Buckinghamshire School Allocations 2006 - 2018

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Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: Buckinghamshire School Allocations 2006 - 2018

Post by Guest55 »

Nuguy - The journey to Aylesbury is too long and children can't really benefit from everything a GS has to offer. Luton has some great schools.

All we are encouraging is people to live nearer the school they want their children to go to? What is the issue with that? Perhaps moving or entering fewer tests for schools you were likely to be allocated might have made it less stressfuL?

Anotherdad is a valued poster on here - please don't post personal abuse about him or anyone.
Blue_Marigold
Posts: 359
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 4:49 pm

Re: Buckinghamshire School Allocations 2006 - 2018

Post by Blue_Marigold »

Hi Nuguy, I am not sure if the system in Luton is unfair... we are not entitled to have a grammar school in our county. It is just some places do and some places don’t. Also different counties have different rules for admission and how many places you have on the CAF.

I know it must be very frustrating to have qualified only to be denied a place in Aylesbury. Knowing this, I think the forum is trying to help other people in the future to avoid the same situation. Children might have their heart on a school and get their heart broken so it is better to be realistic from the start and know the admission rules.

Really glad to hear that you weren’t misled by a tuition company but some people have been and it’s good have awareness so people can be prepared and make decisions based on facts rather than hearsay.

BM xx
petit-pois
Posts: 216
Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2016 9:27 pm

Re: Buckinghamshire School Allocations 2006 - 2018

Post by petit-pois »

Nuguy wrote:
anotherdad wrote:Given what seems to me to be a flurry of enquiries from Luton-based parents, I hope they heed the trends on the Aylesbury schools. I suspect there may be a tuition business there putting out misleading information, either deliberately or inadvertently.


anotherdad any many others, I really can't understand your problem with Luton based parents.
I am from Luton and my son have been tutored at home, I was his only tutor and I never heard about agencies and what another one in another thread was calling 11+ specialists who take money to guaranty a place in grammar schools. Maybe there is such thing but please stop accusing people. My son has passed successfully many grammar tests but due to the unfair system he didn't secure at the moment any grammar school. If we had more choices in the CAF he would definitely secured a place in two of Slough grammar schools.

When tourist friends ask a question even a silly question or a question which has been asked many times, please just stay away and don't waist your valuable time to answer, they will find the answer later when their mind is clear, they are just passing by a stressful time that's why they turned to the forum to get any immediate support.

anotherdad I think you have to slow down, Luton based parents are already suffering from the unfair system, first they are limited to THREE choices in their CAF and second they live in a county with NO single grammar school, otherwise they will definitely stick to their local grammar schools and they will leave Buckinghamshire grammar schools to their local residents.
Nuguy, the only criticism of Luton parents has been that they didn't do their research on the likelihood of their child being allocated a place even if they qualified not about which schools they are choosing for their Dc. There has been far more said regarding the tutor companies and "11plus experts" misleading parents as to the possibilities of gaining a place for the purpose of monetary gain. As a Beds resident myself I have found the regular posters on here nothing but kind, repectful and extremely helpful. Amongst others Anotherdad has given me and many many other OOC posters excellent advice and is very knowledgeable veteran of these boards.

I was very surprised that you say you were considering Slough Grammars, surely that would be an awful journey for your child! Luton is far enough, at least a 1hour 20min journey on transport I would think. Has your son been allocated a school in Luton? I'm sure if he was able to pass the 11+ with your support he will do just as well in a local school especially as he would be less tired every day.

x-posted with Blue_Marigold
BlueBerry
Posts: 1014
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2010 3:05 pm

Re: Buckinghamshire School Allocations 2006 - 2018

Post by BlueBerry »

Beautifully said BM x
petit-pois
Posts: 216
Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2016 9:27 pm

Re: Buckinghamshire School Allocations 2006 - 2018

Post by petit-pois »

Blue_Marigold wrote:Hi Nuguy, I am not sure if the system in Luton is unfair... we are not entitled to have a grammar school in our county. It is just some places do and some places don’t. Also different counties have different rules for admission and how many places you have on the CAF.

I know it must be very frustrating to have qualified only to be denied a place in Aylesbury. Knowing this, I think the forum is trying to help other people in the future to avoid the same situation. Children might have their heart on a school and get their heart broken so it is better to be realistic from the start and know the admission rules.

Really glad to hear that you weren’t misled by a tuition company but some people have been and it’s good have awareness so people can be prepared and make decisions based on facts rather than hearsay.

BM xx
Very well and as always, sweetly put Blue_Marigold :)
Nuguy
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon Oct 09, 2017 2:55 pm

Re: Buckinghamshire School Allocations 2006 - 2018

Post by Nuguy »

I am grateful to this forum and there is no doubt without this forum and the advices of his valuable members I couldn't move in and explore the grammar schools universe. But it would be good to comment without targeting some ...based people.

PS, I agree Slough is long journey, If my son got place in Slough we simply move nearby.
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: Buckinghamshire School Allocations 2006 - 2018

Post by Guest55 »

Nuguy wrote:I am grateful to this forum and there is no doubt without this forum and the advices of his valuable members I couldn't move in and explore the grammar schools universe. But it would be good to comment without targeting some ...based people.
That applies to ALL posters. It is clear from the evidence on the Luton tuition website that parents were misled; do you think we should ignore that?
rhiane
Posts: 457
Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2014 2:03 pm

Re: Buckinghamshire School Allocations 2006 - 2018

Post by rhiane »

Nuguy

I have to agree with the others here, I don't think you did your homework as to the chances of getting a Grammar School place after your child qualified.
From the Slough Grammar's to Luton it's around 35 miles!

Out of interest why do you think your son could have secured a place at 2 Slough Grammars? you can only be allocated 1 school!
What was his score? (Slough Consortium not Bucks score)

Edited to say Slough score not Bucks
anotherdad
Posts: 1763
Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:33 pm

Re: Buckinghamshire School Allocations 2006 - 2018

Post by anotherdad »

Nuguy wrote:anotherdad any many others, I really can't understand your problem with Luton based parents.
I am from Luton and my son have been tutored at home, I was his only tutor and I never heard about agencies and what another one in another thread was calling 11+ specialists who take money to guaranty a place in grammar schools. Maybe there is such thing but please stop accusing people. My son has passed successfully many grammar tests but due to the unfair system he didn't secure at the moment any grammar school. If we had more choices in the CAF he would definitely secured a place in two of Slough grammar schools.

When tourist friends ask a question even a silly question or a question which has been asked many times, please just stay away and don't waist your valuable time to answer, they will find the answer later when their mind is clear, they are just passing by a stressful time that's why they turned to the forum to get any immediate support.

anotherdad I think you have to slow down, Luton based parents are already suffering from the unfair system, first they are limited to THREE choices in their CAF and second they live in a county with NO single grammar school, otherwise they will definitely stick to their local grammar schools and they will leave Buckinghamshire grammar schools to their local residents.
Hi Nuguy.

I don't have a problem with Luton-based parents, I have a problem with people entering the process without understanding how it works and the consequences for their children and more local children when it doesn't work out. That isn't a problem confined to Luton, it's just that for the Aylesbury schools, there have been a number of enquiries from Luton parents this year. It seems likely that there is misinformation among parents in Luton as to their chances of obtaining a Bucks grammar place (yours being a case in point) and I hope it's helpful to future cohorts of parents to highlight the difficulty they will face. I have not accused anyone of taking money to guarantee a school place, I pointed out that there is at least one tuition company operating in the area that doesn't make reference to the Bucks admissions and allocations processes alongside the marketing for their tuition programmes and that parents should conduct their own due diligence before spending money.

Congratulations to your son on passing so many tests but the system isn't "unfair". Well, not in the sense you are claiming it is. All of the information is readily available and a check of it many months ago would have highlighted the high probability that obtaining a grammar school place in Bucks was unlikely for your son. That was the risk you took when you entered the process. I can't really add much about Luton's supposedly unfair system other than to say that all the secondary schools in Luton that I can see on the Ofsted page are rated as Good so I don't see why more than three spaces are needed on the CAF. If a choice of selective education and greater choice generally is so important to you, I respectfully suggest that Bedfordshire was not the place to live. We all have ten years' notice of impending secondary education for our children, enough time to consider the options and see what is possible and affordable. Easier said than done of course but I suggest that in Luton you have a much stronger set of schools than many towns do, including Aylesbury, so you have some good options. That's probably a "fairer" situation than most parents face.

Thank you for your advice about how to spend my time and to slow down, but I think I'll post at my own discretion and speed. People are welcome to heed my advice or ignore it, as are you. I hope that more people gain from information I provide than are put off by it. I don't mind volunteering advice to help people out, but performing a belated concierge service for people who haven't planned travel, or to answer questions about the Bucks process that really should have been known before they entered into the system, or to help people seeking to exploit the system to the detriment of others is not something I'm willing to do. Again, it's not personal (after all, we're all anonymous) but a forum filled with those sorts of queries left unchallenged would just end up misleading more and more parents.

Thank you to other posters who have come to my defence :D . Nuguy, I'm sorry that my posts trouble you. I seem to remember you taking exception to a post of mine a few months ago. Perhaps we don't share the same views on what the forum is supposed to provide? That's fine but I hope we can continue to politely argue with each other because I think that's a healthy thing for the forum and for other parents to see opposing views challenged.

Peace, bro'
Blue_Marigold
Posts: 359
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 4:49 pm

Re: Buckinghamshire School Allocations 2006 - 2018

Post by Blue_Marigold »

Sorry I just had to say it.... let’s play nicely with the new guy :lol:
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