11 Plus Exams Forum

Does it matter which oc these zones you live in?

Inner will mean the minimum score required is significantly lower - expect under 300 this year. Outer will require higher scores - probably not too dissimilar to those in the South for Alcester/Stratford Girls (expect Stratford to be the lower of these two this year as Alcester maybe takes more boys than girls due to the mismatch in single-sex places available). KES, for this year at least, will be the highest requirement by quite a long way..

Cheers for that

Interestingly it looks like the scores achieved, not just those needed to get a place, may generally higher in the South than the East. It would be interesting if a few people could work out their childs percentile ranking in their region, and the same for the cohort as a whole (i.e. their ranking / the number in that group, as a percentage - no need for scores/actual rankings) to confirm or refute that.

Just buy or rent a house in the inner area and register it before the Feb deadline! Perfectly legal. Hopefully, Warwickshire will scrap the silly catchment area and emulate B'ham - no catchment areas and a pure fair selective competition.

Hi everyone

I'm new here! CAn anyone tell me what the Inner is please? We currently live at the very edge of the southern priority circle (coventry) We were planning to move to stratford/alcester way for the grammar schools (KES?AGS) assuming ds got in.

We just found out ds got 322 on the 11+ which I don't know if that's good enough to get in I'm thinking he may get onto the AGS waiting list?? Is it still worth moving to be closer to either KES or AGS- will that help us get in??

All advice gratefully received. Thank you!

KatieG wrote:Can anyone tell me what the Inner is please?

Inner is just for the East Warwickshrie schools (it's otherwise known as "Area 2") and consists of Rugby plus the parishes of Dunchurch, Thurlaston, Leamington Hastings, Birdingbury, Grandborough, Wolfhamcote, Willoughby, Binley Woods, Brinklow, Brandon and Bretford, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Bubbenhall, Wolston, Church Lawford, Long Lawford, Stretton-on-Dunsmore, Princethorpe, Frankton, Marton, Bourton and Draycote, Churchover, Clifton-on-Dunsmore, Combe Fields, Cosford, Easenhall, Harborough Magna, Kings Newnham, Little Lawford, Monks Kirby, Newton and Biggin, Pailton, Stretton-under-Fosse, Wibtoft, Willey and Withybrook.

The rest of the Eastern area (aka "Area 1") is a circle which has a radius of approximately 10 miles from Rugby.

The first 50% of the places will be offered on the basis of highest score first to children who reach the qualifying score from area 1. Then the rest of the places will be offered on the basis of highest scores first to those in area 2. Thus the qualifying scores needed for those in area 2 are generally a lot lower than in area 1 - it has been around 300, may drop down to 290 ish this year.

KatieG wrote:We just found out ds got 322 on the 11+ which I don't know if that's good enough to get in I'm thinking he may get onto the AGS waiting list?? Is it still worth moving to be closer to either KES or AGS- will that help us get in??

Waiting list places will be allocated on the basis of 1 - proximity and 2 - score. So being closer will help only in getting ahead of others on the same score.

Boys: Score 357 = 17/353 (top 4.8%) Eastern and 54/527 (top 10.2%) Southern.

Southern area = much more competition and dare I say brighter children?

Many Bham parents cannot understand why children sub-300 can get in to Eastern Area schools when 350s cannot get a place. What sort of system is this? It defeats the point of selection!

Play,

Why are children in Southern brighter? Seems a bit of a sweeping comment ... bit insulting to us poor Easterners! (My dd did only get 315 and I appreciate that's nothing in South Warwickshire.)

More affluent area? More middle class parents who can afford tutoring (sorry, I know that's a sensitive area)? I don't know.

Ginx

It is not meant to be insulting, it's just a fact. I hope nobody takes offence.

To answer your question, my view (view, not fact) is a higher socio-economic group, parents more educated and better prepared children. Better work ethic. Children are told "when you go to University and not if". Better "gene pool" gives a higher IQ (sorry, am I allowed to express such a controversial opinion, if not moderator can delete). New Scientist: "There is little dispute that genetics accounts for a large amount of the variation in people's intelligence".

But, 315 is fine - enough to get in. You should be happy. All children are treated as equals when they enter the school. I know people whose parents are not educated, and "poor" and the child scored in the high 360s. Poorer children can do well and do well. But richer, educated parents provide an advantage in many cases. Life is not fair, who said it is?

Mine scored in the 350s. I would NOT say he is very bright, but he was well prepared at home. Heavily home tutored and he wanted to follow his brother. Taught entire year 6 maths by end end of year 4. Year 5 spent on doing all Sats papers over the past 12 years, then extended to more complex CEM style questions. Vocabulary built using Wordbuilder. Wordbuilder used for cloze passages, and practiced NVR. He took 3 CEM 11+ exams, Bham, Walsall and Warwickshire and passed them all. I am surprised the entire Warwickshire cohort did not sit the Bham and Walsall 11+ as free mocks - practice!

He has done no extra work since the 11+. One year of rest! This means just 1 hour school homework a week!

I think the key to a good mark is NOT intelligence, but is preparation and organisation. I say, start early and slowly in year 4. Starting in year 5 is a lot of pressure. But, some children do not need to prepare much because they are naturally clever or have good primary schools. We didn't want to take the risk and the primary school was useless.