hi,

I have been reading the forums and am so amazed how many useful posts there are.

My DS scored 117 in bucks exam and we live very closed to Burnham grammar. He scored 114 in the Slough exams.

I am confused on what to do. BGS would make life easy and some of his school friends are going. so we are going to go for a review in any case. We likes Langley a lot but just outside area 1. My DS also like Herschel and feel our chances are strong as we are within the 4 mile catchment. In all honestly we would be happy with any of the grammar schools.

what would you put down on the CAF forms?

What order ?

I am so confused and any help would be greatly appreciated.

I think you have to trust your own judgement from what you saw when you visited them, what you know of them from their websites, Ofsted reports, etc. and any reliable reports from friends or family.

Put them in the order of your genuine preference. Contrary to what you might have heard about tactics, there is no point doing anything other than ranking them in your true order of preference. The one thing you must do is make sure you have a back-up option you are happy with if none of the grammar schools offer you a place. If you don't do that, the admissions authority will simply allocate you to a school that has spaces which may or may not be one that you like or is easy to get to.

Thank you for the reply.

Great advice ... what do you think his chances are ?

Not sure what chances you mean.

The chance of a successful Bucks review on a score of 117 was around 25% last year but your chances could be better or worse than that as it really depends on your son's academic record/teacher recommendation and any special circumstances.
Be sure to put BGS first on the CAF though if it is the school you would like most. If you don't do this and your review is successful and you are able to be allocated a school you have put higher up on the form, then that is what will happen. If your review turns out to be unsuccessful, you won't in any way have harmed your chances at the Slough grammars by putting them below BGS on the list. As others have said, it is an equal preference system so list the schools in your genuine order of preference. There's no game to play.


As for the Slough grammars: with the introduction of the 4 mile radius catchment for Herschel, I would say your son has an excellent chance of getting a place there. Langley I would say there is a chance but by no means a strong one. Last year children from Priority area 2 (which I think you are in?) got places down to a rank score of 115 so your son on 114 this year may or may not be lucky there. Upton Court went down to 116 last year so might be worth putting if you have the space to spare on your CAF. Unless you have the necessary faith requirements St Bernards probably isn't a possibility.
Of the 4 Slough grammars, I'd say Herschel is your strongest chance (and it is pretty strong).


I'd give the last two places (or more, depending on how many grammars you decide to list) on the CAF to non-grammar options that you'd be happy with. From the area I think you must live in, I'd imagine these would be a couple of Maidenhead or Slough comprehensives since no-one seems to want the upper school in Burnham!

Thank you so much for all your input. You are totally right and it is good to have a voice of reasoning.

caf
1.bg
2.Herschel
3.Langley
4.Upton
5.cox green
6.desbrough

Thank you again.

Looks like a good plan.
Best of luck with your Bucks review.

if you really like Langley more compare to Herschel then please put Langley as High Rank - please ignore High/Low chance part - if LEA can not allocate admission in Langley they will offer you Herschel.

Please refer here
https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/schoo ... nce-system