Warwick exam vs Birmingham

[Charlotte67]

The statistics are unequivocal - 50% of children resident in E.Warks "Area 2" who apply for grammar school are succesful.

Mike

I'd be interested to see the statistics which lead you to this conclusion.

We do have many fewer children sitting the 11+ in our area now that the system requires opting in rather than out. This is a great shame as it tends to be the children from less advantaged backgrounds who lose out.

I am not intending to be awkward Mike - I just find your 50% figure very difficult to align with my local knowledge.

[Charlotte67]

sorry, also meant to say:

I believe that I have understood your post perfectly. However, I also believe that the comment made could be misleading to readers who have no background knowledge.

I also (so many alsos ) find it very hard to believe. If, for example, 80% of places were offered to Eastern Area residents, then only 350 of the 750 taking the test were residents... doesn't sound right to me.

[mike1880]

At risk of wandering further off the point...

I agree the statistics for E.Warks are not very well behaved. The implication of the qualifying score for Area 1, for example, is that only about half the test entrants end up with an E.Warks grammar school on their CAF as first choice.

You're better placed than I am to know why that might be. I know why it happens in B'ham, but I don't know why it happens in E.Warks.

[edit - 836 test entrants for E.Warks last year, by the way]

Mike

[Charlotte67]

Last comment, then I promise I'll get off your thread

836 makes the 1 in 2 figure even more odd...

This would mean that Rugby children are performing significantly better in the exam than those from the rest of the priority circle - 80% of 218 x 2 = 349 applications from the Eastern area, which is only 42% of those sitting the test. We can set aside 50% of the 80% but that still leaves Rugby children gaining 60% of the (level playing field) available places from 42% of applications...

This new system is so hard to get to the bottom of!

Also ( ) Many children know that they stand practically zero chance of a grammar place, and would not wish to go anyway, but do like to take the test with the rest of their classmates and enjoy the experience.

byeeee

[DarkEnergy]

Charlotte, my local knowledge agrees entirely with you. Comes as a bit of a shock to disagree with Mike as I have read his posts with great regularity and have been helped immensely by him on many occasions. Just goes to show, you can't be right all of the time. Just most of the time.

Thanks for the debate Mike and Charlotte, I have been running with those same thoughts for months. Thanks for airing the topic.
P.S. Glad I am not in Birmingham, sounds like really tough competition.

[mike1880]

I shall submit to superior local knowledge; there's only so far the statistics can take you!

What's puzzling me now is why the S.Warks statistics are so neat when there are so many good independent schools (and quite a lot of out of area applications) that ought to be muddying the waters...

Mike

[DarkEnergy]

I too find Warwickshire stats a bit puzzling, if I was of a more cantankerous nature, I would suspect Warwickshire of deliberate obfuscation, but bringing it back to topic...

Basically it is easier to get into E Warks Grammars than S Warks. Rugby is easier than Stratford.
Top of the pile in this area is Birmingham, which is at least twice as hard as Rugby. Glad I live in Rugby.

[mike1880]

The S.Warks schools are part of the wider grammar environment of B'ham and surroundings, especially the Camp Hill/5 Ways "catchment". Their qualifying marks probably reflect that.

I think you overstate the difficulty in qualifying for a B'ham grammar compared to Warwickshire. Remember that although there are 3,600 applications for 595 KE places (1 in 6), most of those 3,600 also have access to some of the 616 [edit: sorry, 706] other GS places in and around B'ham. Overall, the difficulty in qualifying for a GS place in B'ham is probably little different to S.Warks.

Mike