11 Plus Exams Forum

Stroudydad is completely correct; DCs can say who they want to be with or not when Mrs U visits every single primary school they are coming from. But whilst the house/tutor group stays the same, the actual teaching group can change again from Y8 onwards.

DD is in Y9. In Y8, each original tutor group from Y7 was halved and each half put with a different half for all lessons. In Y9, this all changed again and the teaching groups were all mixed up. My understanding is that SHS do this, depending on the nature of the cohort and how it's going. So DD is in 9X (for instance) as her form group and 9Y for her teaching group - confusing for sending in forms as I never know which letter to put.

yellowdawg wrote:Stroudydad is completely correct; DCs can say who they want to be with or not when Mrs U visits every single primary school they are coming from. But whilst the house/tutor group stays the same, the actual teaching group can change again from Y8 onwards.

DD is in Y9. In Y8, each original tutor group from Y7 was halved and each half put with a different half for all lessons. In Y9, this all changed again and the teaching groups were all mixed up. My understanding is that SHS do this, depending on the nature of the cohort and how it's going. So DD is in 9X (for instance) as her form group and 9Y for her teaching group - confusing for sending in forms as I never know which letter to put.

Hsfg do something similar. It’s confusing but healthy for the girls as they get to know more people in their year. But if you’re really worried, don’t leave it to your DD to have to say at the teacher visit, contact the school yourself. It might cause more issues if she has to speak up in front of the girls she’s had issues with (unless they ask each dd on their own).

Our confirmation letter from STR asked us to contact them about who we'd like our son to share a form with / and who we'd like him not to be put with! I would definitely contact SHS and express your wishes rather than leaving it to your daughter to say during the visit as she might find this difficult.

I'm not from your area OP but the one thing I wish I'd done before my younger child started the school was say that he should not be in a tutor group with his primary school peers. We were asked, he was very keen to stay with them and I luke-warmly advised him against it but I should have been the parent and said "no".
It's totally fine now but I think it really detracted from his settling in (my older child had no one in her firm so had to find new friends straight away).

Our school deliberately splits up children from the same primary and I completely agree with it! It puts all children in the same boat of not knowing anyone and avoids any issues moving up. Both my boys have made completely new sets of friends and, whilst they will acknowledge the boys from their primary school when they see them in school (there aren't many), have very, very little in common with them now and have blossomed in their own right.

Mr McShane came to visit DD (so not always Mrs Utting!) and spoke to the girls as a group and then individually to ask them about worries and form preferences.

FluffyCat wrote:Mr McShane came to visit DD (so not always Mrs Utting!) and spoke to the girls as a group and then individually to ask them about worries and form preferences.

Imagine Mr McShane arriving.. lovely man that he is I always picture him more as a Nightclub bouncer than a head..

Stroudydad I know what you mean.

btw Stroudydad, Marling is entirely alphabetical.
So assuming your boys have the same surname, it is likely, but not certain, that they will be in the same house

steppemum wrote:btw Stroudydad, Marling is entirely alphabetical.
So assuming your boys have the same surname, it is likely, but not certain, that they will be in the same house

We obviously know that Steppemum, but as DS1 was in carter and our surname is quite close to the front of the alphabet, with the introduction of Bennett in the meantime he is likely to now be in that..