upward shift in top consortium scores

[noonynunu]

In some areas of Hertfordshire, such as Aldenham Parish, I think as few as 75% were given one of their ranked schools, and at my son's school 18% were given a non ranked school. Also, you cannot always rely on the (cross) sibling rule as 5 boys were not offered a place at Watford. So people should always use all four choices rather than relying on sibling/distance/high marks in the consortium, but be aware that their choices might be ignored!

Fluffy, Does that include sibling places? (love the username btw)

[handbag50]

I think it would be madness not to put four choices down...
We had a sibling place at a faith feeder school and I still put four choices on the form.

As we have seen with the huge jump in scores needed to gain entry to schools, you just can`t read the system!

[HenryVIII]

Yes but these need to be meaningful choices in terms of getting a place. DS2 scored enough for a Band B place at Bushey Meads and we are fortunate enough to live close enough and for him to have a sibling there already - his only other choice was Bushey Academy. He'll be L5 in English, maths & science at the end of the year. Once upon a time this would have meant that he'd have been in the top 25% of the cohort, but not anymore. In fact the L6 children in his school are already pulling ahead having been offered extension 'master' classes at a local secondary school. Is this the case for other high achieving pupils elsewhere in the consortium which could explain why the top 25% are pulling ahead?

Luckily our DCs only need the one school but it does feel that more choice has turned into less opportunity overall.

[noonynunu]

In fact the L6 children in his school are already pulling ahead having been offered extension 'master' classes at a local secondary school. Is this the case for other high achieving pupils elsewhere in the consortium which could explain why the top 25% are pulling ahead?

I've not heard anyone mention this, mind you I only know of 2 L6. How is this fair? Some schools don't event test at L6.

Congrats btw. I know a child who started there two years ago and they are loving it. The mum has commented on how much more confident her DC is and how their grades have gone up considerably.

[fluffybudgie]

I am glad that my user name is liked!

I refer to a cross sibling place being one of the choices which was ignored (too many siblings/cross siblings. Let's hope some of the 94 do not want their place). Also, in response to a later comment, my DS's school now does level 6 maths. 6 of the 7 children who are doing level 6 did not score highly enough in the consortium tests to get into Parmiters or the Watford Schools. Must be verbal reasoning which let them down?? I wonder if we can find out. And as another aside, the increase in marks this year was mainly due to a rise in the verbal reasoning paper scores, from an average of 100.5 to 104.5 (approximately). Maths also increased but not by much.

[Daogroupie]

The fact they are doing Level 6 Maths and they did not get a good score could well be linked. Every mark you lose in the Maths drops you four marks as opposed to one in the VR. Very confident students rush the very easy maths paper and blow their chances. There was a post last year from a mum about how her very average dd had worked her way slowly and steadily through the Watford Maths paper and had got a place over all the top table students in her class. Top table syndrome is something to be very wary of. Some students have been told for too long and too often how "clever" they are so they take the wrong approach to entrance exam papers and end up doing badly. See the thread about Milll Hill last year. Many of those who did not get through to the second round went on to get places at QE and HBS as they learnt a priceless lesson in an exam that was not the school they wanted to go to. All students should do an exam for a school they don't want to first to make all the mistakes there. That is why the Sutton Mocks serve their customers so well. I know of a student who mismatched answers to multiple choices boxes and got a terrible score on the first paper but managed to triple it a few weeks later. He will never make that mistake again. DG

[Mgnmum]

my dd school did not do level 6 extension lessons until after the consortium exams and even then not all who did them were allowed to sit the level 6 papers. Having just been to yr7 parents evening at WGSG had interesting discussion with maths teachers re levels with them saying that loads of girls came with level 6 at key stage 2 but this was very different from L6 at KS3 due the amount of curriculum involved. Some girls were very disappointed when their levels went down. ( fortunately my dd has remained ad L6) but it is a reminder that it KS2 levels really mean nothing once you get to secondary school.