Knole Academy Grammar Stream

[jaymum]

Hi all. Am new on here but have been 'lurking' for several months...

Was just wondering if any of you out there had experience of the grammar stream in Knole and what you thought/think of it.
DS passed Kent test but we are probably putting Knole as our 3rd option as it is likely that our 1st and 2nd choices will go to appeal. Therefore we need to make absolutely certain that our 3rd choice is OK in case the appeals don't go according to plan

Grateful for any advice.

[Dippybaby]

Hi Jaymum

I was going to suggest sending your DS to one of the Grammar Tasting sessions they are running this week. However, they appear to be fully booked up according to the Knole website. Maybe the Grammar stream is more popular this year. Last year it was kind of forced upon people (whose DC had passed the 11+ but didn't get into their 3 preferred schools) but this year I know Knole sent out emails before the 11 + results came out.

[bristols]

My understanding of the Knole "Grammar Stream" is that it doesn't actually have any children in it at the moment who have passed the 11+, just children who may have failed a paper, or who narrowly missed a pass or who are thought to be one of the top achievers at Knole.

If you really want a grammar school education it may be worth making that third choice a school that you hadn't previously considered such as one in Maidstone. If you are unsuccessful you will probably find yourself offered Knole anyway - which is what happened to many parents last year.

Good luck!

[jaymum]

Hi Dippybaby
Yes we went to one of the taster sessions. It was fine, I was reasonably impressed, nice new friendly school with good facilities. However my ds has the view that he passed the test so he shouldn't go to a comp...

[jaymum]

bristols - there are children there now who passed the test, some with ss scores, who for whatever reason either couldn't get into a gs or just chose not to send their child to a gs in the end maybe because of distance.

[bristols]

Jaymum, please don't believe all the Knole Academy spin. I would be very surprised if there were more than a handful of children, if any, at the moment in the grammar stream who had passed all three papers. You can probably check this with Kent County Council. KCC tried very hard last year to make sure that all 11+ passers were allocated a genuine grammar school place.

As to this coming year, I am guessing that some 11+ passers may have to accept a Knole place because Tunbridge Wells Boys Grammar School laid on an extra class last year as a one off and I don't believe that they will have the space to do it again for a second year.

[doodles]

Jaymum, have a good look at Oakwood Park GS too. We went to the open evening and it had a good feel to it.

Have you had a good look at the Knole GCSE and A level results? They are available on-line.

[jaymum]

Doodles, we went to Oakwood Parks open day but not the evening. Ds liked it but I wasn't sure. Also it seems quite far to travel and I wasn't sure about the transport links to get there.

[doodles]

I am not too sure about the transport links to Oakwood, however, I did speak to one of the Maths teachers who lives this way and she did say that to her knowledge they had a few boys coming in from the Sevenoaks / Seal / Kemsing direction. It might be worth looking into or perhaps try calling the school office and they may be able to help.

Though I do have to add that I too did discount it on travel issues.

[jaymum]

This is not easy is it?! I guess I'm going to go with gut instinct, which one 'feels' best!

I've got 3 more children to get through this process!!

I'll be a pro by then