11 Plus Exams Forum

loobylou wrote:

maaress wrote:Hello All

My son has scored 117.30 in Reading Boys and 235 in QE Barnet. Can I safely say that he will get places in both schools?

Very confused as to which should be our first choice on CAF. We live in Reading catchment.

Is it worth moving to Barnet or should we stick with Reading?

I cannot find University destinations for Reading School. Looking at Barnet University destinations they are very impressive.

Any advice/thoughts will really be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help.

It's almost never worth moving purely for a school. There are a few genuine black holes where local provision is all poor - but if you have a good local alternative (and I know nothing personally about Reading Boys but it sounds as though it is an excellent local alternative) then I would not uproot a whole family for the sake of QEB.

I will advise to assess overall academic and sports activities like QE doesn't have ICT as compared to other Grammar schools like in Bucks, Sutton and not sure about reading boys. Also Sports - Rugby(mandatory even if your DS doesnt enjoy) and cricket

QE is a great school BUT average price of a semi detached house in Reading £380k, one in Barnet £790k.
Why not stay put and buy him a house @18 with the £410k you saved?

Justintime wrote:

singh_sanjay75 wrote:I am thinking of rechecking the maths paper. Does anybody know how we can request for rechecking.

Thanks.

Hi, same boat as you! will try contacting the school and see what happens.
Plz do post here if u find any links.

Hi, did you manage to speak to school regarding rechecking?

[quote="Dana"]For the attention of anyone who (a) lives in the Redbridge area (b) is borderline for QE and (c) has a great score for CSSE making an offer from Colchester highly likely: Following the robust but well-meaning challenge below regarding the time taken to travel to Colchester, I spoke again in more detail with the transport service provider on Tuesday who confirmed the journey time is indeed one hour and no more, because the journey goes against the flow of traffic given the direction travelled. The departure time is 7:30am from near Newbury Park Station for an 8:30am arrival, with school starting at 8:45am. The provider mentioned that there were significant delays on two occasions last year, both due to accidents on the A12, one resulting in an arrival at 9:15am and the other delaying the return journey home. The provider also mentioned that as a result of constant monitoring of the traffic situation there was the very occasional need to contact parents to ask them to drop their kids off 5 or 10 minutes early if deemed necessary. All in all, this continues to seem like a perfectly viable solution, so for anyone who finds themselves in this position please feel free to send me a message if you'd like the provider's contact details.


Thank you so much.
My son has scored well in CSSE but borderline for QE. Thinking of KEGS and Colchester, although myDS prepeared for QEB!

Probably still worth putting QE first depending on your score. DG

maaress wrote: I will advise to assess overall academic and sports activities like QE doesn't have ICT as compared to other Grammar schools like in Bucks, Sutton and not sure about reading boys. Also Sports - Rugby(mandatory even if your DS doesnt enjoy) and cricket

Hi - anyone have insight on why ICT isn't offered at QEB? I would have thought it was a standard offering, and with the times in terms of market interest. Thanks.

lostmum wrote: Hi - anyone have insight on why ICT isn't offered at QEB? I would have thought it was a standard offering, and with the times in terms of market interest. Thanks.

ICT GCSE is not well regarded, and certainly not a pre-requisite for studying Computer Science at University.

In fact, the GCSE as it stands is being discontinued after 2018.

That is correct. My DD in year 11 is doing GCSE ICT. This is the last year of its existence.
Seeing what she actually does, I don’t think that is a bad thing either.

Most schools have switched to Computer Science.

All grammar school offer computer science except QE and it's their decision for so many years. It may not be pre requisite for univ. but it definitely considered as preference for those who want to with computer science in uni.