Currently, my DD would choose to put Denmark Road first on the CAF form, followed by Pate's. However, am I right in thinking that if she doesn't get in to Denmark Road she would be highly unlikely to get into Pate's and therefore putting Pate's below Denmark Road would be pointless and a waste of a CAF form choice?

Put the schools in your genuine order of preference. If you don’t get your first choice your second choice automatically becomes your first choice etc.

Exactly this..
but in answer to your question, it’s possible to get a higher Pates ranking than HSFG. Perhaps not the most regular occurrence but certainly can happen, especially if the tests are weighted differently and have quite differing cohorts.

If Pates normally attracts the most out of area applicants(?), it's possible, of course, that that is one thing that will change this year, due to potential issues with travel?

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I've been thinking about this too. I have come to the conclusion that the ratings for the grammars that we 'know' to be true may be turned on their heads this year as people won't know ratings until after the CAF date.

I think the only thing we can do is genuinely go with preferences and hope for the best!

Thankfully the days of grammar school jeopardy are long gone

Some areas are allowing CAF changes after the 11+ results - do we think Glos will do this?

This is our first time and the thought of submitting with out knowing scores is worrying me and trying to balance making sure we have good comp choices With glos grammars (good local comp but oversubscribed, next is not so good...)

We had this situation last year. DS was ranked 255 for STRS (good chance of getting a place) and 230 for Pates (no chance). His first preference was for STRS so we put that first. We still put Pates in second place just in case STRS suddenly became super popular.

We are now applying for DD - it's a bit different as there are more options than spaces. If your DD would consider all the other grammars you would be wiser to put those down and a comp. However, if you have spaces to use up, then you may as well put Pates down.

Has anyone heard about autumn open days? This will influence the order of schools as we've only actually been to one yet.

I've seen a couple of dates but a teacher i know (in another county) thinks theirs will be cancelled and virtual.

Crypt have planned open days on Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th October (9.30am & 11.30am), but I guess it will be a case of 'wait and see' if they go ahead. Virtual ones will probably be the only option.