Living in Malaysia......

[valiantlad]

Hi there we are currently live in Malaysia and would like our youngest daughter who is currently in year 5 to attend GS like the rest of her elder siblings. We did live in Lincolnshire which worked but now I am being relocated back to the UK from Malaysia but I'm not sure where I will be working at this time.

I have looked through the various pages on here and it would appear that there is not a standardised VR/NVR paper and each LA and certain schools have their own entrance exams. So do I have to nail my colours to the mast and go for a certain school/area right now? Also very difficult not being in a catchment area at this time either.

My first time back on here for a number of years...my last experience was appealing for my daughter when she was 3 marks short......appeal upheld with a lot of good advice offered.

[scary mum]

Welcome back. Maybe once you are back in the UK you will be able to visit the site more often and offer advice to others who may gain from your experiences?
Firstly a grammar school is not the be all & end all, there are many good comprehensive schools around the country. You are correct in saying there is not standard test. In Buckinghamshire and Kent there are county wide tests but (I think) these are the only counties with a full GS system. You are entitled to apply to any school you wish to but many have rules about when you have to move into catchment so it may well be a waste of time applying or sitting the exam. Others have no catchment at all & simply take the highest scorers. You probably need to try & home in on an area & ask for specific advice in the forum for that area.
Good luck, lots of people on here have been around for many years & should be able to help with specific questions. There is a section on the main site, rather than the forum, dealing with each area's requirements which you should look at. I can't add the link at the moment as I'm on my phone.

[PettswoodFiona]

If in Y5 already registration is already open for tests - some areas require you to have an address within a particular distance on that day and the day of the test. Newstead in Orpington require this for example. As has already been said you will need to check the requirements for any schools you are thinking of as there are so many differences from area to area. The odd school allows you to sit an exam whilst abroad but they Re the exception.

[Daogroupie]

I would start work on some CEM papers. Lots of schools have moved to CEM and I recommend even those not sitting it to use it to improve their English.

CEM will help you with whichever school format you end up with.

When will you know? DG

[ToadMum]

Areas which don't require an address in any particular proximity to the school in order to sit the test include Gloucestershire, Birmingham, Essex (CSSE for Colchester County High School for Girls, Southend High School for Girls and Westcliff High School for Girls, same exam for alt three) Essex (Chelmsford County High School for Girls, different exam), Kent, Bexley, Colyton Grammar School, the Henrietta Barnett School in Hampstead Garden Suburb. I think you can apply from abroad for all those, but your DD would have to sit the exams in this country. Also, I would assume that you would have to have a proper address here in order to apply to the schools as this is done through your Local Authority.

Bear in mind that there is usually only a very short space of time between the receipt of exam results - varying from two to three weeks (CSSE) to only a few days (Henrietta Barnett in recent years, it would appear) and the final date for submission of the CAF.

Some of these areas will be using the same exam (set by the Durham University Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring) on Saturday September 10th e.g.Gloucestershire and Chelmsford; I assume that you register for both but tell one that you are sitting the exam elsewhere. I'm afraid our DC only took one exam (CSSE), but if you search a bit there are several people on the forum who put their DC in for 11+ exams in multiple geographical areas and there is probably a post somewhere about how to do it properly. (I would say that 'I want my child to take an exam hundreds of miles away on that day' is not accepted by many schools as a legitimate reason for requesting to have your child sit an exam on the reserve date. Most only allow this for certificated sudden illness or one's religion banning the sitting of exams on a particular day of the week, which must also be confirmed by someone in a position of authority at your place of worship).

[kenyancowgirl]

And to add to that, you need to check carefully about different CEM areas - where the test is being taken in different places on the same date, it is likely that it would be the same test. You will have to check, if you are hoping to take it on reserve dates, if the area will accept that - most imply at least that only the first attempt at a CEM test will be accepted. (This is of particular importance where schools have joined in consortiums, to limit the number of 11+ exams a child has to take.)

[Daogroupie]

You can only take each CEM paper once so you will need to make sure you do not register twice for the same paper.

If you register for a school sitting CEM super Saturday on 10th September then you can use that paper for results that can be sent to other schools. DG

[ToadMum]

Do you not have to register to sit the exam for each area in you might want actually to apply for a place (even though the child only takes the exam once, at whichever venue)? Otherwise, their raw score will not be randomised with all the relevant cohorts. cf stating which Gloucestershire grammar schools you want your child's score 'shared' with - if you only have the score included in the standardisation for Crypt, say, you can't then say you want a place at Pates, because your child doesn't have a standardised score for there - ? (Perhaps a 'Glos' member could clarify this, please?).

[Tolstoy]

Re Glos you can sit the exam in of the Gloucestershire Grammar schools from wherever you live and then you just tick the boxes for your results to be shared with all schools. That bit is straight forward.

Re returning from abroad and seeking a Grammar space with hindsight I would actually do the research and seek out a good Comp, especially if you have time on your side and can live anywhere.

[valiantlad]

Thanks for all of the replies - I knew it would be straightforward

I agree with the comments with regard to a good comp but doing research on this when you have no idea of the specific areas is less than easy as there are so many 'smoke screens' to negotiate on the internet.

We have no wish to return to Lincolnshire which is somewhat unfortunate - it is one area where we do know the schools quite well and would have a good back up plan.

In an ideal world we would move to either Devon or Dorset but that is not guaranteed at this time, and that move would be at the end of year 6 as my daughter is in the international school in KL.

I will also look through the forum for old posts on the subject.

Thanks.