Harrogate... or Skipton
Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 2:08 pm
I seem to have a remarkably similar story to one of the old posts on here... a tale of moving to Harrogate, while negotiating the murky dealings of transfer into secondary school. The similar thread is over here.
However, we're coming from Surrey, with no local selection options - so no thought has been given to 11+ either by schools or parents. No practice, no tutoring, and no concrete idea whether she would pass either.
In fact, the existence of Skipton Girls & Ripon Grammar had passed me by - in the lists I was looking at, they were "hidden" amongst all the independents - so I didn't really realise they were options for us. We have been firmly aiming at being in-area for Harrogate Grammar instead (but only actually getting there in 2-3 months time).
Having found Nitram's post above, I'm now wondering whether we should consider one of the two selective schools. As far as I can make out, DD is probably just about there in academic terms - better at maths than literacy. But VR and NVR? No idea!
And would we like either area? I'm not sure - we've visited Harrogate, so know what to expect there (including, gulp, the prices), but the other two are foreign to us. As a young child, I used to live in Ilkley (my parents ran a newagents there), but I can barely recall anything!
Because we're moving into the area, the dates are manageable: NYCC say they will accept such a change (it is considered a "sufficiently good reason") until the end of January, although Surrey are a bit stick-in-the-mud, and won't accept a change of address after mid-December, even if NY will accept responsibility later than this!
However, we do have to fill in the CAF this week, and would then have to organise a late selection test afterwards (I guess).
Does anyone have any advice to offer? Or any ideas of the chances of taking the selection tests with no preparation?
However, we're coming from Surrey, with no local selection options - so no thought has been given to 11+ either by schools or parents. No practice, no tutoring, and no concrete idea whether she would pass either.
In fact, the existence of Skipton Girls & Ripon Grammar had passed me by - in the lists I was looking at, they were "hidden" amongst all the independents - so I didn't really realise they were options for us. We have been firmly aiming at being in-area for Harrogate Grammar instead (but only actually getting there in 2-3 months time).
Having found Nitram's post above, I'm now wondering whether we should consider one of the two selective schools. As far as I can make out, DD is probably just about there in academic terms - better at maths than literacy. But VR and NVR? No idea!
And would we like either area? I'm not sure - we've visited Harrogate, so know what to expect there (including, gulp, the prices), but the other two are foreign to us. As a young child, I used to live in Ilkley (my parents ran a newagents there), but I can barely recall anything!
Because we're moving into the area, the dates are manageable: NYCC say they will accept such a change (it is considered a "sufficiently good reason") until the end of January, although Surrey are a bit stick-in-the-mud, and won't accept a change of address after mid-December, even if NY will accept responsibility later than this!
However, we do have to fill in the CAF this week, and would then have to organise a late selection test afterwards (I guess).
Does anyone have any advice to offer? Or any ideas of the chances of taking the selection tests with no preparation?