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North London Consortium advice please!

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 4:55 pm
by DreadingJanuary
Ladies and gents, please could I have a little honest advice?

Situation: DD was at a selective girls school in the North London Consortium. Not an uber selective like NLCS for example. In July (end of Y5 for DD), we had to move abroad. First term of Y6 a disaster at an international school, their teacher has just been fired for incompetence. In the meantime, we have the good fortune to be able to move back to UK at Christmas time, and DD has got her place back at her previous school.

The 11+ consortium exam is fast approaching, and I thought to perhaps do some practice papers with DD. In spite of her always having good school reports and decent results a her girls school, I can see these papers are a struggle for her. We are talking approx 50% in the maths as a ballpark figure.

We don't want to stress her, and are against tutoring. Most local indie schools are in the consortium and I think the deadline has passed to apply for those that are not. We haven't done a state school application form either and the deadline for that is long gone.

The school allegedly has not kicked anyone out in ages, but a number of less able students seem to have left at the end of Y5, and some others plan on leaving for senior. The school's T&Cs state that it is assumed that girls will continue from one section of the school to another, but that if there is an issue, parents will be contacted in the Spring Term.

Thank you for getting this far - if anyone has any advice or insight to offer, I'd greatly appreciate it, thanks!

Re: North London Consortium advice please!

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 9:09 pm
by Thingsbehindthesun
Hi dreading jan,

The exams are still quite an odd month away, so you still have time for her to improve.the exams are not easy and the schools themselves know this. Do you have any idea what her end of year levels in year 5 were? Have the school offered any advice- how do they prepare for the exams?

Which schools in he consortium have you applied for ? some schools might still accept late applications, have you considered morehouse? They'vewritten on their website they are flexible, but I think it would help calling and explaining your situation would help.
Queens gate school in Harley street has a closing date of the 30th. Although they may be seen as slightly less academic schools they still get good results, and i know people who love the schools.

Re: North London Consortium advice please!

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 9:55 pm
by Sue123
Hi, I am a little confused. Am I right in thinking that your DD is now in the first term of year 6? In which case, exams are indeed approaching very fast.

If your DD is in fact in yr 6, then I think that the parents of her classmates would have been given a signal in the Spring term of year 5, i.e. earlier this year, if the school feels that a given child would not flourish/be up to the standards of the senior school. Next Spring would be much too late as all decisions on senior schools would be taken by the. In view of the fact that - if I understand you correctly - you will be joining the school after Christmas and just days before the North London consortium exams, I think that you should have a full and frank discussion with the school on her options for secondary transfer. I think that it is way too late to bring in a tutor but it is quite possible that the school is prepared to take her (international) circumstances into account and offer her a place in the senior school on the basis of her previous record at the school, rather than her performance in the exam. But I really think you need to talk to them asap. If you really want a place at that school, I would make that very clear to them. And unless you want the place and have a cast-iron guarantee, I would apply for a safety-net option.

I don't know whether this is helpful or not. Feel free to PM me if you want to chat in more detail. I have a daughter in Yr10 at a North London consortium school.

Re: North London Consortium advice please!

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 11:11 pm
by Kingfisher
If you are happy for your daughter to continue at her old school which she will be rejoining after Christmas, you need not do anything. I think you will find that those who left at the end of Year 5 were the ones contacted last spring.

The consortium exams are very soon after school commences in January so your DD will have to be prepared to sit those, but I think it highly unlikely they will ask her to leave having just readmitted her.

But the only way to put your mind at rest is to speak to the school. And be honest. They'll probably be very understanding about it all and tell you what the likelihood is that she will be able to continue for sure. Do it soon, because if you get a positive response, then you need not put DD under any stress for 11+ although you might want to keep up a bit of intervention with the Maths just to build up her confidence and skills after such a negative experience.

Re: North London Consortium advice please!

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 11:26 pm
by hermanmunster
Kingfisher wrote:If you are happy for your daughter to continue at her old school which she will be rejoining after Christmas, you need not do anything. I think you will find that those who left at the end of Year 5 were the ones contacted last spring.

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I suspect also that they were may not have been so keen to take her back in year 6 if she was one of the girls they did not think should have a place in the senior school. However you need to have that chat with the school re the exams etc etc