Transportation to St Clament Dane School, Chorleywood

[tiffinboys]

My understanding of Bucks system is as follows (stand to be corrected).

All year 6 children in Bucks sit for 11plus test, unless opted out. In addition, any non-Bucks child could also enter for the Bucks test.

Bucks grammars have catchment for admissions allocations.

Any child scoring 121 or above is eligible to apply.

In some of the catchments, there are not enough children with 121 or higher score; so some places go to OOC on proximity to school basis.

Parents in Bucks feel that due to 11plus tourism, the children in the catchment get pushed down the 121 cut-off and worse, the OOC children who score 121 or high have no intention of having any preference for the Bucks school or live so far away that they have no realistic chance of getting place on distance basis.

[thisisnuts]

It has been said before, but it is worth saying again. The grammar schools (particularly the "superselectives" with no catchment area) get excellent results for the simple reason that they choose the very brightest of children.

Agree

Those children who are bright enough to gain access to the schools would probably get 11 As & A*s at GCSE wherever they went to school (or horror upon horrors, maybe 10 instead?)

If only we could be certain of that. Parents' fear is that a bright child will underperform due to (a) peer pressure (especially boys) and (b) teaching focus on getting as many children as possible up to minimum government targets (as they should) at the expense of pushing the brightest to go the extra mile.

In a utopian world, every school would help every child to maximise their potential. But in the real world, parents take the view that a bright child will perform better when surrounded by similarly bright, motivated children. Is that view completely unjustified?

I am actually interested in what some of the comprehensive with excellent results do differently.

The entire education community should be interested in this, but one gets the impression that this isn't necessarily the case.

Education isn't unique in this respect. Hospitals trusts up and down the country are often resistant to the implemention of best practices developed by others!

[thisisnuts]

Any child scoring 121 or above is eligible to apply.

In some of the catchments, there are not enough children with 121 or higher score; so some places go to OOC on proximity to school basis.

Could this be overcome by reducing the eligibility cut-off by a few marks, thus having more eligible children within the catchment?

[tiffinboys]

Possibly, but then they may end up with huge numbers being eligible but not enough grammar school places.

[vasu]

There is a coach that starts from Cheeky Chums in Eastcote, travels through Ruislip to the school. Call the school and they will guide you better. Alternatively, your child can travel from Pinner station.