School without catchment area

[Dev1]

Apologies – if this subject is already discussed

I am staying near Wembley Park (London) and my daughter is preparing for eleven plus.
Since due to personal circumstance we can not move to any near by area like Slough, Watford etc.

In those particular scenarios, which are the school she can apply for? We will be open to move if she secure admission around London Area

I am aware of following school she can apply for

• Henrietta Barnett
• School in Chelmsford Area

Any idea which other school she can apply for ?

I am trying to go through other school/ this forum to get more details but if some can provide kind insight then it will be really great

Thanks in advance

[PettswoodFiona]

You are right this is a common theme on this site. It is a big pressure on a child to know they are potentially the reason the entire family will be uprooted. Too many exams are also unhealthy. Many dates also clash and test styles can vary. The transition to a superselective grammar can also be isolating as the child is often the only one from their school so it is ideal if they have local friends or neighbours, Guide packs and music clubs etc where they still have friends. We have seen on this forum scenarios where children have sat grammar tests, only grammars have been put on the CAF and then parents find they are unable to move and face horrific commutes or giving up on the idea of the grammar. We also see those who had been unrealistic in how well their child had done so found they got the least desirable local school rather than the rather good local school that they should have put on their CAF as a sure thing. I mention these things more as a highlight of the problems that come up Year after year, not as a criticism to you, and hope you will be able to avoid the common pitfalls.

Start by all means at looking at some of the schools and do visit them - not all will suit your daughter but do also look at what you have locally.

https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum ... 7&p=546866" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; discusses a variety of girls schools including Dartford and Tonbridge. Plus Bexley where the top 180 qualifiers don't need a distance criteria.

https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum ... =5&t=45663" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is a thread that discusses boys just to bring it all together.

[ToadMum]

'School in Chelmsford area'...

I assume you mean Chelmsford County High School for Girls? Or has someone with equally scant knowledge of the area just told you that there is a girls' grammar school 'somewhere in Chelmsford'? Have you visited Chelmsford and formed any idea as to whether you would actually like to live there (there are some lovely houses and public open spaces and the centre is great for shopping, not to mention the County Cricket Ground ).

Actually, if you are looking for an OOC place at a grammar school within commuting distance of London, your DD would have a better chance at Westcliff High School for Girls or Southend High School for Girls, which both have a minimum number of OOC places available greater than the maximum available at CCHS. Places at CCHS are allocated 80% to IC on score, then 20% to anyone on score, so a worst-case scenario from the OOC applicant's point of view would be that all the places could be filled by IC girls.

[wildman]

I read this with interest as I have a son who is the only boy in his class at school who is doing the 11+. He is feeling lonely and a little disconnected from his friends. Whilst he plays football for the school, does many sports and loves going to school he opened up saying that he could not talk about his exams to any of his friends because they do not understand. If anybody has any suggestions about how we can help him, I'd be very grateful.

[ToadMum]

I read this with interest as I have a son who is the only boy in his class at school who is doing the 11+. He is feeling lonely and a little disconnected from his friends. Whilst he plays football for the school, does many sports and loves going to school he opened up saying that he could not talk about his exams to any of his friends because they do not understand. If anybody has any suggestions about how we can help him, I'd be very grateful.

Is this the 11+ exam for your local grammar school? In which case, I would (try to bite back the comment that his friends and their parents are obviously totally lacking in academic ambition and) just say that obviously his friends have looked at all the local schools and decided that they feel that the non-selective one(s) offer the best overall 'fit' or them.

Since you mention exams, plural, though, do you mean also (or exclusively) in other areas? In which case, I'm afraid it doesn't seem particularly odd that his friends would have difficulty in understanding why he is sitting the exams.

At the end of the day, though, I would just remind him that we are all different and find we want different things in life - and it is inevitable that someone will do things which even those quite close to him / her will have no interest in themselves. And 'showing a polite interest for the sake of it' isn't a skill that necessarily comes easily to the average ten year old, of course.

[Aethel]

OP: if there are no grammar schools near you, you would be better to find one that you think would have a realistic chance of a place and just do that one.

Please don't haul your DC to six different exams simply because there is no cachement for the school and you can. "Exam tourism" from children being scattergun entered for multiple out of area exams makes it harder for those children who are within the cachements to pass the exams in the first place, as some of the more highly prepared students from miles away get a "pass" but have no practical way to use it, and meanwhile two local candidates are failed (because most of the non superselective exams work on a percentage and so fail 70% of entrants). This has especially happened in Bucks where some of the grammars ended up with empty places because the Bucks resident children couldn't outperform the out-of-county entrants, yet many of the out of county "passes" really wanted to go elsewhere (and presumably be able to say "oh yes, my DC passed Bucks/berks/Kendrick/HBS/Tiffin/LEH/SPGS" as some kind of badge of pride....)

Look at the schools local to you and pick one of those as your "back up" then select one or max two selective schools that have a realistic journey (try them out) and fit your child.

[Daogroupie]

Wildman, I am sure that they will be others local to you, you just need to find them. I agree that it would be very isolating to be the only one.

You could post the name of the school or just the location and ask forum members to pm you if they are applying for the same school and would be interested in getting together.

I run a picnic every year for new Y7 joiners for our school, some of whom are the only one from their school so they can get to know some other students before September.

Some parents have told me they struggle to get siblings to want to go if they don't know anyone. I think it is hard for a ten year old to imagine going somewhere they don't know anyone. Even my two sixth formers are not that keen on going on courses where they don't know anyone. DG

[PettswoodFiona]

I read this with interest as I have a son who is the only boy in his class at school who is doing the 11+. He is feeling lonely and a little disconnected from his friends. Whilst he plays football for the school, does many sports and loves going to school he opened up saying that he could not talk about his exams to any of his friends because they do not understand. If anybody has any suggestions about how we can help him, I'd be very grateful.

Hi Wildman, rather than worrying about the thing that makes him different, try and encourage him to take a pride in the fact he is trying and to talk with his friends about the things they do have in common. It sounds like he is a sociable boy who shares sports interests and perhaps that is what he can talk about. If he wants to talk about the 11+ then that may be something that you can talk with him about or he can talk with those he is studying with if he is doing group sessions for example. DD was in a similar situation when she was doing the tests and found it agonizing that most of her class were talking about the senior schools they were going to and she sort of knew she wouldn't be going with them (especially as the school she was at was an all the way through school). We talked a fair bit about it is OK to be different and that sometimes it can be insensitive to talk about things you are good at with those who have no interest or have talents in different areas. I think at this age the social cues can be harder to learn than the 11+. We did end up home educating for the last term of Y6 and it was a very refreshing term as it helped DD move on emotionally as well as focus on things she wouldn't get to do in the classroom, but I wouldn't recommend it for everyone. Good luck to your son.

[wildman]

All, Thanks for your positive suggestions and encouraging advice. I guess they reinforce the view that our 'little ones' are not quite so little and with all the crazy competitive work we all do for these exams, we need to carve out time to talk about the impact with our kids.

[Dev1]

@ToadMum, I am aware of Chemsford area and we kind of like it , we have few friends there so it will be bit easy to move that area.
@Aethel - I can understand , I am also trying to avoid "Exam tourism" that is why I am trying to collect area/school info then we can narrow down our options.