Going to be quiet in here!

[nervousmom]

I have a feeling that after tomorrow all is going to go quiet.

Our DC have done all they can, we have now sent off our forms and we spend the next 4 months waiting!

My DS was just saying today he is worried that lowest QS will go up by too many points and he won't get his first choice of FW.

He got 237 and from the general consensus here, QS will probably be about 3-4 points higher, so I am trying to assure him that his 12 point buffer should be enough!

It will be very interesting to see what does actually happen in March regarding lowest QS for all the schools!

[Happy dad]

I would be amazed if the FW score went up by much at all. Parents would have hoped for the best last year but still put down the schools they wanted. If anything this year may impact the less popular schools as those who know they wont get into FW or CH may well now look at Aston or BV. No one knows.

Good luck.

[newbiemum]

Iv only ever considered the two GS that are close to us as the others are other side of the city and don't like the idea of my ds travelling. Just so happens the two by us have a lower QS than the others, even with our score being good enough i wouldnt apply and i know they are better. Surely a lot of parents go for locality as well and the travel is not practical so is a major factor in the choices made? Or is it just me.

[Amarstone]

I agree nervousmum, nothing more we can do. I am glad I found this forum though as I have found the discussions really interesting and am grateful to Ken R and Mike for providing very useful data. I will definitely return if dd2 wants to sit the exam.

I completely agree newbie mum: we're equidistant from three of the grammar schools (about 20mins) but if one was in walking distance I would definitely choose that one as I thought all three were excellent.

[newbiemum]

Yes one Is walking/cycle distance or short bus ride, other green bus 30 mins of our two choices. Our other schools on caf are local secondary's. Other GS way too far to consider. I have two more little ones so this is way off for us after ds, iv learnt loads so will be better prepared next time in a good few years, got a 9 year age gap in total! Thank you everyone and good luck! Be back in march I'm sure!

[hermanmunster]

Won't be that quiet! people always seem to start a countdown and then try to distract themselves from counting down ... Also there are all the indie exams which are yet to come ..

[Happy dad]

Iv only ever considered the two GS that are close to us as the others are other side of the city and don't like the idea of my ds travelling. Just so happens the two by us have a lower QS than the others, even with our score being good enough i wouldnt apply and i know they are better. Surely a lot of parents go for locality as well and the travel is not practical so is a major factor in the choices made? Or is it just me.

Unfortunately for us all require a certain amount of what I would call "excess travelling". For personal reasons relocation is not practical so the other option is the local independent school and commitment to seven years of fees - and then what to do about ds2 next year.
Still got 28 hours to finally determine the preferences on the CAF

[UmSusu]

Happy dad, you are not the only one still working out the order of schools on the CAF

I was at the KEA open day today - I only realised when I got there that it might have been a good idea to take DS too! I liked it but must admit that I have been to that many schools that I am no longer so easily won over and all the good schools have started to look the same

UmSusu

[Happy dad]

UmSusu, so glad you said that. I am trying to put the positives and negatives for each and have realised that something I remembered as a positive for a school was actually a different school

Today was Aston, if tomorrow is Wednesday then I must be at BV

[nervousmom]

Won't be that quiet! people always seem to start a countdown and then try to distract themselves from counting down ... Also there are all the indie exams which are yet to come ..

I think you are probably right, there will always be something to chat about.

Our choice was very easy. I loved KES Stratford, but DS loved FW, so did DH and I was very impressed with it too.

DS has done well in both exams so we actually had a choice of 4 GS. Although CHB was dismissed a few weeks ago before results came out, his score is 237 so he may or may not have got CH anyway.

We have FW first, KES Stratford second and AGS first. If for some reason he doesn't get FW then he will get KES as there are 81 places and he was ranked 49th out of 527 boys!

Anyway, CH is our nearest. As the crow flies FW is the next closest followed by AGS and KES. Both FW and KES mean catching a bus at 7.30 am with a 40 min drive to FW, guessing KES about the same. Really not sure of AGS, but in a car this is about 20-25 mins.

I suppose we are lucky where we live situated on the warks/west midlands border, classed as Solihull but applying through Warks as Stratford council.

DS will be travelling to FW approx 90 min round trip per day, so not too bad I suppose. We never considered any of the other schools, but a number of people seem to be impressed with KEA.

Not long now to submit your form, don't miss the deadline will you