11 Plus Exams Forum

Hello,

I have been what you call a 'lurker' for the past few weeks. My grand daughter has been in for the Bexley and Kent exams. She failed the Bexley and has passed the Kent test - much relief all round!! Now she is going to sit the Newstead Wood exam as she lives in Orpington.

I know that they only take the top 130, so does that mean that all the rest are deemed unsuitable for Grammar education? I know borderline can appeal. Roughly how many sit the exam and is it so that there are only 2 Grammars in Bromley, one girls and one boys.

I assume the 130 means that they have more than one class of year 7.

Thanks in advance

Hi Scrants,

Congrats to your granddaughter for aceing the Kent test.

My DD would be taking the eleven plus next year only, but as we live in Orpington and would be taking the Newstead exam, I have been information gathering from various sources

We only have 2 grammars here :- St.Olaves for boys and Newstead for girls. But the comprehensive school Darrick Wood is very good too and I would definitely be placing that as one of my choices next year, as we are in the catchment area.

We went to the open day at Newstead this year, and they mentioned that maximum distance has been changed from 7 miles to 9 miles. So hence the competition gets a bit more tougher . This covers a lot of areas as far as Croydon. I have heard that around 700 plus girls sat the exam last year of which 130 were deemed selective. Yes, there is definitely more than one class of Year 7.

I wish someone who has a child studying at Newstead would come by and give more information.

Thanks for that Ang's Mom.

I don't know yet what her scores were for Kent. I will know tonight and that will give some indication of how she might do at the Newstead exam. At least she won't be as stressed and under pressure, having passed Kent.
And as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Thanks for the info on Darrick Wood.

Yes, I agree, there must be someone out there who can give more information. I almost seems to be like a secret society and they are all sworn to secrecy once they get in!!

Luckily, my grand daughter is in the happy position to be able to go the independent route if she can't get any of the schools they want. We have said we will fund her education to sixth form if that is what my son and daughter in law would prefer.

Darrick Wood is an excellent school - in fact I think it outperformed Wilmington 'last' year.

Be warned as Newstead not all it seems , daughter now in year 10 and has coasted with many of her friends through 3 years of shoddy work their main aims being how to ensure your make up is orange enough to blend in ( nobody seems to stop them wearing it !). Was not tutored to get in but 99% of friends were so your results will be good as long as your child wants to work hard and you dont mind checking up on her as the school wont . Have a second child at local fantastic comp who is thriving , has lots of local friends and the school has a much better approach to dicipline and work - so be careful what you wish for ! Test really practice and lot of luck on the day as many children bright enough dont pull it off on the day so its a matter of crossing the fingers and let fate decide !

There are 5 forms in year 7, 27 or 28 girls in each form.

Thank you for that georgex