11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi

My daughter has passed the 11+ for King Edward Vi in birmingham, however she was 2 points short of being offered a place and she is no. 18 on the waiting list - i cant work out how 2 points can equate to 18 people - how do the people making the list come to this decision??.

I work in a primary school and my feeling is that maybe the children on the list who have siblings already in the school might be higher ranking than my daughter if they scored the same amount but apart from that im stumped! - any advice is welcome.

Oh and i have decided to appeal just in case she doesnt move up the list.

regards

Dol

My Son is in a similar position at a school of his choice.

You will probably find there are 18 others with the same score or one more point than you and you are 18th on distance or whatever other criteria they use.

If you check their admission rules it will tell you how they apply the criteria and in what preference.

Hopr this helps, there will b e an expert along in a minute who will offer better advice

hi Dolphin3

what school did your daughter pass for?
I was under the impression there are no passes or fails for the KEGs exams. just an offer if your mark is within the last allocated slot available.

As watdad says, i think that you can have a number of children with the same mark and their position is then assessed on the schools admission criteria, which is usually down to distance to the school.

Hope your daughter is successful .
good luck.

Kenr will definitley know more.

mm2 wrote:hi Dolphin3

what school did your daughter pass for?
I was under the impression there are no passes or fails for the KEGs exams. just an offer if your mark is within the last allocated slot available.

As watdad says, i think that you can have a number of children with the same mark and their position is then assessed on the schools admission criteria, which is usually down to distance to the school.

Hope your daughter is successful .
good luck.

Kenr will definitley know more.

You are right,mm2, the KE grammar schools have no pass mark as such, they have a separate cut-off mark for each school, with Camp Hill Boys usually being the highest and Handsworth girls being the lowest. Children scoring less than this are on the waiting list. So it is not possible to "pass" the KE exam and not be offered a place. If you don't achieve the cut-off mark then by definition you have failed, although there is still a slight chance of a place from the waiting list if enough children turn down places they have been offered.

Hi Thanks for your replies

The letter states that to pass the exam the applicant had to score above 300 - my daughter scored 315 the last place offered was to someone who scored 317. whether this is new for this year or not but it definately states that she has passed and is therefore on the waiting list - those scoring below 300 are not on the list.

Dol

dolphin3 wrote:Hi Thanks for your replies

The letter states that to pass the exam the applicant had to score above 300 - my daughter scored 315 the last place offered was to someone who scored 317. whether this is new for this year or not but it definately states that she has passed and is therefore on the waiting list - those scoring below 300 are not on the list.

Dol

That is very unlucky to score just two marks below the cut off for her chosen school. A boy scoring 315 would at least know they were a long way from achieving a place so it would still be upsetting but probably not quite so frustrating - I know in previous years Camp Hill boys have needed between 340 and 350 to get in. I can't see the point of the waiting list going down to a mark of 300 though - there must be hundreds of children on it in that case and it is bound to give them false hope that they might get a place.

dolphin3 wrote:I cant work out how 2 points can equate to 18 people - how do the people making the list come to this decision??.

Yep, appeal just in case the list doesn't move.

At the very top, and very bottom of the list, 1 point could mean one child, but towards the middle (as in the middle ability of those taking the test, not an average child in the population), one point could be 10, 20 or more children. Within a point the entry criteria takes effect - looked-after children, siblings, children of staff (in some schools).

Hi Dophin3

The KE Foundation Exam only use 2 selection criteria:-

The score in the exam and as a tie breaker, for those with the same score, the straight line distance from home to school. There is no question of any other criteria being used, certainly not sibling in school.

As capers mentioned there are a lot of candidates with the same scores around the 60-70 percentile, so a waiting list of 18 for 2 points soounds about right. It's normally about 9-12 per point. So the candidates ahead of you on the waiting list will be:-

Those who scored 317 but didn't live close enough to get a place (there are 4 of these I think)

Those who scored 316.

Those who scored 315 but live closer to the school.

You also need to bear in mind that KE Schools offer places over their PAN (to allow for rejections) - for KE Handsworth this year we think the figure is 10. So effectively all of this surplus will need to be consumed before they start making offers to those on the waiting list. ie the effectuvely 28. However it's possible that some of those who received offers from Handsworth are are the waiting list for Camp Hill Girls or Five Ways (which had a higher pass mark - 325 and 330 respectively) - so you may get some erosion.

To be honest, I wouldn't have though there is much chance of the entry dropping down to 315.

Hope this helps

Hi
just to update you all - WE GOT IN!!!!!

We appealed and they wrote to say that the first part of the appeal is to remark the papers, the letter i have received today says: following our informal review we are pleased to offer you a place! - unfortunately it doesnt say whether the papers were marked wrong in the first place or whether Laura moved up the list naturally - but i dont care! WE GOT IN!

HOORAY!!!!

Anyone else out there - dont give up!!

Dol

Congratulations-really pleased for you all!