Which primary schools send the most kids to grammar?

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Gurdjieff
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed May 08, 2013 10:09 am

Which primary schools send the most kids to grammar?

Post by Gurdjieff »

We live in Minchinhampton, and the head said about 25% of the year group end up at the grammars (obviously very roughly as it will change from year to year). Is that normal? It sounds like quite a lot...I look at the primary school league tables for our area and find myself drawn to the fact that there are loads of schools here with very high point scores and 5+ attainment percentages, and that Minch is a bit middling really. Is that something to be concerned about? We heard anecdotal evidence that the school was well regarded, but it doesn't seem reflected in the results.

What does everyone else think? I'm new to this world of educational data and decisions, got two sons starting in the next year or so. I'm rolling up my sleeves...
DebsB
Posts: 144
Joined: Sun Sep 22, 2013 7:25 pm
Location: Cheltenham

Re: Which primary schools send the most kids to grammar?

Post by DebsB »

25% does seem quite high.

Last year the Echo reported that 6767 children were in the admissions cohort. There are roughly 800 grammar places, which is about 11%.

If the head is bragging about numbers of grammar entrants, that may mean that the school is in the minority of primaries that actually prepare children for the grammar test, instead of pretending that it doesn't exist, as most primaries do.
stroudydad
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Joined: Sat Oct 08, 2011 2:25 pm

Re: Which primary schools send the most kids to grammar?

Post by stroudydad »

My children's PrimRy usually send 2-6ish from a class of 40. Headteacher is one that fully subscribes to the comprehensive system, the mere mention of 11+ Is enough to bring scowls, yet this school is one of the highest rated in the county in league terms
MountainDweller
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 4:31 pm

Re: Which primary schools send the most kids to grammar?

Post by MountainDweller »

I can only go on the past few years at my children's school...

Last year 2 from a class of 30.... I 'think' 4 took the test.
The year before 3 from a class of 29
The year before that 4 from a class of 31

This year.... 6 took the test from a class of 29, 5 passed.

Our school is not at all pro-11+......any passes are 100% due to the children and the parents.
Gurdjieff
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed May 08, 2013 10:09 am

Re: Which primary schools send the most kids to grammar?

Post by Gurdjieff »

I see, so 25% sounds on the high side of things. It also seems perhaps harder than it was when I was young, or maybe just under more demand? Are the kids that pass the 11% little geniuses, or is it just generally bright kids? I can't imagine 90% of a class in a state primary are not clever enough to pass the 11+; certainly couldn't tell from the local school kids you see around here. Everyone seems bright to me, but I'm not well versed in these things.
DebsB
Posts: 144
Joined: Sun Sep 22, 2013 7:25 pm
Location: Cheltenham

Re: Which primary schools send the most kids to grammar?

Post by DebsB »

Gurdjieff wrote:I see, so 25% sounds on the high side of things. It also seems perhaps harder than it was when I was young, or maybe just under more demand? Are the kids that pass the 11% little geniuses, or is it just generally bright kids? I can't imagine 90% of a class in a state primary are not clever enough to pass the 11+; certainly couldn't tell from the local school kids you see around here. Everyone seems bright to me, but I'm not well versed in these things.
It's not really about "passing" - more about "beating the competition". There are a fixed number of GS places. Anybody who wants to apply to take the test can, but most don't. You get a place at a GS if you do well enough in the test to appear high enough up the ranked list to get one of the available places for that school. Some GS have more applicants than others, so you have to do better in the test to get into those ones. Some children apply to all possible GS, others apply to just one or two. None of the GS has a catchment area at all. People can, and do, apply for Glos GS places from Swindon, Birmingham, Bristol, etc.

Most primaries don't get involved at all. The days when the whole cohort sat the test at their primary school are a distant memory in Gloucestershire, although I believe it may still happen in some other places. The test is on a Saturday morning and you do it at one of the GS that you have applied to. Until recently, the test was solely on verbal reasoning, which the indy prep schools taught children how to do, but was utterly unlike anything a state educated child would ever see at school. This year it is a new test, with more conventional English and maths as well as non-verbal reasoning. It is hoped that this will be fairer for disadvantaged children - only time will tell. It is almost certainly fairer for those whose maths is better than their English.

Children who do not go to GS are not consigned to non-academic secondary moderns as in the old days, but go to comprehensives, many of which are very good, and may contain plenty of other children who could have got into GS but chose not to because they and/or their parents preferred to stay local, or wanted co-ed, or didn't approve of selection, or whatever other reason. Comprehensives (unless faith schools) usually select on catchment area, sibling rule and/or distance from the school. For the good schools, this is "selection by parental ability to pay for expensive house prices (or rent)".
Last edited by DebsB on Sun Dec 21, 2014 9:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.
scaredycat
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Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2012 6:36 pm

Re: Which primary schools send the most kids to grammar?

Post by scaredycat »

At our primary, from DD's class (September 2014 Grammar intake), there were 6 out of 30 who got places (all girls!). From DS's class of 27, (current Year 10), there were 9 (4 boys and 5 girls). It shows how much it can vary and just depends on the cohort.
Gurdjieff
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed May 08, 2013 10:09 am

Re: Which primary schools send the most kids to grammar?

Post by Gurdjieff »

Very interesting, thanks for the comprehensive replies (excuse the pun!). It's a long way off really, there are years of primary school ahead of us first. It's useful to know that in reality it's actually harder to get in than I realised (sounds more like 1 in 8 or 1 in 10).

Does anyone take a view of Minchinhampton School - interested in any parents who have heard good/bad things about it. Also would be useful to have some perspective on the ups and downs of the KS2 results - it's a very rough measure at best of the quality of the school, and my head tells me it is a reflection of the cohort rather than the school per se. But then you look at schools like Rodborough and St Dominics (or Naunton Park in Cheltenham, say) and you think "did all the geniuses move there?".
Tiomanisland
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Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2013 1:31 pm

Re: Which primary schools send the most kids to grammar?

Post by Tiomanisland »

Have pm'd you...
capers123
Posts: 1865
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:03 pm
Location: Gloucestershire

Re: Which primary schools send the most kids to grammar?

Post by capers123 »

Parents can certainly look at lots of primary schools, and express a preference for their choice of them. However, for popular schools, you're far less likely to get a place unless you live close to it.

You have the right of appeal, but for Reception & Key Stage 1, winning an appeal is very hard to do, as the panel's hands are tied by the Appeals Code rules on class sizes "There shalt be no more than 30 children in a class". To win such an appeal, either a serious mistake by the admissions authority has to have been made, or the decision made must be perverse - one so outrageous that no normal/average person could have made.

So as with secondary schools, always make sure that your local catchment school is somewhere on the list submitted to the LEA, even in last position, as that way if they can't give you the higher choices, then the lower choice becomes your effective first choice.
Capers
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