Question about Herts applying procedure

[liang65]

Hi,

I am noob on this, my boy is year 5 atm, we are thinking about applying for herts grammar school.

We are living in Hemel Hempstead (HP3) which luckily is in the priority postcode area of Parmiter's, we are also interested in Chesham grammar (Buckinghamshire) and QE.

From what I found on herts website:

"

Applying for schools outside Hertfordshire: If you live in Hertfordshire, you apply to us. Even if you're applying for a school outside of the county.

"

Also:

When you apply, you can list up to 4 schools in order of preference (we call this "ranking" your schools).

All applications are considered at the same time. Admission rules are applied equally, regardless of how you ordered (ranked) the schools on your form.

Schools won't know the order you rank them or which other schools you've applied for.

Does that mean I need to put all 3 (Parmiter's, we are also interested in Chesham grammar (Buckinghamshire) and QE) on the list when applying on herts website?

Also if we cannot make into QE or Chesham, put Parmiter's on 1st or 3rd won't affect the outcome?

Thanks for the help

[ToadMum]

Hi,

I am noob on this, my boy is year 5 atm, we are thinking about applying for herts grammar school.

We are living in Hemel Hempstead (HP3) which luckily is in the priority postcode area of Parmiter's, we are also interested in Chesham grammar (Buckinghamshire) and QE.

From what I found on herts website:

"

Applying for schools outside Hertfordshire: If you live in Hertfordshire, you apply to us. Even if you're applying for a school outside of the county.

"

Also:

When you apply, you can list up to 4 schools in order of preference (we call this "ranking" your schools).

All applications are considered at the same time. Admission rules are applied equally, regardless of how you ordered (ranked) the schools on your form.

Schools won't know the order you rank them or which other schools you've applied for.

Does that mean I need to put all 3 (Parmiter's, we are also interested in Chesham grammar (Buckinghamshire) and QE) on the list when applying on herts website?

Also if we cannot make into QE or Chesham, put Parmiter's on 1st or 3rd won't affect the outcome?

Thanks for the help

Yes, you list all state schools on the same CAF, the one supplied by and submitted to your home LA

No, not getting your first preference has no bearing at all on your chance of getting a school you ranked lower down. The 'first preference first' system was outlawed years ago although even parents who were probably round about year 10 themselves the last year it was permitted still seem to hang on to their belief in its existence in their school gate scaremongering . Stick to the advice on your LA's website .

[scary mum]

Yes, you put all your preferences on the form for Herts. Please make sure to put another school that you are sure of getting & are happy with.
Where you place them on the form will not affect whether you get a place, your DC will be offered a place at the highest up the list that they are eligible. How far are you from Chesham Grammar (straight line distance). Check the previous allocation distances and don't waste a preference if you have no chance. The distances offered for this year & previous years are on the Bucks council website.

[liang65]

Thanks guys, very useful information.

My home to Chesham distance is 5.66mi and from bucks website:

4079 Chesham Grammar School
All applicants offered under rule 3 (catchment free school meals), rule 4 {6} (catchment siblings), rule 4
(sibling), rule 5 (children of staff), rule 6 (catchment) and some allocated under to 8 (distance) to 4.158
miles.
Academy

So you might be right, barely any chance.

[Daogroupie]

50% of the exam for QE is the same as 50% of the exam for Parmiters. That is a multiple choice GL Maths paper so that will simplify your preparation.

But you will also need to do GL Multiple Choice English for QE and GL Multiple Choice VR for Parmiters.

This year 2928 boys applied to sit the exam for the 192 places at QE. This year the last score to be offered a place on allocation day, which is March was 235 out of a maximum possible total of 282.

You need to be preparing now to give you the best chance of a place. DG

[ToadMum]

50% of the exam for QE is the same as 50% of the exam for Parmiters. That is a multiple choice GL Maths paper so that will simplify your preparation.

But you will also need to do GL Multiple Choice English for QE and GL Multiple Choice VR for Parmiters.

This year 2928 boys applied for the 192 places at QE. This year the last score to be offered a place on allocation day, which is March was 235 out of a maximum possible total of 282.

You need to be preparing now to give you the best chance of a place. DG

Did all 2900+ sets of parents really press on and name the school as one of their preferences on their CAF, despite a significant number already knowing that their DS had achieved less than the qualifying score? I thought QE was tha shining beacon amongst state selective schools, that had carried on with its exam early enough to give parents their DS's results in time for the CAF submission deadline.

[Daogroupie]

I have altered my post to make it clear I meant applied to sit the exam, not applied for a place at the school. Although every year parents do put QE first despite the fact their score was nowhere near what was required for a place.

QE boys always do the 3rd week in September for their exam so did not need to move it. The government strongly recommended those who had an exam in early September to move it and DAO, HBS, Latymer and SW Herts all moved theirs but Mill Hill County and QE boys did not as their exams were not early September.

A lot of the parents of QE applicants were very unhappy that the exam was over four days with the weekend in between using exactly the same papers. Lots of opportunity for parents to be able to find out what the comprehension text was and prep their ds in it. Very foolish for applicants to tell their classmates about the paper that they had not yet sat thus damaging their own prospects of gaining a place. So I don't think that QE was considered to have managed the process well. Having the weekend in the middle of the four days really did extend the opportunities for content leaks. DG