Information afternoons

[Bejois]

Hi,I attended the westcliff open day yesterday and will be going to Southend today. My understanding of the information provided was that all ic children scoring over 303 were guaranteed a place at either westcliff or Southend. Unfortunately the situation for ooc is no clearer, the headmaster confirmed that more boys had passed this year than last year but had no accurate figures. I'm assuming this means that there will be less ooc places available and this will presumably mean the minimum score required will go up? This is obviously assuming that the large majority of those that have passed in catchment take up their offers... He did say that westcliff last year only took 65 ic boys from the 115 places available...

[Yori1]

Thank you Bejois,

Hopefully Dr Bevan might be able to shed more light to this today.......

I am particularly looking for more info about oc children.

[stressedalready1]

Returned from the SHSB afternoon and it appears that the number of ic passes has gone up from 170 last year to 206 this year. Although all ic children are guaranteed a place at a Southend grammer school, it may not be at your first preference. SHSB take 125 ic and Westcliff take 115. Last year I think SHSB filled all bar 2places I was told. I wonder how the split will take shape this year??

It's going to be a long wait till March!

[Jim's Dad]

Returned from the SHSB afternoon and it appears that the number of ic passes has gone up from 170 last year to 206 this year. Although all ic children are guaranteed a place at a Southend grammer school, it may not be at your first preference. SHSB take 125 ic and Westcliff take 115. Last year I think SHSB filled all bar 2places I was told. I wonder how the split will take shape this year??

It's going to be a long wait till March!

Yes, just back ourselves and delighted that DS will definitely be going to grammar school - definitely is so much better than probably ! Dr Bevan suggested a 2:1 ratio choose SHSB but there will also be some who choose to go to maybe KEGS as oc so on that basis there is a good chance of getting to SHSB as long as it's your first choice.

Fab ! Both SHSB & WHSB information afternoons were very good and the pupils did their schools proud.
I only went to SHSB and was very impressed with Year 8 kids Matt & Harry who showed us round as well as Dr Bevan himself.

DS seems to be hoping for SHSB whilst DW is sabotaging it by preferring WHSB !

I think he is safe in either hands and we shall just see how it ends up come March. Happy

[stressedalready1]

Was very impressed too Jim's Dad! The boys that showed us round were extremely helpful, polite and gave you a 'true' picture of what it is like to go to school there.

My DS also prefers SHSB but with a borderline score, an increased pass rate for ic and the ratio of 2:1 over Westcliff I so hope it's enough for him!! Would be interested to hear from other parents ic where their first choice would be. I know this would only be a snapshot, just curious!

[pinkrabbit38]

Really loved SHSB today so will definitely be applying as OoC (332.9)
The year 8 who showed us round was very polite and helpful. He said that they'd been told to tell the truth about the school.

[ToadMum]

We went to both WHSB and SHSB with DS2 - very familiar with the latter already as DS1 was there until he decided to defect to Southchurch Boulevard for sixth form, but having seen WHSB at the summer open evening, DS2 wanted to have another look. SHSB is our first choice.

At least by this afternoon's Q&As, everyone seemed to have got the equal preference system sorted out in their minds

[Bejois]

I was also impressed today and Shsb remains our 1st choice. I agree with all the figures that have already been posted but I am slightly surprised that according to dr bevan the ooc mark reqd would be very similar to last year,I'm wondering how this can be the case given 20% more ic boys have passed? At a rough guess this would reduce the number of ooc places available by 13 at whsb and 20 at Shsb if the same ratio applies as last year. Given my ds scored 327.3 it could be a stressful march 3rd!

[Hopefuldad]

i attended both WHSB and SHSB and was really impressed by both schools. The staff, organisation, facilities and pupils was just a joy. The pupils mannerism, knowledge, attitude and outlook was very impressive.

"Jims Dad" and all the i/c DS's congratulations to you all.

I was also impressed today and Shsb remains our 1st choice. I agree with all the figures that have already been posted but I am slightly surprised that according to dr bevan the ooc mark reqd would be very similar to last year,I'm wondering how this can be the case given 20% more ic boys have passed? At a rough guess this would reduce the number of ooc places available by 13 at whsb and 20 at Shsb if the same ratio applies as last year. Given my ds scored 327.3 it could be a stressful march 3rd!

I personally thought the o/c score should jump, but, from what I have read, in borderline cases, somtimes 1 mark on the standardised score can possibly account for 6-8 places, and if thats the case then 20 places could be captured by a 2 point difference.

maybe someone can confirm this theory

[Yori1]

Thanks everyone for the information provided, it really has helped to clear up a few fuzzy thoughts!!

Yep, 1st choice still SHSB!!