Grammar schools with no catchment areas

[Thingsbehindthesun]

Hello

I currently live in Brent where there are no grammar schools and the secondary schools would not be an option. My daughter is currently in year 3 at the moment.Could anyone please recommend grammar schools that have currently have no catchment areas, but are vitally no more than an hours drive away. I am already currently aware of the the Henrietta barnett school but is there anything else that we could apply to and as we're not Catholic so I don't think we can apply to Michaels? My daughter also doesn't play any musical instruments.

Also what is the format of the HBS test and I have been told that girls aren't actually allowed to write on the exam papers themselves?

Round one of verbal and no verbal reasoning- 80 Questions in 50 mins?

I did try to search but I only get my own post.

[la boume]

tiffin girls in kingston does not have catchment area

[hermanmunster]

Hello

I currently live in Brent where there are no grammar schools and the secondary schools would not be an option. My daughter is currently in year 4 at the moment, so I think the up coming summer holidays would be a good time to start preparation. Could anyone please recommend grammar schools that have currently have no catchment areas, but are vitally no more than an hours drive away. I am already currently aware of the the Henrietta barnett school but is there anything else that we could apply to and as we're not Catholic so I don't think we can apply to Michaels? My daughter also doesn't play any musical instruments.

Also what is the format of the HBS test and I have been told that girls aren't actually allowed to write on the exam papers themselves?

Round one of verbal and no verbal reasoning- 80 Questions in 50 mins?

I did try to search but I only get my own post.

There are quite a few threads on the HBS test - when you search try HBS test or just have a browse through the Herts / Barnet section of the forum.. HBS occupies a fair bit of that! Here is one thread
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 18&t=17605" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
HBS had about 1300 applicants for 93 places last year.

[Thingsbehindthesun]

Thank you both for replying.

I have to appologise for being inept, I am just getting used to this website.

Tiffin apparently would be 37 mins away and HBS only 11 according to google maps, but I think that this would just be without traffic on a good day.

I knew that there would be large amounts of interest but I didn't expect more than 900. I know there are other factors such as peformance on the day to take into consideration, but would tiffin been seen as the "easier" school to get into because they only have one round as opposed to two?

[Daogroupie]

Perhaps the moderator could move this thread into the barnet and herts where you will get lots of opinions, but I will start with mine!

I would say that two round schools are easier to cope with. It is really really hard to prepare for four different subjects at the same time, NVR, VR, English and Maths, especially if the English is creative writing and comprehension. At HBS you get six weeks between the NVR/VR and the English and Maths though it is somewhat taken up by Christmas and the New Year.

Before you spend any time at all preparing for Tiffin I suggest you take a trip down there and decide if it is a realistic option. We know people from Brent who have applied for HBS and Tiffin but planning to move closer to whichever one they got into. If I were you I would focus on HBS. If you look in the Herts/Barnet forum you will see pages and pages of threads on HBS, Barnetdad and sgcmum are two to look out for. Barnetdad has a Y7 and sgcmum has a dd who will start for Sept. DG

[marigold]

There are no catchment areas for the Chelmsford Grammars and boys and girls certainly travel from London as both schools are very close to the station.

[Sally-Anne]

Perhaps the moderator could move this thread into the barnet and herts where you will get lots of opinions

DG, I am inclined to leave it here because there are several areas that could be relevant.

Thingsbehindthesun, it depends where you are in Brent, but many children travel to Chesham Grammar School from Harrow and parts of NW London. It does have a catchment area, but it is also fairly heavily undersubscribed in Year 7 each year due to its location right on the edge of the county. The entrance test is only Verbal Reasoning and the competition for places in Bucks is nowhere near as fierce as it is for Surrey, Barnet and Herts grammars - the overall pass rate is around 30% each year.

[KS10]

Would you consider a partially selective school (Parmiter's in Herts, for example)? We live in Harrow and DS gets the school bus.

[sgcmum]

Hello Thingsbehindthesun,

hbs does look the best option for you logistically.if you prepare for hbs then u would be prepared for any other school's test as well since u will be covering all four subjects-vr,nvr,eng and maths.
tiffins is definitely less stressful as its only one round of vr/nvr.
however tiffins seem to be changing their test date to 16th nov this year-a potential clash of dates between hbs 1st round,usually held on the tue and wed around 15th nov.

sgcmum

[mad?]

Tiffin apparently would be 37 mins away and HBS only 11 according to google maps, but I think that this would just be without traffic on a good day.

Do try these journeys in rush hour first. To get to Tiffin from Brent you would have to pass through the area in which I live and which is, in reality, 50 - 100 mins each way, probably averaging 70.

but would tiffin been seen as the "easier" school to get into because they only have one round as opposed to two?

no