St Olaves -How many Private school Vs state school children?

[BeckMum]

Hello All,

Does anyone have a statistics of how many private vs state school children qualified for St Olaves grammar in the past years ? We live in Beckenham ,I haven't heard of many children getting in to St Olaves especially from my son's school which is a church aided school in beckenham.

I agree that a certain amount of preparation is required, however does the teaching standards at school influence to a large degree ? Sorry this isn't a debate about private vs state schools, however specifically about St Olaves grammer, does a state school child performing in the top group in the class stand a chance ?

I am surprised there aren't many children from Beckenham (or many be i haven't heard of any) going to St Olaves ?

Please mums and dads bring on your views. I would love to hear from you all !!

Thanks

[bondgirl]

Hi Beckmum,

I don't know the statistics you're after, but can tell you about our school (a state primary in Bromley). 3 boys were offered St Olave's last year from our school and all 3 had tutors (one ended up going to an indie so only 2 took up places in the end). So it is definitely possible for state school boys but I think extra preparation is definitely required.

Are you looking at St O's for your DS? We are aiming for it for DS in Sept 2013 and will be at the open morning on Saturday .

[dani*]

I know 3 boys who took the test last year. 2 from our state primary (with tutors) and one from an Indie without a tutor. The children from our state primary passed, albeit with the help of a tutor.

Also, everyone that I know who has taken the Newstead test (ex state school ) have passed, even they didn't do as well as expected in the Bexley test.

Good luck.

[bondgirl]

everyone that I know who has taken the Newstead test (ex state school ) have passed, even they didn't do as well as expected in the Bexley test.

DD passed Bexley last year but not Newstead even though she was expected to by her teachers and the Headteacher. As you say Dani, I know of another girl (not from our school) who didn't pass Bexley but passed Newstead, and another who was a top 180 scorer in the Bexley test, scored 420 in the Kent test, but didn't pass Newstead!! Who knows how they're going to do???

Good luck to anyone sitting Newstead/St Olaves this year

[layla22]

Hello Beckmum & All,
Funny enough I was thinking the same this morning,i.e. how many children from state prim vs indies get into St O. I don't have the answer.I will "try and ask that question at the open day on Sat.
A tutor is essential, I think and doing some past papers from the Indies. Then it will be a case of keeping fingers and toes crossed until allocation day.

[Gripper Stebson]

Re the tutoring aspect. Save money and download past papers from all sorts of schools from the net and use them as test papers. As long as you can understand the papers (and they shouldn't be too hard for an adult) you can support. Perhaps more to the point, not all private schools prepare kids adequately for grammar exams...

[Jiff]

Hallo Layla 22

I would be very interested to know the answer if you do find out. I have DS in year 13 and year 11 at St Olaves, and another DS in year 9 who did not get in (all from a Lewisham state primary). Anecdotally I feel that there are more prep school boys getting in now, but I don't know whether this is actually true.

Good luck to everyone applying this year.

[bondgirl]

I asked the Bromley Admissions representative who was at the St O's open morning yesterday about the state v prep school ratio. She said she didn't know but was sure her boss would (who wasn't there at the time). I'm sure if you really wanted to know, you could ring the Bromley Admissions team.

On a separate note, I asked her about the admission procedure for Bromley as I'd heard it was changing next year (when DS will be applying for secondary school). She said the procedure was under consultation - just when I'd got my head around the current system That said, she didn't think there would be any change to St Olave's admissions criteria.

[BeckMum]

Thanks all lovely parents for reviving the topic I posted a long time ago.

Yes, view from most parents I have spoken to is that more and more Prep school children get in to St Olaves these days than before, however no one has the statistics to prove.

If any of you have heard from the bromley admissions or the school further on this, please add on.

[blessedmum]

I think a lot of prep schools boys get in, only 3 out of the 7 boys in my dd's class last year took the exam and the three all got places and i know of large numbers from a lot of other indie school, saying that out of the 120 or so the school will be taking am sure there will be a good number from the state primaries as well.

In my little experience though, all the boys i know that have got places all had tutors. a couple of years ago, 7 boys in my dd's old indie took the exams and they all got places. Am sure state primary kids get places if a good amount of effort is put in to prepare them. The indie prep schools sell their schools by the amount of kids they get through the 11+, Newstead and Olaves tests so obviously they work hard in preapring the kids.

My dd's school start using bond books for age 5-6 from year 1 in school.