Help - New to this!

studymum · Post by **studymum** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:36 pm

Hi there,

My son is in year 5 and we are hoping to apply to Reading. I have loads of questions and am hoping that someone might know the answers....

Firstly, we are not currently living in catchment, although have started the process of moving - according to the admissions we need to live in catchment by February but applications need to be in by Oct. Does our application get treated differently if apply from our current address?

Secondly, how do I go about finding a tutor? Obviously, living out of catchment I can't get personal recommendations from anyone. I have looked on various sites and am not able to find any. There is only one result from searches on here. Maybe I am not looking in the right places! I know that you can't recommend but maybe pointing me in the right direction might help.

Any other useful tips appreciated!

Thanks in advance
Annie

chad · Post by **chad** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 11:38 pm

Hi studymum

Welcome to the forum

Not my area of Berks I am afraid... have you looked at the general info on the region page -

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/11-plus-berks.php

scroll down to reading area.

Stevew has knowledge of Reading boys so can hopefully answer your questions when he happens along...poss tomorrow.

studymum · Post by **studymum** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 8:54 am

Thanks for the welcome

I did read the info - I am a bit confused about the catchment area, I know that there is one but I was sure that I had read that there wasn't really a designated catchment and that it was more about reasonable travelling time (we're only half a mile out of catchment at the moment!). We had planned to move next year but might need to be a few months sooner than we thought!

Annie

stevew61 · Post by **stevew61** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 9:16 am

studymum wrote: I did read the info - I am a bit confused about the catchment area, I know that there is one but I was sure that I had read that there wasn't really a designated catchment and that it was more about reasonable travelling time.Annie

Hi studymum,

Reading (boys) have a designated catchment Kendrick (girls) do not.

Ask your local LEA, Reading Borough Admissions & Reading School (they are very helpful and answer emails promptly) about the cut off date for living on catchment.

Moving house just to "sit" the exam which is very competitive would be high risk, so you need to factor in plan B.

Tutors? Very hard to find you are probably best going DIY using this site and using a tutor to boost English skills if required. Will send you a PM with further info. I get told off if I advertise.

You will need to start work soon as you need to complete KS2 and then work on VR/NVR/English/Maths/Essay.

Good luck & best wishes,

steve

Bewildered · Post by **Bewildered** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 11:12 am

Hi Studymum,

Welcome to the forum.
I would agree with Steve and say to find out exact details about catchement, you will need to contact RGS and the LEA.
At their last open day, the RGS Admissions officer did advise all parents that the catchment travelling time had been reduced from the previous 1hr to 45mins.
If you look at the following link it will give details on Reading Admissions...
http://www.readingschool.reading.sch.uk ... policy.pdf
In particular, if you read the oversubscription criteria, this part says...

Initially all places will be offered to the first 100 applicants in the ranking (subject to a) and b) below), provided that they
satisfy the following two conditions:
i) The permanent home address of the student is within the designated area of the school and this home address is the
address of the parent(s)/carer(s) and the student.
ii) The student is not in a position to receive an offer of a place at another school that he had placed as a higher
preference.

It may be hard to find a tutor at this point, as many get booked up in advance. As is the case of the only one's I am aware of. Also after learning about tutoring styles, I would not recommend them anyway.

If you have the time eg weekends, half terms, summer hols I would agree with Steve and try to DIY. Starting with VR and NVR, as most state school children have not come across this style of exam. We do have alot of friendly people on the forum that can help with any problems you may incur with all 4 subjects.

Good Luck

BW

studymum · Post by **studymum** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 5:06 pm

Thanks for all of you advice, I think I will be going it alone.

We hadn't intended to move to sit the exam but had intended to live in Reading From 2009 but unfortuntaely the two timings aren't perfect.

The catchment area is OX11 9 and we are OX11 8 - which sucks!

Does not living in catchment at the time of application mean that the application gets treated differently?

I'll probably have loads more questions so sorry in advance!

Annie

Bewildered · Post by **Bewildered** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 11:03 am

studymum wrote: Does not living in catchment at the time of application mean that the application gets treated differently?

Best to contact LEA's and RGS directly, to get an answer to this.

BW