Collated scores / rankings for 2013 results

[Nikkipp]

Girls south score 206
Girls south ranked 252 out of 561
All children south 516 out of 1097
All girls 367 out of 977
All children 782 out of 1963

Hope this helps

[swark]

My son got TSS of 227.
Ranked 126 (3) out of Boys Southern
Ranked 220 (12) out of all Southern
Ranked 173 (7) out of all Boys
Ranked 301 (17) out of all Children.

Hope this helps with the scoring and thanks for all the postings by Okangan answering all the questions.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a place at KES, but guessing that we're probably just going to miss out as last year only offered places down to 125th.

Is there any further breakdown by where people sat the exam? I'm hoping for a high uptake on boys who would put AGS/Birmingham schools as a preference to KES.

[Silvia]

Looking at the table the south done really well or at least better then east. That says a lot about the level in the eastern schools.

[LeeChase]

214 was 52nd for girls in the east (4 girls on the same score).

[Okanagan]

Looking at the table the south done really well or at least better then east. That says a lot about the level in the eastern schools.

It probably just says more about who enters the test from the Eastern schools. Everyone living in the Eastern inner area is destined to go to a school in Rugby - the question is which one. So as there are places for something like 20% of those children there's nothing to lose by having a go at the test.

In the South there are a lot less places relative to those who could apply for them - the Southern priority circle is something like 3 times the area of the 10 mile circle for the Eastern schools, and covers more built up areas too - parts of Solihull, South Birmingham and Coventry plus Kenilworth, Warwick and Leamington as well as Stratford and Alcester themselves. So with less places relative to the population it requires a higher standard to get one. People know this, and don't enter the exam unless they feel they have a good chance.

What you get is a situation where (figures are for illustration only) the top 25% for the South enter the exam, and the top 50% from the smaller Eastern Area - and that still means that candidates from the south account for 60% of all those who take it. So it isn't surprising that more of the lower scorers seem to come form the East, since the Southern children who would have got similar scores have largely not entered the test. Or that more of the top scores seem to be in the South - simply because there are more of them entered.

[Silvia]

Thank you for clarification and I hope i didn't offend anyone but i wish kids would not have to go through so much stress and schools to help a bit more in helping our children in preparation for this exam because not all parents have the possibility to send them to a tutor . My DS school was very clear in this saying that they are not doing anything in order to help kids going to a grammar school apart from what they do in classes. I would say that it should be enough too if the standards of the school would be high enough but obviously they are not as the majority of parents find different means to improve their kids results.

[Brum Mum]

It would be great if the education received from schools was sufficient to get a high enough score to gain a place, but it doesn't seem to be. Whether this is due to the education received, or the complexity of the exam itself is hard to say, but having looked at some of the areas my DS worked through in his preparation for the 11+, I would say that the content is not typical of what I would expect them to cover in class generally...

Its a bit of a vicious circle and I think the test has had to become harder as a result of people tutoring/prepping for the test - and now it seems that some tutoring / preparation (either at home or externally) is necessary to provide a more level playing field.

IMHO.

[kenyancowgirl]

I agree, it is difficult if you cannot afford/choose not to go to a tutor as you do feel that you may be letting your child down. (We did not tutor our child as he refused to consider going!) It is also true that the LEA says that state primaries are not allowed to offer any additional help to kids to prepare for the grammar test. Private primaries ALL offer help in the form of, for example, smaller class sizes and therefore more one-to-one, weekly sessions for a year and intensive testing practice just before the test - and, in my experience, a lot of parents there also pay for private tutors. I have several friends from state primaries who haven't got places for their children at Grammars and cannot consider paying for private education and it is particularly heartbreaking when they see other friends who have kids who have had the benefit of a private primary then take a place at the State Grammar, when in theory, a lot of them could choose to educate privately. It does sometime feel that there is a serious inequality of opportunity - I would like to see a time where the standardised scores also took account of where you were applying from (with a state primary being given a higher score than a private primary, along the lines of the age variation). Grammar Schools were set up, after all, to give a high class education to the working classes who couldn't afford any alternatives.The bottom line is, however, the Grammar Schools are unashamedly academic - if parents have had to teach/tutor them to an inch of their lives and they are still borderline but get in, does that really help them in the long run? Would they not be better in a school where they might be top of the pond and are allowed to enjoy school life, rather than feeling they are playing catch up all the time? Sylvi, Okanagan's clarification really does make it clear about why it seems so much harder to get in in the south - as a mum of a boy in the Southern priority circle, I am always surprised at the difference between the boy/girl rank scores - it is much harder to get in as a boy than a girl here - mainly due to the unequal number of places for boys. Brum Mum - the only real solution is to bring back Grammar Schools in all areas and improve education for all - not a favoured option for politicians or private schools, I suspect!!

[Silvia]

Improving education in all areas is the key factor but this is a battle that our kids wont have the chance to win it as it takes a lot of work....and work its not enough. The mentality of many of the parents I came in contact with is that sending a child to school is enough to get by and achieve good results . In equal measure the head teachers are still fighting for an "outstanding Ofstead report hiding still the fact that some kids are leaving or about to leave a primary school without knowing to read or write well.I would embrace the idea of not allowing the kids with results below the expectation to pass the year and then the parents would realize that they have to up their game as well and support their kids in achieving a result good enough to pass . I over listen parents complaining that 2 pieces of paper as homework is to much of a trouble for their kids and is an unnecessary stress for kids as they are going to school anyway for 6 hours every day. The only reason we decide to apply for a grammar school is because i believe that good learning habits are easily maintained in a place where also parent are aware that you cant get far enough without a good education. Kids are like sponges at this age and if they are nurtured with the right "water" they grow like trees.

[JamesDean]

My DS school was very clear in this saying that they are not doing anything in order to help kids going to a grammar school apart from what they do in classes.

This is something I have been pondering ... With more primaries gaining academy status and opting out of LA control, they are also free to set their own curriculum and, in theory, teach openly to the 11 plus. This could change things considerably, making them potentially more attractive to parents wanting a grammar education for their children (providing they got a good percentage through each year). Any thoughts ... ?

JD