11 Plus Exams Forum

Ungratefulbiped wrote:Definitely the biggest detriment to Chis & Sid is that purple uniform! What were they thinking?!

I think there are far worse. DD's school uniform is bottle green and the school on the other side of the wood call them the Bogies, DD's school call them the 'Poos and Wees' on the basis of their brown and yellow uniform. It is very friendly banter and never in any mean way, they don't say it to their faces but just refer to them in that way when talking amongst themselves and they all know how they are described by the other school.

I would have thought 'proud to be purple' was a great description in comparison!

I have a friend with a DS at Chis n Sid, the hardest thing for him was the school was very strict on lateness and he found that the two buses he needed to get were often too crowded to get on and he got a detention in his very first week of Y7 for being ten minutes late two mornings in a row which I think was harsh but it certainly got the message across that lateness was not tolerated. He now gets the train, more cost and involves a change too but is more reliable. Do bear in mind that the journey that you do for open days etc is not going to the same as when over a thousand children plus commuter traffic are all on the roads. I gather that this is one reason Chis n Sid start as early as they do to try and avoid the worst of the traffic, but it is still very bad.

Definitely the biggest detriment to Chis & Sid is that purple uniform! What were they thinking?!

Do you really prefer the Soviet warehouse worker look that most of the other schools seem to channel!

thickasabrick wrote:

Definitely the biggest detriment to Chis & Sid is that purple uniform! What were they thinking?!

Do you really prefer the Soviet warehouse worker look that most of the other schools seem to channel!

Yes! The purple is awful. Have you seen Harris Academy Falconwood? All that purple gave me a headache. Ha
Bullers Boys have my favourite uniform. Bexley Grammar is nice too.

Ungratefulbiped wrote:

thickasabrick wrote:

Definitely the biggest detriment to Chis & Sid is that purple uniform! What were they thinking?!

Do you really prefer the Soviet warehouse worker look that most of the other schools seem to channel!

Yes! The purple is awful. Have you seen Harris Academy Falconwood? All that purple gave me a headache. Ha
Bullers Boys have my favourite uniform. Bexley Grammar is nice too.

Just looked at Bullers Wood Boys' uniform. I don't know whether to rejoice that at least one school makes parents of boys buy trousers with a logo on (it being quite common for mixed schools to inflict this penalty only on girls), or gnash my teeth that anywhere at all does it...

Just looked at Bullers Wood Boys' uniform. I don't know whether to rejoice that at least one school makes parents of boys buy trousers with a logo on (it being quite common for mixed schools to inflict this penalty only on girls), or gnash my teeth that anywhere at all does it...[/quote]

Ugh, didn't notice that. Just saw some boys at dc's primary and thought they looked nice. However girls get away with knit school trousers in primary so take it as a payback when they need logo trousers! Haha

Hi all,

My Ds is currently in Year 8 at Beths so would like to share with you my experience.

In school, they use apps to tell parents/students their homework and achievement/behaviour points. They offer Mandarin (main stream and MEP), French and Spanish as MFL for Year 7 but more choices in Year 8 when they have to take a further MFL. Choices are Italian, Spanish, Mandarin, German and French. Mandarin MEP is a special programme affiliated with UCL and will do 2 weeks trip to China in Year 8. Students study French stay only a week with host families (Year 8 or Year 9).

They split in top set and normal sets for these subjects in Year 8: English, Science and Maths according to their performance in Year 7.

If I understand correctly, my Ds will complete his DT or Computing GCSE subject in Year 10. They have to make the decision in Year 9. This means they will do only 9 GCSE subjects in Year 11. Those who chose to complete GCSE DT in Year 10 can choose Computing as a subject in Year 11. But those who choose Computing as GCSE in Year 10 can't do DT in Year 11. I think this is due to the heavy workload needed to pass both the subjects.

You can always email their teacher using this format: e.g: Mr Surname = MRSURNAME@beths.bexley.sch.uk

I hope this is useful.

Are there any children who attend Chis and Sid who didn't put it as first choice? When we went to visit, the headteacher claimed that every single child already there put Chis and Sid as first choice, and I'm finding that really hard to believe.

Are there any children who attend Chis and Sid who didn't put it as first choice? When we went to visit, the headteacher claimed that every single child already there put Chis and Sid as first choice, and I'm finding that really hard to believe.

I think that's something that all schools like to claim.

Apart from the fact that they are not supposed to know about preferences you put on your CAF, if that was the case, there would be no waiting lists/movement.

This year Townley seems to have had the least movement of any waiting list ever so if it matters to you that your kids are with kids who have chosen the school as their first choice, that's where you need to go. Before this year, however, Townley actually had spare places they offered to non-selective kids.

The school would definitely not know whether or not each child had listed it at the top of the CAF. I'm actually quite shocked that the head would make such a claim to parents.

Sometimes heads will say something like "if you want to come to our school you should put it at the top of the CAF", meaning "if you want to come to our school MORE THAN ANY OTHER you should put it top of the CAF", and that's confusing enough. But I've never heard of a head saying that he or she knew where parents had listed the school on their forms.

I am very shocked that the head said it too, as parents of children who have passed their 11 plus are generally very knowledgeable about catchment areas and pass marks required for entry to all the schools, and could quite easily catch him out. For example, I am very certain there would be parents keen on co-ed who would have listed Bexley Grammar as first choice but didn't get in due to distance or parents of boys who listed Dartford Grammar but didn't get in due to score. It wasn't a throw away comment, or "the majority of our students" it was a statement as fact. He said he got the data from the council about a year afterwards. However, I could well believe that 100% of students listed the school as on their top three. Bexley Council are always very proud that a very high number of families get one of their top 3 choice of schools.