11 Plus Exams Forum

Some clarification please.. I was at latymer open evening and must say I was more impressed than I thought i'd be. I live in Ashmole catchment but would like my DC to have a go at DAO and Latymer. However, if Ashmole becomes 3rd on my preference list, will I not get in if my DC fails the exams compared to those who have Ashmole first preference (and there will be loads of those)?

The order you put schools on on the CAF must be your genuine order of preference. Only you and your LA know what order you put schools in - each school just gets told that you want a place there and assesses the request in the light of their admission criteria.

e.g You rank schools A, B, C on the form but in fact you really most want a place at B. Child meets criteria for A and B and the schools inform the LA. LA allocates a place at school A, because you put them first on your CAF. This is all they have to go on; as others have commented, the LA is not psychic (and a school no longer gets the opportunity to discriminate against your child because it is not your first choice ).

No worries on that one, it will not affect in any way your chances of getting into Ashmole if you choose to place it third and your dc does not make it into your first two exam entry choices.

My understanding (having been through this twice now and on my third dc and after lots of chats about this with heads and LA) is:
eg If you are aiming to get into Ashmole on distance, and there is someone who lives a bit further than you who also is aiming to get in on distance and ranked it first, they cannot get a place before you if placed it third but did not get through exams in first two choice schools.

Don't forget DAO exams have taken place already for this year 6. (Unless your child is yr 5 and you are looking for next year?) You are still in time for Latymer though!

Thank you both for the clariication. My mind is now at rest. Worrying though that some parents have got wrong end of stick. so we'll soldier on and get Latymer tests done. DAO done last week so nearly there.

Every year I discover a family who put the local comp first and DAO second because they think they need a backup. But sadly all that happens is that they lose their DAO plae if they score highly enough in the tests. We know a ds who only dropped three marks over the three tests at DAO but lost his place because his parents listened to the Head of the local comp who said you have to put us first if you want to come here. So we are very glad that you checked and are not going to lose out. The schools have no idea about your ranks, only that you put the school on the CAF. That is why DAO have to go down some many rankings past 65 to get their 65 as with London having six choices many of those in the top 65 want to go to HBS, QE or Lattymer and are only using DAO as a backup. DG

"You have to put your local comp first to be sure of a place if you fail to secure a selective place" is the misconception that will not die. The concept of thruthiness explains why it is so hard to argue some people out of it.