Kent vs Bexley

[sidcupparent]

Did Kent on sat - seemed to go well (even with only 1 month full time tuition)

I was pleasently surprised

Is Bexley likely to be same level?

[rosehulk]

I believe bexley is more literacy based with no vr

Maths is more wordy

[salsa]

The test in Kent has changed this year, so, I cannot properly compare it. However, the CEM test my son did last year at Bexley was content wise easier, however, the speed needed was horrendous. He told me that sometimes there were 10 options to choose from and that he had hardly finished reading the question when he had to move on. He came out feeling he had failed and had to guess a lot of questions. By contrast, he finished the Kent test very well. So, there is a thread from last year where we all discussed our children's experience, you could look at it to see what we were talking about. If you are local, however, your child only needs to pass to get a place.

By the way, contrary to his perception, my son did well on the Bexley test.

[MerlinFromCamelot]

I'm not sure how far you live from the Kent GS' but bear in mind that considering the oversubscribtion criteria a pass will not be good enough, one would need a high score to get in. Kent sort of prioritise their own residents, rightfully so imo, unlike Bexley.

[salsa]

I'm not sure how far you live from the Kent GS' but bear in mind that considering the oversubscribtion criteria a pass will not be good enough, one would need a high score to get in. Kent sort of prioritise their own residents, rightfully so imo, unlike Bexley.

True, a high score is required for out of catchment children. However, so it is for OOC children in Bexley. To be assured a place you'd have to be on the top 180 which I think works out as the top 2%. Of these top 180, I reckon no more than 80 choose the Bexley grammars. This at allocation time. We'd have to find out how many of those actually take their spaces in September and haven't gone elsewhere. We know that the Bexley grammars allocate spaces even after the term has started. We don't even know where these top 180 come from. They can be Bexley residents going elsewhere. So, in short, I do think that Bexley gives priority to their residents.

[Muggle]

Traditionally boys living in the North of the borough struggled to get a place in Bexley's Grammar Schools as the Grammars are based in the South of the borough. The Top 180 was introduced for the purpose of ensuring that the brightest children from North Bexley were able to access a selective education (it's never really work for the purpose it was intended for!). The entrance criteria are distance based, so many OOB's would gain admission to a Bexley grammar as they lived closer to the school than the North Bexley children. From this year BETHS has increased its intake by one class, so the problem should no longer occur.

[salsa]

Traditionally boys living in the North of the borough struggled to get a place in Bexley's Grammar Schools as the Grammars are based in the South of the borough. The Top 180 was introduced for the purpose of ensuring that the brightest children from North Bexley were able to access a selective education (it's never really work for the purpose it was intended for!). The entrance criteria are distance based, so many OOB's would gain admission to a Bexley grammar as they lived closer to the school than the North Bexley children. From this year BETHS has increased its intake by one class, so the problem should no longer occur.

BETHS increased this year again? To how many? I thought they increased the intake last year? I know for certain they offered places in the summer to children 8 miles from the school. Would this mean that all the Bexley boys were covered? Also, Townley have been offering to all the girls. Are there any Bexley residents who passed and did not get a place?

[MerlinFromCamelot]

You can live a fair distance outside Bexley and still get a place without being top 180 whilst in Kent if you are as much as 1.5 miles away from the school as an out of the borough taker you can almost certainly forget about getting a place. I believe DGS has even tighter criteria.

[salsa]

You can live a fair distance outside Bexley and still get a place without being top 180 whilst in Kent if you are as much as 1.5 miles away from the school as an out of the borough taker you can almost certainly forget about getting a place. I believe DGS has even tighter criteria.

I agree. You need a very high score for DGS. I don't know how low it went on the waiting list, but what I do know is that it went as low as 415 on the second round. Does anybody know what happened next?

I also know that, on their first allocation, most of the children were from their catchment area (from the parishes in zone A) 134 of the 150 intake. Of course we do not know how many then took other spaces at other schools.

[MerlinFromCamelot]

So in what way do you then think that Bexley gives priority to their residents?? I can't see it to be honest.