Chelmsford to Westcliff
Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators
Hello DW
We also thought what a shame it is that Chelmsford doesn't have a catchment area like the Southend schools do. We would love our daughter to get into Chelmsford and although Westcliff seemed good (and better than any of our other options) I think I will still worry about the travelling. I appreciate what others have said about this becoming less of an issue as they get older but we still have to get through the first few years. We asked ourselves if she would get a better education at Westcliff than at one of our local comps and decided that she probably would (or at least an education tailored more to her needs) so we would rather compromise on the journey than her education. I feel that she is bright enough to fit in in a grammar school and would thrive but like you I worry that she can make silly mistakes too. It is all so stressful. There has to be a better way!
We also thought what a shame it is that Chelmsford doesn't have a catchment area like the Southend schools do. We would love our daughter to get into Chelmsford and although Westcliff seemed good (and better than any of our other options) I think I will still worry about the travelling. I appreciate what others have said about this becoming less of an issue as they get older but we still have to get through the first few years. We asked ourselves if she would get a better education at Westcliff than at one of our local comps and decided that she probably would (or at least an education tailored more to her needs) so we would rather compromise on the journey than her education. I feel that she is bright enough to fit in in a grammar school and would thrive but like you I worry that she can make silly mistakes too. It is all so stressful. There has to be a better way!
From reading the above posts it seems clear we are all having the same worries. In a way it's reassuring - my daughter too makes silly mistakes due to misreading the question. I will be glad when the whole process is over. It's so difficult knowing there's so much competition for a small proportion of places. I am sure my daughter will thrive at grammar school but I don't want to overly push her to get her in! It's difficult finding the right balance especially when I keep hearing horror stories of children working 10 hours + a week. I can't help but worry about becoming a bittter twisted old lady if she doesn't make it but one of her heavilly tutored (not so naturally bright) school friends does! I don't want to be like that! 
-
DW
I worry about that too. I know the Head at Chelmsford said in her speech last week that she strongly advises against heavy tutoring as although they may get in they would not necessarily thrive. The problem as I see it though is that this sort of excessive tutoring is happening, even amongst privately educated children and that the heavily tutored child may well then take a place from another brighter, but less tutored child even though it is the second child that is better suited to the academic environment in the long term. Having been to an extremely academic school myself I am fairly confident that my eldest daughter would cope fine (my second one's a completely different story!) but I don't want to push her so much at this stage that I turn her off learning for life. She is just as capable of "failing" on purpose as she is of passing! So what to do? I have thought a lot about this and have taken a conscious decision not to overface her. She does have tutoring for one hour a week because she is at a local primary school where they do not cover verbal reasoning and she does 1 or 2 papers a week for homework as well. Beyond that I try to extend her vocabulary by a least one new word a day. I just hope that on the day her natural ability shines through and if that doesn't happen and she ends up at the local comprehensive I hope that I can accept this and move on to help her make the most of her education and opportunities there.
-
Guest
Good luck to everyone and fingers crossed for those girls trying for Chelmsford. My daughter is now in year 8 there and loves it. She showed parents around last week and said it was really busy. I found it quite daunting when we were looking around that so many people came from afar - there was one couple of Lancashire who were will to move if their daughter got in! I can thoroughly recommend the school to you and I am sure your daughter will be happy there. Good luck on 11+.DW wrote:My daughter and I went to both Chelmsford and Westcliff as well last week. We were both really impressed with Chelmsford and how much effort they had gone to show the school off when. let's face it, they don't really have to. It would definitely be her first choice. I really liked Westcliff as well and certainly wouldn't be disappointed if she ended up there.
Talking to some of the other parents at Chelmsford, it was clear that people had come from all over to visit. One family I spoke to were from South London. I wonder why Chelmsford don't operate the same policy as the Southend schools and allocate at least 50% of the places within the borough council? It seems a fair way of doing things.
We're off to Southend tomorrow as well and then finally Sandon on Thursday as that is our local comprehensive.
I too am finding this whole time quite stressful and I know sometimes I let that show to my daughter even though I try not to. She is definitely bright and capable but she tends to make silly mistakes on papers through skim reading questions. It's often the easy ones that she gets wrong and then the more difficult ones, which she has to concentrate on, that she gets right!
