From Norfolk (county with no 11+ exams) to Buckinghamshire

[StacatoMum]

Hi Everyone,

I hope someone could help me out on this. We are based in Norwich and are moving to Buckinghamshire because of its proximity to London where Hubby works. We have a year 5 son who is currently attending a Voluntary State school. We are delaying the move till next year so as not to be too disruptive on his studies and so he could complete year 6 in here. There is practically no Grammar School to speak of in our place thus we have no idea how it works.

I tried calling Buckinghamshire LEA but they weren't quite helpful when they answered me with "We can't help you and you need to get in touch with the Norfolk LEA as they would be the one to liaise with us." I then approached the school head master who admitted that he can't be of much help since it is the first time he would encounter such a transfer. He was actually surprised with the Buck LEA's answer since according to him they (my son's school) themselves have no direct connections with Norfolk LEA.

We are practically starting from ground 0. Please help us on the following issues.
a. Who should we approach for all the information.
b. I just realised that we should start studying now since from what I gathered from reading here, he should be taking the exam this year- how do I start the process?
c. My son is going to take the SATS next year but does that have any bearing to the transfer?
d. He is in the top 3 of his class and takes Kumon but I am sure it wouldn't be enough to cover him, what kind of exams are we looking at for Buckinghamshire and could anyone (PLEASE, please...) give advise as to what materials we would need to help him get through this.
e. We are looking at the Aylesbury area to move in to - catchment area of AGS, but would I be allowed to put Royal Grammar School at High Wycombe w/c is around 35mins-45mins drive?
f. Since we are not physically living at Aylesbury area yet, would that detail matter as to what school he would be placed?
g. If we wait till we have physically settled in there (say July) does my son have a chance to get into a Grammar School still? Is there a special procedure or process that this can be done (this would also help him revise more).

I know there's just so much questions in here and I am sure I have over-looked so many more details still, but the decision to move has just been made, and instead of me facing "property issues" I ended up trying to learn 11+ exams. I just don't want to find out that my son missed out a good opportunity simply because I didn't understand the system.

Again, I hope you guys could help. I've been reading the exchanges in here and picking up valuable information.

StacatoMum (as excited, jittery and edgy as a stacato note)

[Guest55]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

It would be much easier for you to move now as without a Buckinghamshire address there will be few GS where your son is likely to get a place as they are allocated on distance.

If you decide to stay in Norfolk you apply through Norfolk but name Buckinghamshire schools on your CAF. You need to apply to sit the 11+ and will need to come to Aylesbury now I think in Autumn half-term; they did allow you to sit in your own school but I'm not sure whther you still can (ask Admissions re that one).

Look for a sticky from Patricia re what the 11+ comprises - two VR tests with the higher score counting. The tests include 21 types of question and you need to get roughly 70/80 or more to reach qualifying score of 121.

You also need to consider your option should he not qualify - some Upper schools are more highly regarded than others (PM me).

There's much more to tell but go to:

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/bcc/schools/a ... ssion.page" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

to see this year's info.

Good luck!

[Sally-Anne]

Hi StacatoMum, and welcome!

(Cross post with Guest 55 - she is so much more pithy than me! )

a. Who should we approach for all the information.

Looks ike it's us! You submit your Common Application Form - for your school preferences - to your local LEA (Norfolk), but you must also apply directly to Bucks CC for your son to take the 11+ test. The test application form is usually available online at some point in July.

b. I just realised that we should start studying now since from what I gathered from reading here, he should be taking the exam this year- how do I start the process?

Yes, he will take the exam during autumn half term, 2012. Be aware that it will be on two separate days, and they will be a day apart from each other.

To get started on tutoring, I suggest you read the "Sticky" post by Patricia on DIY tutoring tips.

c. My son is going to take the SATS next year but does that have any bearing to the transfer?

No, unless you need to appeal against non-qualification, when SATs results will be helpful.

d. He is in the top 3 of his class and takes Kumon but I am sure it wouldn't be enough to cover him, what kind of exams are we looking at for Buckinghamshire and could anyone (PLEASE, please...) give advise as to what materials we would need to help him get through this.

Verbal reasoning, set by GL Assessment, 21 question types, 2 x 50 minute papers, 80 questions each.

The mark he needs to qualify is an age-standardisied score of 121 or more on one paper. That equates to a raw score of around 72 or 73 out of 80, depending on when his birthday is. (Younger children need fewer marks.)

e. We are looking at the Aylesbury area to move in to - catchment area of AGS, but would I be allowed to put Royal Grammar School at High Wycombe w/c is around 35mins-45mins drive?

You can put any school you want on the form, but whether he gets a place will depend on how far you live from the school and how many people apply. This will give you an idea of distance:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/school ... n-profiles" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
RGS was actually undersubscribed last year, but that is unusual, and I think it is unlikely to be repeated in future.

f. Since we are not physically living at Aylesbury area yet, would that detail matter as to what school he would be placed?

This is the tricky bit. You are required to submit evidence of your current home address in November 2012, and that is the address that will be used for the school allocation. The distance calculation will therefore be RGS to Norfolk!

g. If we wait till we have physically settled in there (say July) does my son have a chance to get into a Grammar School still?

That will depend on how popular each school is. In the example of RGS this year, he would still have gained a place in July, but as I say, that was exceptional. In a normal year he would be allocated a place at any undersubscribed GS. On occasions that has been Aylesbury GS ( it occasionally has one or two spare places) or Chesham Grammar.

Is there a special procedure or process that this can be done (this would also help him revise more).

No, there is no special process.

In a nutshell, you face two hurdles:

1. The test (and tutoring him for it).

2. The problem of distance for school allocations.

Take a read of the various pages of our main website (not just the forum) via the links at the top of the page. There is a wealth of information about the whole school transfer process that may leave you feeling much wiser.

Sally-Anne

[Marylou]

Cross-posted with Sally Anne who cross-posted with Guest 55! See, we are all falling over each other in the rush to help, we are such a friendly bunch!

Hi and welcome to the Forum!

You've come the the right place - all the details you need to know about the process in Buckinghamshire, with dates, links etc. are summarized in one place here: http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/school ... re-11-plus" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As Guest55 has mentioned, Patricia is our local whizz when it comes to working towards the Bucks exam and has provided some superb and very recently updated advice on DIY eleven-plus preparation here:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... =12&t=4782" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Any questions, just ask and someone will be along soon!

[Sally-Anne]

Cross-posted with Sally Anne who cross-posted with Guest 55! See, we are all falling over each other in the rush to help, we are such a friendly bunch!

Or, alternatively we are a bunch of smiling saddos who need to get a life!

Anyway, I think you will find us more forthcoming than Bucks CC were over the phone!

[hermanmunster]

Just pottering around the forum and get back to find 3 of them there already!!!

get a life Herman!! - Good Luck Stacatomum

[StacatoMum]

Everyone,

I really appreciate the rush of help. Now I am not too weary on handling this. Yes you are a very helpful bunch of lovely people. In my rush to answer Guest55 I didn't realise I pressed Pm instead of reply button. I'd just re-post it here and do my pm later. :


Subject: From Norfolk (county with no 11+ exams) to Buckinghamshire

Guest55 wrote:
It would be much easier for you to move now as without a Buckinghamshire address there will be few GS where your son is likely to get a place as they are allocated on distance.

As much we would like to do this now, we have to start working on putting the house up in the market and getting there to find our new place. We have set our minds and hearts to Aylesbury but it's quite hard to fast-track everything since aside from my year5 we also have a year 2 son. We just hope for our yr5-er to have a good closure here before we move him (has his swim team that he competes for county-level and is completing grade 5 theory for piano with a very good teacher). We just want him to slide from this world to there cause he is already upset that we took on this decision of moving.

If you decide to stay in Norfolk you apply through Norfolk but name Buckinghamshire schools on your CAF. You need to apply to sit the 11+ and will need to come to Aylesbury now I think in Autumn half-term; they did allow you to sit in your own school but I'm not sure whther you still can (ask Admissions re that one).

Thanks for this info, but would you have any idea who we should get in touch with so we could work on the application process, better yet get the application form from?


You also need to consider your option should he not qualify - some Upper schools are more highly regarded than others (PM me).

I will... I will just check the links you've given first. Thanks again Guest55, at least I have a starting point.


There's much more to tell but go to:

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/bcc/schools/a" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... ssion.page?

to see this year's info.

Good luck!

StacatoMum

[StacatoMum]

Sally-Anne,

I am digesting the info you've given. I'd soon be going to our council site to get around the CAF form. And I suppose I would need to watch out for the Buck's form to come out July time (this year). Pathetic me I need to print the whole thread so I could mince them, I am quite slow in absorbing things now as it is near midnight and everything just dawned on me today. I was actually thinking we have a year still to work with. Here in Norwich everything would be moving by next school year still (when he is actually in Yr6)- their SATS is actually May 2013 time. It's really an entirely different world we're living in.

Marylou,

Those are very helpful links. I definitely have something to work on now. I was really dumb-founded when I learnt that none of the institutions that I thought would be the best to get info from, just admitted that they can't throw me a rope. I really am glad that I stumbled onto the forum. (Guess the line that worked for me is- "If you can't find it google it.") I'd follow Patricia's threads and get more info.

Herman---

StaccatoMum