Anyone help?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 11:22 am

Anonymous wrote: I hear of appeals against parents' own mistakes (we didn't understand the form and put Boswells ahead of KEGS) which are ludicrous as well as pointless.

Talking of which, I was told by a friend of ours that a significant number of appeals are from parents whos grounds for appeal are that they were unaware until after the 11+ that most other children were tutored. Needless to say, the hearings are short in these cases.

Shrimpergarry · Post by **Shrimpergarry** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 4:24 pm

remlap wrote:Shrimper Gary,

I know you are an old Southend Boy and that's where you hope your son goes to is that right?

we hope our son gets to SBHS too, so thought you may be interested to know only 124 boys sat the exam at Westcliff this year (Southend was circa 380!)

This makes it harder for our boys as more competition and easier for those choosing Westcliff.

Word on the street is that it is as a direct influence of The Head's "interpersonal skills" i.e. lack of them and the way he makes parents feel he's doing them a favour by hvaing their son in his school.

We did think about playing that lottery re preferences but at the end of the day we really wanted Southend.

However, we did put Westcliff second so it will be interesting to see what happens if loads of kids choosing Southend first do well, but not enough places at Southend left...never heard of anyone getting thier second preference Grammar have you?

How interesting! My mate who teaches at SHSB said they had the most sitting it they've ever had this year. We too were more impressed by the head at SHSB than WHSB, the deputy at KEGS was also hugely impressive and he will be taking over from Michael Frampton at SHSB from next year which bodes well for the future.

Although I was biased as an SHSB old boy, there were some practical reasons why WHSB made more sense to us. In the end we liked both schools and so gave our son the final choice and he said SHSB. However we ended up putting WHSB 3rd so we've got that option covered too. Although not many actually sat at Westcliiff, this is probably more indicative of the number of local boys choosing it rather than overall applicants, a number of whom would have put WHSB or SHSB as a 2nd choice after KEGS and also a number of in catchment boys who put SHSB 1st and WHSB 2nd and therefore sat the test at SHSB.

Probably means that there will be a lot of out of catchment boys in WHSB next year, and perhaps just the minimum number at SHSB.

remlap · Post by **remlap** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 6:08 pm

"I'm sure many put KEGS first and Westcliff second and get into Westcliff. Not sure it happens with Southend/Westcliff. " (posted by Guest)

According to Mr Baker at Westcliff you wouldn't get in......He stated at the open evening that you HAVE to put Westcliff first or your son won't get in.

This made me very suspicious of the wording in the school info/preference pack which says Westcliff (and Southend Grammars) DO NOT get to see your preferences...I phoned the Consortium and Southend LEA and they confirmed that they don't ...the only ones that do are Thomas More and St Bernards. (But I'm still not totally convinced but maybe I have "trust issues"!!)

I'm not sure about KEGS, whether this has any bearing on order of preferences or not, but in our case, if only 124 took it at Westcliff, (i.e. put it as first choice) and by law of averages not all 124 score over 55%, then they should look to those who chose Southend, scored over 55% but did not get into Southend due to more peopel than number of places available...as I mentioned it will be interesting.

Just wish we were like Bucks..they got their results a week before ours took the 11+. The results say whether they have passed and they now just have to wait to get an offer letter in March, like us.....but at least as parents, they don't have this limbo thing that we have. Why can't Southend get their admin act sorted out?

Also heard a rumour the exam date is changing in Kent next year...putting it back to Jan...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 9:28 am

According to Mr Baker at Westcliff you wouldn't get in......He stated at the open evening that you HAVE to put Westcliff first or your son won't get in.

I'm sure I can't think of a reason why he would say that... I think the important thing to remember is not to put any grammar school second to a comp (even if you come top in the 11+ you will go to the comp), or a 1st rank grammar (KEGS, CRGS) second to a 2nd rank (WHSB, SHSB) grammar.

The schools never find out how parents rank them. If KEGS takes all those who score 100-200 and WHSB takes those who score 75-175, all those who had KEGS first and WHSB second who scored 75-99 will get in. They will just be told the score, not the rank. If KEGS is not your first choice, then you will get into another school. It's cruel, it's dog eat dog, but that's how it is.

Bucks is a very different place. Whoever gets a certain score passes the 11+ (interestingly neither of my cousins, both of whom have post-graduate degrees) and then they find places for them later.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 11:12 am

The Consortium assurred us that the Grammars can no longer find out what your preferences are. If you put KEGS first then Westcliff and don't get into KEGS, Westcliff gets moved up your prefences list and becomes your first choice. The only grey area is the Catholic schools. In theory the changes in the law a couple of years ago mean that no school can find out the order of your prefences but rumors persist that schools like St John Payne in Chelmsford do have access to that information. This maybe be a myth that is perpetuated by the Catholic schools to scare you into putting them first but even when pushed, the secretary of the Consortium could not absolutely guarantee that the Catholic schools could not find out. If you are in a position of having to chose between a Grammar and a Catholic School, I would advise that you contact both the consortium and the LEA (Essex or Southend) for advice.