Is there any point ...... Booklady Review / Appeal

[southbucks3]

Thanks SB3 your input is really valuable, I'm thinking to just appeal to JHGS.
RGS appeal panel sound scary!

You are right, a part of me thinks what's the point, but there is always that small chance and I am clinging on to that!

Please do not think for a moment that the panels are chosen by the school or reflect the schools position, they are not, they are provided by bucks county council. The school only has a right to say whether it would be detrimrntal for it to take more children than its subscription, they have no say at all in individual cases.
We could have had either panel at either hearing or a mixture of panellists it was luck of the draw. Both schools have exactly the same entry criteria, theoretically if space become a available in either at any point your child can swap between them without further testing once they have secured a place.
We were eventually offered places at both schools but jh suited our sports mad middle son more (he likes rugby but not six days a week) our eldest son is doing well at RGS, our youngest suits the more relaxed caring approach jh offers. The decision is yours.
Definitely appeal for both, you learn from the procedure and will be more together for the second hearing.

[MamaBear]

ok that makes sense, thanks sb3!

[Kata girl]

Hi Southbucks3 - when you say 12 + has traditionally very high pass rates. Do you mean more DCs pass ? And does that hold trues for the CEM era ?
Questions, questions... just wondering if that is the case why ? DCs have matured or longer duration to prep or self selective and perhaps more determined as may have not passed first time round ? Or some thing else ?
Thanks Southbucks3 ...

[scary mum]

I think SB3 says that because the group taking the 12 plus are self selecting so more are likely to pass.

[Kata girl]

Thanks Scary mum, that's helpful...

[southbucks3]

Hello,

I think scary is right they are self selecting, both parents and children know if they have now matured academically, or in their ability to relax during tests.
Also, for the tests that are once again standardised against peers, let's be honest the high flying, tutored to within an inch of their lives, cohort are not sitting the test pushing the pass mark up.
Saying that, schools which set their own curriculum based test, not the cc test, do choose the top scores, RGS seems to end up with boys from the beacon/berko gaining the very few places available, not sure if that is because those schools mimic the rgs interpretation of the curriculum more closely than others, or if further tutoring has come into play?
Post cem, fifty boys sat the John hampden 12+ and there are 25 places, now on the basis that some if those boys will go elsewhere, that means a 50-70% chance of securing a place if the child simply passes, which is pretty good!
From the two boys I know who sat the cem 12+ and the cem 11+ they both said it was the same level of difficulty, so I presume it will be age standardised, like cat tests.

Just my musings, of course, I do know several children over the years who passed the 12+ with flying colours, none that didn't, but they may not have been confident enough to publicise they were sitting it?

Good luck all.

[bucksdad8623]

SB3,
I think your musings are pretty accurate. Believe me I’ve been doing a few of my own of late.
Of the 50+ who sat, I’ve assumed 30 would pass, off those a few may drop out leaving 28 boys chasing 22 places (you said 25, do you know something I don’t?).
As a rough guess based on how many of the uniforms I recognized maybe a dozen would be in catchment and therefore get places irrespective of the score.
That leaves 16 boys chasing 10 places. I wouldn’t bet my mortgage on those odds but they aren’t too bad.
It does mean that my DS has to not only to pass but come in the top 2/3 of those 16 boys which is far from certain.
At the end of the day, it’s all guess work but if DS does well enough it won’t matter.

The RGS test last week, completely different demographic, lots of privately educated boys (judging from the uniform). Again I think you’re spot on.
What I couldn’t understand is why these boys weren’t at the John Hampden test a few weeks earlier. I assume it’s because RGS is perceived as being a better school than JHGS.
I don’t understand the parental thought process, not to apply to a school which has lots of places because they perceive it to be inferior to the neighboring school which has no places.
When both schools are extremely good.

[scary mum]

Strange isn't it? People have always been snobby about some of the grammar schools. Try having children at Burnham Gramnar - people look at you with great pity. The head teachers tells us they outperformed RGS this year at GCSE (I don't know on what measure), but people will still be snobby about it.

[Bumblebeez]

I have sent an email requesting the info under the FOI act this morning. Lets see what response I get.

Did you ever get a response?

[Booklady]

I have sent an email requesting the info under the FOI act this morning. Lets see what response I get.

Did you ever get a response?

Yes I did - I posted it somewhere - but typically can't find it!!
I only asked about BHS, BGS and WBGS though - as the only ones I was interested in.

In essence they said no-one got spaces at any of them on the 12+, and then a whole new class was added at WBGS for the 13+. But the data was not accurate because they did not have details of who was admitted through an oversubscription appeal. And I am pretty sure people did get in at 12+ to some schools!

If I find the letter at home I will repost.
Will also respond to your pm then too - stuff on home PC.