Top state grammar vs top independent offer

[mad?]

Were the scholarship offers for St Paul's Boys' sent out earlier? Anyone else wondering how the OP already knew their DS had a scholarship offer from St Paul's on Sunday, when the offer letters were only posted yesterday and were being received today.

No idea isx99 but the OP also appears to be under the illusion that there will be offers from more than one state school coming 'The Sutton ones and Tiffin' ...all this having claimed to have learned a lot over the years on this forum whilst only joining at the weekend.

[mm23292]

I've no idea whether the statistic mentioned is in any way accurate or not Kenyancowgirl. It's relating to some school's brochure comment, supposedly reported by the HESA, claiming that IB students are nearly twice as likely to succeed in applications for courses in medicine & dentistry. As with most sales patter, a large spoon of salt may well be required!

[Middlesexmum]

I haven't read the entire thread but just wanted to make a point that where you send your child to school at 11 is not necessarily the one they'll be at for Sixth Form.

Many students change school for Sixth Form, for a variety of reasons, so to factor in university destinations, alumni, A Levels v IB and so on when your child is 11 is a bit pointless IMO.

[ToadMum]

I haven't read the entire thread but just wanted to make a point that where you send your child to school at 11 is not necessarily the one they'll be at for Sixth Form.

Many students change school for Sixth Form, for a variety of reasons, so to factor in university destinations, alumni, A Levels v IB and so on when your child is 11 is a bit pointless IMO.

So far, both of ours who have reached sixth form age have elected to move to a different, but still local, school at that point. Nowhere offers the IB around here, so that wasn't a factor, but I suspect neither of them would have regarded it as a selling point. I don't know how many of DS1's friends at university (studying Medicine or otherwise) did the IB and thought it was a huge advantage; the only one I know personally -studying Biological Sciences - attended an 'IB only' sixth form and in second year was still saying that she wished that she had done A levels.

[LolaD]

Posters have presented arguments for and against the question posted by the OP. So I am sure there's enough to inform the OP's decision.

I can't help but wonder why the OP bothered with not one but two independent school exams if as he/she said they were never going to be 'swayed' by indies. Many people genuinely don't want indies hence don't bother engaging in their admission process.

[Stroller]

To give more direction for expert views innow realise I should have provided names. Indies: St Paul’s and Kings. Grammars: Sutton ones and Tiffin. Look forward to reading replies from here on...

Purpletulip1212, in which order did you rank the grammar schools on the CAF?

Fees-aside, which school is easiest to get to? For your child? For you, on days when you need to be there to collect/drop something off, attend a play, a concert, a parent teacher evening?

[purpletulip1212]

To give more direction for expert views innow realise I should have provided names. Indies: St Paul’s and Kings. Grammars: Sutton ones and Tiffin. Look forward to reading replies from here on...

Purpletulip1212, in which order did you rank the grammar schools on the CAF?

Fees-aside, which school is easiest to get to? For your child? For you, on days when you need to be there to collect/drop something off, attend a play, a concert, a parent teacher evening?

Thanks Stroller. I am a bit wary of naming the school because I already see some eyes rolling and I do not wish to take this topic off tangent a bit. Just curious to know why you asked for the ranking though: if you have specific input about any schools, am happy to private message. But, to answer the second part of your question, both might involve moving so makes it a trickier decision.

[doodles]

To give more direction for expert views innow realise I should have provided names. Indies: St Paul’s and Kings. Grammars: Sutton ones and Tiffin. Look forward to reading replies from here on...

Purpletulip1212, in which order did you rank the grammar schools on the CAF?

Fees-aside, which school is easiest to get to? For your child? For you, on days when you need to be there to collect/drop something off, attend a play, a concert, a parent teacher evening?

Thanks Stroller. I am a bit wary of naming the school because I already see some eyes rolling and I do not wish to take this topic off tangent a bit. Just curious to know why you asked for the ranking though: if you have specific input about any schools, am happy to private message. But, to answer the second part of your question, both might involve moving so makes it a trickier decision.

I assume Stroller asked about the ranking because on National Offers Day you will only be offered 1 state school place. Your DS will be offered a place at the highest school on your list for which he qualifies.

So if you listed schools X, Y and Z in that order, if he qualifies for school X he will be offered a place there and only there. If he doesn't qualify for school X then that is removed from the equation and school Y becomes your first choice and so on down the list until he is allocated a place for which he qualifies. But he will only ever receive one grammar school offer on 1st March.

Hope that helps but I'm sure you knew all this already so apologies.

(Sorry stroller if I've hijacked your question and this isn't what you meant)

[purpletulip1212]

I assume Stroller asked about the ranking because on National Offers Day you will only be offered 1 state school place. Your DS will be offered a place at the highest school on your list for which he qualifies.

So if you listed schools X, Y and Z in that order, if he qualifies for school X he will be offered a place there and only there. If he doesn't qualify for school X then that is removed from the equation and school Y becomes your first choice and so on down the list until he is allocated a place for which he qualifies. But he will only ever receive one grammar school offer on 1st March.

Hope that helps but I'm sure you knew all this already so apologies.

(Sorry stroller if I've hijacked your question and this isn't what you meant)[/quote]
Ah I see, it really helps. Yes I’m aware that we will only receive the order of preference offer depending on how DC has performed in rank order. However, I’ve also read on this forum that schools sometimes contact parents to see if they would like a place even if the school was listed lower down. Not that I’m expecting it because we are certain of our preference and also because I’ve done a fair bit of reading about the grammar school admissions but just as an added piece of info.

[KS10]

However, I’ve also read on this forum that schools sometimes contact parents to see if they would like a place even if the school was listed lower down.

This happened to us 8 years ago. We were surprised as it is a state school. When OH rang the school he was told that about 50 of the high scorers had not put that school as their first choice. It wasn't a guaranteed offer of a place, but a chance to go to the top of the waiting list - a bit risky in those days as I didn't know DS's score and there was the possibility of all 50 deciding they'd quite like the chance to queue-jump too. I won't lie. We did consider it for a split second. Then we remembered why it wasn't our first choice. Too much choice is definitely a chore. Reminds me of a KS3 English paper about choice (sorry, a bit random, I know).