stumbles a bit over VR which is wehere he will need the most help-However I need to start at ther very beginning which is applications and choice of schools. Living in Birkenehead we are out of the catchment I think for all Grammars except St Anslems and I guess I've ruled this out as he is non Catholic. If he passes his 11+ will he be able to get a place somewhere? I don't want to put him through all of this and find he's excluded because of the distance from local grammar schools. Our preference is Calady because we think it will suit his personality and abilities. Others have told us that Wirral G is over subscribed anyway-is this true?
D

Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 4:04 pm
by wirral_wombat
I have children at Wirral Boys' and Girls'. As far as I am aware it is only the Girls' school which has been oversubscribed over the last few years - the Boys' has taken everyone who has passed and wanted a place there, plus a few below the pass mark who have got in on appeal. I don't know the situation for Calday. Obviously this is no guarantee of what might happen in your son's year. I suggest you contact the LEA for up to date info - they should be able to give you this information.

Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 4:50 pm
by Mike Edwards
Hi Den

Agree with most of what Wombat says.

At the moment you only need to look at VR, you can find examples of the question types and demos on this site. The papers you need to look for are those that contain the 21 question types and advice on which papers are most suitable can be found in the "regions" section of the site.

You do need to make sure that if you go for private tuition that the tutor is using the papers recommended in the regions section, don't take any excuses from any tutor if they are not using them. There is more than enough relevant material for them to use without resorting to out-of-date or irrelevant papers.

As far as Calday and Wirral boys are concerned it is a matter of personal preference and personal circumstances as to which one you place first on your option list.

Both schools tend to prefer first choice candidates, and of the two Calday is the one that is most likely to take second choices. I think that this is because Calday is located in the more affluent area of the Wirral. Boys sitting the 11+ for Calday are more likely to sit common entrance exams for Birkenhead, Kings and other independent schools, resultng in boys who pass the 11+ not taking up their places. The impression that this creates is that not enough boys passed the test to fill all the places.

Keep pestering us, nice to see a new contributor from the Wirral.

Regards

Mike

Applications

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 12:22 am
by Hopeful Den
Thanks for the replies-I feel more postive already-I'll look around the site at everything you mentioned and i'm sure I'll have plenty more questions over the next 12 months.
Den

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 4:42 pm
by Guest
I'd be interested to know actually how over subscribed Wirral G for Girls actually is ?

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 12:59 pm
by wirral_wombat
Wirral Grammar for Girls has been oversubscribed in recent years i.e more girls applying have achieved the 11+ pass score than they have places for, but I have no idea of actual numbers - you could try asking the LEA for this. If it is oversubscribed then, apart from giving priority to looked after children or those with a sister already there, applications are ranked in order of distance from the school. Looking in the information booklet it seems that last year the furthest away anyone lived who got in was 5.1 miles. Generally speaking you would have no problem if you live in the old "catchment area" of Bebington and Bromborough, but if you live e.g in Ellesmere Port you might have problems with distance. Things may be a little easier this year since as a result of extensive building work the school admission number has been increased from 150 to 160.

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 1:31 pm
by Guest
Hi Wirral Wombat,


thanks for this. We live in Prenton which is outside the "catchment" but about 2-3 Miles away.

She has just sat the first practice test today at Wirral Grammar school and was told about the increase from 150 to 160 which is good news.. Even if only 10 more... You never know...

Catchment Areas

Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 11:28 am
by Guest
It may be helpful to know that there are no "catchment areas" for secondary schools. Children come from all over the Wirral to the Grammar Schools.

Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 6:42 pm
by Mike
Hi Guest

That is slightly incorrect children from Wirral and Cheshire attend the grammar schools on the Wirral. When an out of area child passes the 11+ and the school is oversubscribed then distance from the school is taken into account.

I think the out of area issue comes about from local government re-organisation a number of years ago when Wirral and Cheshire became seperate authorities. Some children on the Wirral attend Neston High School, in Cheshire, as a preference if they do not pass the 11+.

Regards

Mike

Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 10:57 pm
by marie
just to let you know both Wirral Grammar and WEst Kirby were considerably undersubscribed this year both having approx 25 places although some of those have been taken by succesful appeals. Calday was oversubscribed this year (probably because of it's recent very good ofsted) however some children who had passed but not been allocated a place did get in on appeal as someone has already said people put calday but then decide to go for independant school which will release some places.

we have just had successful appeal for wirral girls and we live approx 10 miles away but again distance depends on numbers if they had been oversubscribed we would have been less likely to get in.


marie