preferences

Eleven Plus (11+) in Wirral

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michelle

preferences

Post by michelle »

I have left the decision to put my child through the 11+ extremely late, she is due to sit it this year and we have not done any revision or tutoring on this until this week. I did not contemplate a grammar school as this was unheard of in my family/generation so it came as a great shock to me when I visited Wirral Grammar for Girls. It was fantastic. My daughter who has just started year 6 is very intelligent and achieved grade 5 in her sats. I have started to tutor her and have made contact with a tutor too. My main concern is that if I put the grammar school as first choice, then the comprehensive Weatherhead as 2nd choice, and my daughter does not pass the 11+, will she loose the 2nd choice if it is oversubscribed. I have an older daughter in Weatherhead but I think we live nearer to oldershaw than weatherhead. Will the fact that my older daughter being in weatherhead mean that if my younger daughter fails the 11+, we shall get into weatherhead?
wirral_wombat

Preferences

Post by wirral_wombat »

You should have a booklet sent home from the primary school explaining how the preference system works. If a school is oversubscribed, applications are ranked in priority order, with children looked after by the local authority at the top, followed by children with brothers or sisters already at the school and children with a medical reason for wanting that particular school. Then everyone else is ranked on order of distance from the school. So if a school is oversubscribed the children who fail to get places will be those who live furthest away. If you don't get into Wirral Grammar it won't matter that you put Weatherhead second choice, and if you already have a daughter there then your second daughter should be up near the top of the list. This system is different from what it was a few years ago, when all first preferences were ranked ahead of second preferences, so that if you put a school second you were ranked lower than everyone who put it first, even if they lived further away from the school. The current system means you don't need to worry that putting the Grammar School first will risk losing your second choice. I hope this helps.

I have a daughter at Wirral Grammar and agree it's a great school!
michelle

wirral grammar

Post by michelle »

I dont think I will get her into wirral grammar due to demand and someone told me that all the schools in that area do the 11+ as a matter of course anyway. I will also struggle getting her there as we live in wallasey village and she would have to get 2 lots of transport which I am not too keen on. Both my husband and I work full time so collecting her is a problem. We are going to see west kirby grammar on wednesday and the travelling is easier to there so I hope that is as good as wirral grammar. It will have a lot to live up to though!
wirral_wombat

Post by wirral_wombat »

I was going to add that living in Wallasey you might have problems with Wirral Grammar because it does tend to be oversubscribed i.e more people have actually passed the 11+ than they have places for, in which case the same "distance" rule applies as for the other schools. Looking in the information booklet it seems that last year the furthest away anyone lived who got in was 5.1 miles - not sure how far away you are in Wallasey Village. On the other hand West Kirby Grammar was not oversubscribed last year and everyone who passed and wanted to go there got in. So it might be a better bet for you.

West Kirby is also an excellent school. Good luck to you and your daughter whatever you decide.
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