11 Plus Exams Forum

Just curious to know how many people took the EGS test this year as there is such a high pass rate and wondering if more people took it than prev yrs - My son counted the seats in the afternoon session of being about 120 was there anyone there in the morning from Lancashire who could say approx how many were there? Also curious to ask if the common concencious with those who took it in Lanc that EGS is not their first choice?
I only ask as my son passed and we are 8.8 miles and trying to think positively that we are in the catchment this year as we would have been in prev yrs (prev 10.8 ) but the pass mark was higher

Dear Janet, first of all a massive congratulations...savour the moment...i still am and its over a year ago! Its got to be the most painfull 4 months...we wished our life away... March didnt come soon enough!
DS only has one Lancashire lad in his class if that helps?
Gogi
x

Oh thanks gogi, it's like torture as u well know, I'm going through phases of optimism then dispare . I've been doing a little maths and in prev yrs the max pass mark% was 43% when it was 220 so as it's 214 this yr then I'm going for 50% so statistically if 118 passed on the day then that's approx 236 took the exam, a lot more than prev yrs i believe, my ds counted 117 desks so I'm thinking 50% in yorkshire therefore being 58, so I'm optimistic as we live 8.8 miles away and last yr their website says 10.8 was the cut off but i know of someone who got in living further so note sure how correct that is, i think it was 227 passmark last yr, so we just have to see x

We are going through the same at the moment Janet but its the opposite way round, in that my son sat the Clitheroe exam and is 4th on the reserve list. Now I know there were some people who sat the Clitheroe exam having done the Skipton exam a week or so earlier. Skipton seem to have a higher intake as Clitheroe only take 120.

Also I seem to gather that people from the Calderdale area are doing the Skipton exam and possibly the Clitheroe exam aswell, but are likely to go to North Halifax or the other Calderdale school name escapes me at the moment. There may be people from the Calderdale and Bradford area who did the Skipton exam, only to send their child to Bradford with an attractive bursary and possible sibling discounts. You have to remember places are only being offered right now and will not be allocated until March as that is when people's choices will be determined.

Remember people from the Calderdale area may have North Hallifax or the other one as first choice on their CAF form, and as a result will not be allocated a place at Skipton, which is when the reserved list comes into play.

For the Clitheroe exam you get people from all over East Lancs, the Ribble Valley and I think North Yorkshire. But then bursaries and sibling discounts and parents previous schools all come into play, also the CAF form comes into play. So there is a lot to play for between now and March.

oh yes I perfectly agree its all guess work - I think more for my own anxieties lolx it just seems so long to wait but as you say even then you are on a waiting list - Im a little confused with you saying you are 4th on the waiting list is that due to it being ranked and you are hoping 4 above you with better passmarks go elsewhere? - Of course I appreciate its like dominoes as one moves it triggers all other move alongs so its never over until next Sept I suppose....Good luck

Yes with Clitheroe it's all ranked. Ranking comes into play for those out of the catchment area. If your in the catchment area then all you have to do is pass, you could have 20% less then the person say 20th on the reserved list but still get in as you live in the area.

Now out of the 120 places that they have offered, there could be about 4 or 5 in their who have not put Clitheroe as first choice, or decide to go elsewhere to an independent school or something. Which would then mean that the top four or five would be offered places in rank order. So if only one drops out then the person first on the reserved list gets in. Like you rightfully said, the parents of the child 2nd or 3rd on the reserved list may drop out, which means my son would go up on the reserved list.

We know last year they took 11 from the reserved list, and the year before a lad in our area, who was 7th on the reserved list got in. Everyone at my wife's school is saying that being 4th on the list our son is pretty much in. But again there is no guarantee as they could easily end up just taking 2 or 3 from the reserved list this year. We only find out in March.

Majik wrote:Yes with Clitheroe it's all ranked. Ranking comes into play for those out of the catchment area. If your in the catchment area then all you have to do is pass, you could have 20% less then the person say 20th on the reserved list but still get in as you live in the area.

Now out of the 120 places that they have offered, there could be about 4 or 5 in their who have not put Clitheroe as first choice, or decide to go elsewhere to an independent school or something. Which would then mean that the top four or five would be offered places in rank order. So if only one drops out then the person first on the reserved list gets in. Like you rightfully said, the parents of the child 2nd or 3rd on the reserved list may drop out, which means my son would go up on the reserved list.

We know last year they took 11 from the reserved list, and the year before a lad in our area, who was 7th on the reserved list got in. Everyone at my wife's school is saying that being 4th on the list our son is pretty much in. But again there is no guarantee as they could easily end up just taking 2 or 3 from the reserved list this year. We only find out in March.

Yes nothing is guaranteed til you get that letter but 4th does sound positive x

For that reason unfortunately I'm on the other side hoping some of the Clitheroe candidates go to Skipton. Skipton does seem to be offering about 3 times more places than Clitheroe. Also the advantage you guys have is that the schools in Yorkshire have done their 11+ exams on different dates. Whereas Lancashire decided that Clitheroe, Bacup and Lancaster all did the 11+ on the same day. So we have limited choice from the outset.

I say best of luck to everyone involved, whatever happens always happens for the best.

Well as the saying goes "one man's loss is another man's gain" hope we can all get what we want x

Absolutely. I think on your side you'll find North Halifax and Crossley Heath candidates trying their luck and also people with Bradford and Leeds Grammar schools in mind.

On our side we have highly reputable schools like Stoneyhurst, QEGS, Westholme and Kirkham Grammar. Like I said there's the bursaries and sibling discounts that these schools give. So there's a lot of potential for movement on the list on both sides of the border.

I hope we both get what we want.