Redbridge Schools interviews (Bancroft, Chigwell, Forest)

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wsc
Posts: 30
Joined: Thu Dec 23, 2010 11:49 pm

Re: Redbridge Schools interviews (Bancroft, Chigwell, Forest

Post by wsc »

Any news when might here back from Chigwell?
muffinmonster
Posts: 239
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:33 pm
Location: London

Re: Redbridge Schools interviews (Bancroft, Chigwell, Forest

Post by muffinmonster »

Hi wsc. Well done to your sister and best of luck in her Bancroft's interview.

Chigwell surely must get in touch with scholarship candidates tomorrow or Friday, as their assessments are next week. I haven't heard anything, but maybe others have?

Still no word from Bancroft's, but given the situation in their admissions office, that's not unexpected. I agree with Bethany that it's surprising they seem to have been completely thrown by the sickness of one person.

Thanks all for the thoughts on the different schools. They confirmed some of my own opinions, but raised questions about others, so I decided it was time to look a bit harder at the exams results. Up till now I've tended to think 'Well, they're all good', but I decided to take a more ruthless approach and examined the 2010 GCSE results to see what percentage of students got top grades (A* and A). Here's the comparison:
Image

Drat, the image link hasn't worked. How do you do that? Here are the figures, not very prettily set out:

Percentage of 2010 GCSE candidates achieving A* or A
Bancroft's/Chigwell/Forest
Biology 89 93 67
Chemistry 98 93 86
English Lang. 77 75 75
English Lit. 85 82 79
French 81 63 63
Geography 92 83 65
German 94 63 35
History 85 89 74
Latin 90 83 83
Mathematics 94 82 74
Music 68 83 55
Physics 97 95 79
Rel. Ed. 92 89 86
Spanish 93 84 66

I had always thought that Forest was better than Chigwell for results, but I obviously got that wrong. The pecking order is pretty clear from the table, but a couple of things stand out for me - the relatively low rate of A*/As in languages at both Chigwell and Forest, and the relatively low score of Forest in music (despite their enormous and diverse music department).

Obviously I haven't included all subjects - just the 'hardcore' academic ones and a couple that interest me. The range of subjects is pretty similar in all three schools, though Forest was the only school to field candidates for Food & Nutrition, ICT, Statistics and Textiles, and Bancroft's the only one with Classic Greek (5 candidates) and Electronics (14 candidates) - though also the only one not offering drama.

Anyway, some food for thought there, and it has passed some of the waiting time for me. :D

When I first came on these forums, there was very little about either Redbridge 11+ or these three schools. I'd like to think this thread will be of use to people applying next year and thereafter.
Last edited by muffinmonster on Wed Feb 02, 2011 11:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
fatboyslim
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Dec 31, 2010 12:13 am

Re: Redbridge Schools interviews (Bancroft, Chigwell, Forest

Post by fatboyslim »

Very interesting results.My son has interview at Bancroft on Thursday, nerve wracking stuff, can't wait for Feb 17th to know one way or the other!!
dd34
Posts: 51
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2010 11:12 am

Re: Redbridge Schools interviews (Bancroft, Chigwell, Forest

Post by dd34 »

Still no word from Bancroft's, but given the situation in their admissions office, that's not unexpected. I agree with Bethany that it's surprising they seem to have been completely thrown by the sickness of one person.
Muffinmonster my DD has interview Saturday, I called and they told me letters were sent Wednesday evening for Saturday interviews. If you call they will tell you over the phone due to the sickness problem.

Thank you for the stats very useful, I always thought Forest would be higher in the scores but I guess that's just perception.
bethany
Posts: 42
Joined: Fri Dec 31, 2010 1:00 am

Re: Redbridge Schools interviews (Bancroft, Chigwell, Forest

Post by bethany »

Good luck to you all for your Bancrofts interviews today and on Saturday. My DD had hers yesterday and actually came out quite happy. She had a really friendly teacher who put her at ease.

Do you think that any of the schools would actually tell you your child's score in the exams? Pure nosiness on my part, but I would love to know what marks she got!!

Has anyone heard from Chigwell for scholarship call-back yet?
muffinmonster
Posts: 239
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:33 pm
Location: London

Re: Redbridge Schools interviews (Bancroft, Chigwell, Forest

Post by muffinmonster »

Hi Bethany, glad to hear your DD's interview went well.

I tried to call Bancroft's admissions office today but couldnt' get through. Then got home from work to find a letter waiting for me saying we have an interview on Saturday. No mention of any scholarship, though ( :oops: we are getting greedy!). I presume they would say in the letter if it was - does anybody know?

Good luck to everybody who still has their interview to come.

wsc - We haven't heard anything from Chigwell.
dd34
Posts: 51
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2010 11:12 am

Re: Redbridge Schools interviews (Bancroft, Chigwell, Forest

Post by dd34 »

Does anybody know how many children Bancrofts interview and how many places there are?

I've been told this could be the hardest interview out of the big 3.
muffinmonster
Posts: 239
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:33 pm
Location: London

Re: Redbridge Schools interviews (Bancroft, Chigwell, Forest

Post by muffinmonster »

I have just dug out the notes I took at the last open day. We were told that about 400 apply for 50 places, and about 200 are interviewed. Candidates need to score around 60% or above on each of the two papers to qualify for an interview. (So a high mark on one doesn't make up for a sub-60% mark on the other.)

Hope this helps.
dd34
Posts: 51
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2010 11:12 am

Re: Redbridge Schools interviews (Bancroft, Chigwell, Forest

Post by dd34 »

Thanks Muffinmonster. Thats alot of children for just 50 places.
wsc
Posts: 30
Joined: Thu Dec 23, 2010 11:49 pm

Re: Redbridge Schools interviews (Bancroft, Chigwell, Forest

Post by wsc »

muffinmonster wrote:Hi Bethany, glad to hear your DD's interview went well.

I tried to call Bancroft's admissions office today but couldnt' get through. Then got home from work to find a letter waiting for me saying we have an interview on Saturday. No mention of any scholarship, though ( :oops: we are getting greedy!). I presume they would say in the letter if it was - does anybody know?

Good luck to everybody who still has their interview to come.

wsc - We haven't heard anything from Chigwell.
Call and find out - mine did not state Scolarship, found out by calling.
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