1971, I have been through this five years ago, with DD, and had I known what I know now, I would have saved myself a lot of stress. So not so much advice, but my experience from which you can take, hopefully, some comfort that everything will be ok. DD missed out by one point. We appealed to Townley, with school's support, on the grounds that my child is billingual and this was not taken into account. The head of Townley told me after the appeal hearing it was the strongest case she ever heard. Yet DD did not get a place. She went to a decent school and was promptly put in a grammar stream. She was doing well, and a year later, chose to sit 12+. At that time, seing how well she was doing, I was totally uninvolved in this. She had no tutor. She even had to make her way to the test all by herself, we booked her a cab, as I couldn't take her due to work. She passed with flying colours. Which in my view was a credit to her school. She got offered places at two grammar schools in Bexley, but we declined both. She is currently in year 11, going for straight As. So what I learned is - a non selective school, when it gets a bright studend, it looks after them, because this is going to be the student that will make the school achieve the covetted pass rates. I doubt it she would have done so well at a grammar, where she would have been just average. Being top of her class, being challenged, being pushed and getting results did wonders to her confidence too. Your child is obviously smart, and will do well wherever she goes. And being just on the fence of selective or not, in my opinion and experience, is likely to be better off in a non grammar school.
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