How many children per class get to selective schools?

Eleven Plus (11+) in South West Hertfordshire

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

Post Reply
northlondongirl
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2011 10:04 am

How many children per class get to selective schools?

Post by northlondongirl »

Hello
I am new to this board and a bit worried about the whole 11+ thing. I had thought that my daughter (YR5) probably stood a good chance of getting into a selective school (always in top groups etc) but maybe not!

I would be interested to know, on average, how many children in a class of 30 (so from a regular state school) are getting into the Barnet selective schools. That is possibly like asking how long a piece of string is of course!

From your experience, is it usually just one or two children per class now - or, as it was in my day, more like 6 or 7. Although (as I am so old) my experience was at a time when there were more grammar schools of course!

thanks
northlondongirl
whl2004
Posts: 26
Joined: Thu Nov 18, 2010 1:21 pm

Re: How many children per class get to selective schools?

Post by whl2004 »

I suppose we can only provide actual figures from our own experience and averages anecdotally but of course every year, in theory, would be different.

Whilst not in Barnet I can divulge the following;

Well performing primary in Enfield (about 8/40 in league table when all schools had Sats a couple of years ago)

Intake 2 forms of 30 per class

Only selective grammar in Enfield is Latymer but some also apply to Dame Alice Owen
(DAO).

On average about 4 children per year gain entry to either of these from said primary school.

Last year about 10 children applied for Latymer. 3 children from one class got in (all boys) and none from the other class (although a very capable girl did not sit the exams and has gone private). Of the boys who got in, one boy also got into DAO and the other QE Boys but both refused for Latymer.

At the year 7 parents evening a few weeks ago the Latymer head said that of the 180 new pupils, more than 90 schools were represented (so on average actually less than 2 per school).

The only wildly conflicting figure concerns a primary school in Muswell Hill, apparently 11 children got into Latymer 2 years ago. That's the most from one school in one year that I've ever heard of.

You can get further info on some primary school websites where secondary school destinations can be found (albeit with a lot of digging around).

Hope this helps give a general picture.
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: How many children per class get to selective schools?

Post by Daogroupie »

I dont think you can approach it like that because it has very little to do with the school and everything to do with the parents. You need to compare your dd with the others that are going to sit. Being top of the class will give you some idea that your dd is bright but to see if she can win selective places against children from all over two boroughs and a county as with DAO, against children from a large part of Enfield in the case of Lattymer and whoever decides to sit in the case of HBS, is another case entirely. Doing mock exams against children who are also planning to sit selective exams is in my opinion the best way to go and also to start doing papers in the time period and checking marks against your cohort. On this forum there is a very high rate of success for the Barnet, Enfield and Hertfordshire selective schools because these are the parents who have prepared. If you do a search on posts on March 1st and 2nd you will see this to be the case. Another huge issue will be is your dd prepared to leave all her friends and start anew while her cohort goes to the local school. There were many parents I knew who had every intention of applying for selective schools but in the end let their dc's go to the local comp with their friends because they let them make the decision. The first battle is getting her to want to do it, then you can concentrate on the details of how you are going to get there. DG
SteveDH
Posts: 464
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:30 pm
Location: Harrow

Re: How many children per class get to selective schools?

Post by SteveDH »

A said it all depends.
its probably more useful to compare the number of pupils that apply for a school to the number that get in.
I'm from Harrow, so not many pupils in each class even apply for selective schools.
in the end all anyone can do is their best..
have fun
Steve
Thingsbehindthesun
Posts: 463
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2011 11:25 pm

Re: How many children per class get to selective schools?

Post by Thingsbehindthesun »

With this you would also have to consider the type of school your child attends.There have been only two boys (that I know of) from my daughters school that have managed to secure places at QE but no girls to the selectives .Around a good quater apply for the local independents and the rest head off to other schools like as Bently woods.
;D
lemondrop
Posts: 954
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:23 pm
Location: North London

Re: How many children per class get to selective schools?

Post by lemondrop »

This is a hugely variable thing. My DCs primary school seems to consist mostly of parents who are just happy to send their child to the local comp. It's just a regular local state primary with 2 forms (60) per year. We had an unusual year a while back (current year 10) where loads of children from the school sat for Latymer, and 6 got in. That's never happened before or since. Usually it's 4-5 who sit selective exams and 1-2 who get in. This year 1 girl went to Latymer and the previous year 1 boy went to DAO. This year there's only my DD and a boy in her class who have been seriously preparing for selective exams, there are 3 other children I know of who are going to sit for Latymer just to see how they do, with minimal last minute prep. No-one from our school ever seems to go the Indie route.
zorro
Posts: 2076
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 10:27 am
Location: Barnet, Herts

Re: How many children per class get to selective schools?

Post by zorro »

In my son's class of 30- 1 girl got in at HBS, one to DAO and my son went to an independent school.
The rest all went to East Barnet or QE Girls with the exception of one boy who went to Ashmole(he lived very near the school)
northlondongirl
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2011 10:04 am

Re: How many children per class get to selective schools?

Post by northlondongirl »

Thanks for all of these replies. They make very interesting, if rather disheartening, reading. Will continue to worry, encourage and hope!
hopeful5
Posts: 120
Joined: Sat May 23, 2009 10:33 pm

Re: How many children per class get to selective schools?

Post by hopeful5 »

In my dcs school 5 got in to Latymer and one of those also got a place at dao. There were probably about 10 that did the exam.
Dont get too disheartened thinking about numbers.
Once you get past the first stage you have a 50% chance of getting a place ( they offer down to position 250)

At Latymer, they really strongly care about the well being of the child and really want to discourage excessive tutoring.
herty
Posts: 332
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:23 pm

Re: How many children per class get to selective schools?

Post by herty »

At my dd's school, 4 applied and 2 got in, to put into perspective the fact that only 2 got in out of 30 - most don't apply.

That ratio - of approx 2 out of 30 - seems to be about average. Obviously it doesn't prove none of the other 26 could get in if they'd tried - the initial 4 were a self-selected group (albeit all from the top groups).

I'd expect a child not in the top groups would be a bit of an outsider, but not impossible per se.
Post Reply
11 Plus Platform - Online Practice Makes Perfect - Try Now