School choices

[sherry_d]

That is so fun Yoyo but seriously I am laughing now but I could be the most drepressed mother on 1 March. There is a very real possibility it could be the one!

In reality we dont really have choices as KCC leads us to believe. There is a bit more choice if they pass 11+ but without it as someone said to me you need to be married to the Archibishop to get into a decent school.

[yoyo123]

It must be an awful position to be in sherry.

is there any other possible non-selective school?

i don;t know much about schools on Maidstone area ..in fact i don;t know much about maidstone full stop, have been there only twice since moving to the South East 25 years ago!

[doodles]

married to the Archibishop to get into a decent school.

How far from Tonbridge are you Sherry? Are there any options there at all or is it too far?

[Kent99]

Sherry

How far are you from Valley Park? It seems to be very much on the way up. I see that last year they had 94% of pupils with 5 A* - C passes. More able pupils also have the chance to do well; they have a good proportion of A*/A grades, their top performer got 13 A*s and an A and there were a number of other children with at least 9 A*s and a few As. Not bad for a secondary modern... Especially since I don't think it was performing very well a few years ago (although I'm open to correction on that) so maybe it will continue to get even better.

Maplesden Noakes also has a good reputation (as does Cornwallis) and, if you are Catholic, St Simon Stock gets some excellent results and Oxbridge places too.

In Tonbridge there is Hillview if you want a girls' school but the only way you would get a place from Maidstone is to compete for a performing arts place. I think, though, that the Maidstone options are better than your post suggests.

Wishing your daughter happiness and success wherever she goes.

[U400JB9]

sherry-d.......OK you win
You have my sympathy too, we were offered Chaucer Technology College for DD and its bad......so much so I, in a moment of madness , said I would home tutor rather than send her there...I have since regained my sanity.

Its why we appealed, we were appealing to a High School the other side of the city to us too.......I even considered playing` the father in law is a very good irish catholic` card too.

I know nothing about Maidstone schools either, but really wish you good luck

[U400JB9]

also , on the plus side, the 27% that are permanently absent are probably the 27% you don`t want her mixing with anyway

[tonbridgemum]

I get a bit frustrated with the opinion that Judd is so much better than the other options! I have had the 'honour' of one of my sons going there and although he was happy and did really well, there were still issues with staff and teaching that i would expect in any school. I also have a son at TWGSB and the teaching is no different (to a parents eye) and they expect just as much from the boys with workload etc.
Judd has high expectations but so does every school. The important thing is to find the right school (that may include if its easy to get to on the bus for 7 years ) and not just because the school says its the best.

[dadofkent]

Sherry

How far are you from Valley Park? It seems to be very much on the way up. I see that last year they had 94% of pupils with 5 A* - C passes. More able pupils also have the chance to do well; they have a good proportion of A*/A grades, their top performer got 13 A*s and an A and there were a number of other children with at least 9 A*s and a few As. Not bad for a secondary modern... Especially since I don't think it was performing very well a few years ago (although I'm open to correction on that) so maybe it will continue to get even better.

Maplesden Noakes also has a good reputation (as does Cornwallis) and, if you are Catholic, St Simon Stock gets some excellent results and Oxbridge places too.

In Tonbridge there is Hillview if you want a girls' school but the only way you would get a place from Maidstone is to compete for a performing arts place. I think, though, that the Maidstone options are better than your post suggests.

Wishing your daughter happiness and success wherever she goes.

Ken99 If I can butt in here. I am aware of the general area in which Sherry is located. I reside in the same non-selective black hole.

The problem is Valley Park, and to a lesser extent Cornwallis. These did tend to be the 2 non-selectives that served this side of town and adjacent villages. In fact until recently the Primarys in this area were feeder schools, and in the case of Cornwallis had priority in the over-sub criteria.

However, in the last 2 yrs Cornwallis has changed its criteria, and if you have a closer non-selective to you than Cornwallis, as Sherry, and myself, do (Valley), you drop to the bottom of their list. In the same period Valley has become a very good school, as you say, so that the catchment has shrunk to 1.0 miles.

Accordingly, children in this area cannot get into the non-selective schools that are intended to serve this area. In the case of Valley, the catchment that was probably largely responsible for it becoming an "outstanding school" does not now qualify (so expect to see Valley plummet back down the rankings in a few years). The knock on effect is that the other acceptable schools in the Maidstone area are progressively further away and out of catchment. Therefore, if you are non-selective you get either allocated the sink school on the South side of town, or a "coming out of notice to improve" school, about 10 miles outside Maidstone, despite there being 8 or more closer non-selectives.

Hence why there is a large number of children in this area that is now entered for both the Medway test and the Kent test, to cover the bases, as my DD was last year. The irony is that if they pass both tests, as my DD fortunately did, they have a choice of at least 4 good Girls GS's, and even more if catchments are favourable that year, or they get a TOG's score. But if they fail both tests by a point, they are right royally *******. Crazy system.

[sherry_d]

DadofKent is spot on because he knows where I am.

There is no chance whatsoever of getting into Valley being 1.4miles away, every parent their cat and dog want their DC to get in there and I am sure the catchment will shrink further.

I am trying for St Simon and I am not Catholic but practising Christian. At the open evening they said they had 58 appeals this year and had to take an extra class but she was very firm to tell me that is not going to ever happen again. I am still hopeful I may please them with my portfolio, so thats what I am spending my days doing now completing the supplementary form and adding any gold medals that we have

I know Maplesden too well as it is in my stomping ground, it wouldnt have been my first choice but beggars arent choosers however I am sure we wont get in. DD's school is in that vicinity and did terribly at 11+. 7 passed out of the 44 who did the test passed but of these 4 were through HT appeal Sadly that means we going to be fighting for places at Maplesden and I am about 5miles way.

The only decent school we have a remote chance of getting in is Cornwallis but in my area things havent been as straightforward in the past few years and there is a very real chance history could repeat itself as it did 2 years ago and we would get New Line Academy or Swadelands.

It feels like I am chasing rainbows, no decent comp in my vicinity, two 11+ test fails and I am clutching at straws that she passes the indie exams she did a few weeks ago but she will be faced with second round in Jan . I send off another form today to a non selective indie that has been sitting on my desk since March. I thought my baby was too smart for the school but huh tables have turned . We will just be crippled financially if we dont get any financial assistance.

While she passed the Maths and VR, she completely blew it in NVR. Think 90s so there is no point trying to do an appeal, its helped us to put a closure to the 11+ business. Bless my baby she tried her best and worked her gut out but it simply wasnt for her . I just have to use all my energies now to get her into a decent school but there arent really any choices. I only have 2 to put on my CAF that is St Simon and Cornwallis....the rest within my reach the KCC Admission Lords have to give me, not me choosing them.

[T12ACY]

I get a bit frustrated with the opinion that Judd is so much better than the other options! I have had the 'honour' of one of my sons going there and although he was happy and did really well, there were still issues with staff and teaching that i would expect in any school. I also have a son at TWGSB and the teaching is no different (to a parents eye) and they expect just as much from the boys with workload etc.
Judd has high expectations but so does every school. The important thing is to find the right school (that may include if its easy to get to on the bus for 7 years ) and not just because the school says its the best.

A refreshing read, but just to add that an A* is an A* no matter where you have earned it so if a DC has this capability isn't it also wise to consider the logistics of travel and benefit of social groups? I have experience of a friend whose DS went to Judd and she says the same. He was fine in school but the 'friends' he had were all located a good hours drive away, which isn't the same as getting together at the local cinema / leisure centre etc. Any social time had to be planned well in advance, and actually in the end she admits that there are actually very good schools more local that would have served him equally well.