So I live in Maidenhead and my son will be sitting exam in 2018. Now the first steps I need to take is to get registered
I Will be registering him for the Slough consortium groups... however location /distance wise a couple grammer schools in high Wycombe would be practical in comparison.
In order to be considered ... I was going to register on the Buckingham County Council. What I am confused is how will he sit the test... when where and then what board would it be... the Slough & Reading are CEM. Is there anyone else in my boat?
Thanks for all your responses

You are unlikely to get a place in a Bucks GS. Presumably you've checked the allocation profiles for recent years?

If you decide to go ahead then I would go to the Bucks CC website and read up about the new Transfer Test set by GL and how the test is taken. You'll need to travel to a Bucks GS for the familiarisation test and then the real test; you will be told which school to go to.

Yes i saw that a small number did go to bucks VS from Windsor & Maidenhead.
I have managed to find abit more info on this. I didn't realise however there is a seperate test to the main test.

The distances are shrinking every year so do make sure you have a chance should your child qualify.

There's more about the test here: https://www.buckscc.gov.uk/services/edu ... ting-2019/

Guest 55 from what I have seen the last intake was around 7.9 or there abouts.

Is this what your referring too? We are in maidenhead and and 6 miles ish. So from recent data - if we are talking about the same thing we will get in??

When you say a separate test do you mean the "mock" practice test?
We are in Maidenhead and I am not sure which school your looking at but the one we like we are according to data just in reach of getting in. Ie people who lived further away than us have got it.

SWBGS I think has a far stricter tighter catchment, ie no one under say 3.5 miles has got in for years..

unless there is other data people are referring too? Trying to figure all this out is not my natural comfort zone...its a struggle. I think I have grasped what we are doing then Head 55 writes something like that and I panic!

sorry one more thing, dont get confused between bucks and berks they are seperate!

we are registering for both seperatly

So we are very close to Pinkneys in Maidenhead, and seems High Wycombe and Marlow are closer. The SWBGS in Marlow, we are in its catchment. The Royal Grammer School in High Wycombe, from last yrs statistics a few did get in, and we are on the outside the catchment area but on edge!

I have just started looking into the ones that we can fall into the catchment area off. So any suggestions would be helpful!

Guest55 is right to urge caution. Take a look at the allocations data for the last few years and the general trends across Bucks schools. Although there are naturally some ups and downs in the data, the general trend is that the allocation distances are reducing over time. This is a consequence of increased local competition as housing and population become denser in and around Bucks and what seems to be an increase in tuition and coaching among the more local population, whether paid-for or done at home.

No one can say what the allocation distances will be but it's likely that the general trend seen in recent years will continue, so going by last year's data carries risk. Take a look at the allocations day thread to see lots of cases where parents express surprise and disappointment that despite qualifying, their child hasn't been given a place because they live too far away but in previous years would have secured a place.

Being 'in catchment' won't be enough. SWBGS allocated to 3.385 miles this year so far. Depending on your exact location you might just have squeaked in this year or last year. Certainly not a banker.
For High Wycombe, again, you might get a place but that is a horrendous journey to do every day.