The 2012 11 plus exams - being brought forward

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MattyNeth
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Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2012 5:59 pm

The 2012 11 plus exams - being brought forward

Post by MattyNeth »

Well they are in Dorset. In 2011 Bournemouth School for Boys and Girls held theirs last week in November. In 2012 they are both on 29th September.

Is this the same in other parts of the country?
mystery
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Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: The 2012 11 plus exams - being brought forward

Post by mystery »

Kent moved to September (from January) a few years ago.
Etienne
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Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Re: The 2012 11 plus exams - being brought forward

Post by Etienne »

The new Admissions Code was published in draft form last May, and following a consultation period was laid before parliament on 1/2/2011.
1.32 Admission authorities must:
............ c) take all reasonable steps to inform parents of the outcome of selection tests before the closing date for secondary applications on 31 October so as to allow parents time to make an informed choice of school - while making clear that this does not equate to a guarantee of a selective place.
This has the effect of making all authorities do what some have already been doing - i.e. making results available before the national closing date for secondary school applications.
Etienne
MrsK40
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Location: Coastal village

Re: The 2012 11 plus exams - being brought forward

Post by MrsK40 »

My thoughts on this are that although, I presume, you will know if your child passed the entrance tests, you are still not guaranteed a place at the school, if it's superselective like the Dorset schools. You will have to wait until March 1st to confirm. At least, I suppose if your child fails the test you can then plan accordingly and not put the Grammar school on the CAF form, which I suppose will save the schools and local authorities doing so much admin.

To have passed and not get in will be an absolute killer though!

On an organisational thought... how will we now apply to the schools to do the test? As previously the school was informed via the local authority and the CAF form and now the test is before the form goes in? Well, I'm going to be phoning up and finding out. I don't feel relaxed about our primary school sorting it out for me. Perhaps our Kent friends can tell us how they do it there?
DC17C
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:34 pm

Re: The 2012 11 plus exams - being brought forward

Post by DC17C »

The way it works in Gloucestershire you register to take the admissions test with one of the schools you are interested in ( by electronic form or snail mail) and list the schools you want the results of the test shared with. You can only apply to schools with the CAF if you have asked to share the results on the registratiion form to begin with. The test is taken at the beginning of October and the Standardised scores are issued from each school the following week. So we have about 2 weeks to think about the CAF before submitting it.
Roots2success
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Re: The 2012 11 plus exams - being brought forward

Post by Roots2success »

In Torbay the eleven plus exams will be held on 15th and 22nd September (last year they were in November). THEORETICALLY the Grammar Schools' admissions policies are draft and out for consultation, but the dates are unlikely to change from September. As mentioned by Etienne this is due to a change in the Admissions Code which has been agreed by Parliament. Good luck everyone!
capers123
Posts: 1865
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:03 pm
Location: Gloucestershire

Re: The 2012 11 plus exams - being brought forward

Post by capers123 »

One thing not to panic about is 'We have less time to prepare this year - it's not fair'. It will apply to all the children within your LEA, so everyone will have less time.

Gloucestershire, as DC17C mentioned, already uses those dates, so you get to know if your child was deemed suitable or not, but NOT if they actually have a place. Some schools will say if your child is on (say) the top 120 for that school, but they may well also be in the top 120 for several other schools and can only take one place at one school - so parents not in the top 120 should not be disheartened - they'll just be in what I refer to as The Twilight Zone until 1st March. If you find out that you are, do make sure that when you fill in the preference form you put at least one 'fallback' option - local comp - otherwise you could end up with no school, or one you really do not want being allocated.

On the whole, it works well in Gloucestershire. We have our appeals after national allocation day, with no reviews. It will be interesting to see if other areas try to run the informal reviews within the two weeks between indicative results & having to submit the school choices - and as for appeals against that informal review...

Etienne wrote that it was laid before Parliament on 1st Feb 2011 - as far as I know it's going before them on 1st Feb 2012. Appeals (ad-hoc) lodged before that date will be heard under the old code, after that date (assuming it is approved by Parliament) will be heard under the new rules, so it's possible that one sitting of an appeals panel may hear appeals under both sets of codes. :?
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