11 Plus Exams Forum

Many parts of Worcestershire have a three-tier school system (First School R-Y4, Middle School Y5-Y8, High School Y9-11/13). Therefore, any Worcestershire children accepting a Year-7 place at a Grammar School in Birmingham will be leaving their Middle School "half-way through". As the Middle School wouldn't normally be expecting a child to leave at the end of Year 6, do parents have to notify it directly if they accept a place at one of the Birmingham Grammar Schools, or does that information get relayed automatically by the Birmingham LEA?

Could any Worcestershire parents who have already been through this process explain how it worked for them?

You need to write a letter to the school once you have been offered and accepted a place. It is courteous to do so and closes the communications loop. Most middle schools expect to lose pupils to grammars. 9 of the 110 pupils in Year 6 went off to 3 grammar schools in our local Middle School and every year a number of children do so. Don't expect any acknowledgement or congratulations to your DC from the school or teachers.

Thanks, Koala. That pretty much confirms what I had imagined would be the situation.

I would have contacted Parkside in any case - as you say, it would be discourteous not to. I would neither expect nor need any congratulations from them, but would be disppointed not to get any kind of official acknowledgement of my notification - even just a brief one-liner so I knew my letter had made its way to the right desk. Communication is a two-way street after all, and courtesy costs nothing!

Hello pmc

Our child transferred last year from a worcestershire school to a Birmingham Grammar School, we had to apply to Worcestershire County Council our preferred list of BGS, not Birmingham LEA before January last year for entry Sept entry 2014. Our child was offered a place and I can honestly say the school she attended were fabulous in dealing with her transition from Middle school to grammar. Hope this is helpful if you need anymore information of our experience so far, travelling, green bus etc please feel free to ask

Hi, we went through the same process last year, from Parkside to Kefw. We got Lea form from Worcestershire Lea and put down Kefw, informed Parkside and it was all done, just ensure that you get a copy of the from you fill in from Worcestshire Lea, so you know that everything is in place, you can do it all on line if I recall, hope this helps.