In year exams for SHS

[imustbecrazy]

Okay so we were unsuccessful for our appeal for SHS. Our next step is to prepare for an in year exam next year. Has anyone had experience of this, and what does it entail? Do we need to dig the old verbal reasoning books out? Would SATS practice tests suffice?

[Monkeyfeet]

I'm guessing it will be the new exam format I don't know much about it but there are details pinned at the top of the forum x

[stroudydad]

There is a section on the SHS website that refers specifically to in year admissions over PAN, have you looked at that? I don't think it follows the same format as the common entrance test

[imustbecrazy]

I have gone over the SHS website with a fine tooth comb, but no info on the in year test format.

[littlemiss1610]

Click on admissions, then admissions to year 7 and it should appear on the left hand side at the bottom. Generally the in year tests are set by the individual schools and consist of maths, English and possibly science set by the tutors at a level they would expect the child of the correct academic ability to attain.

[Amber]

I have pm-ed you; but just to say that in-year admissions for the schools are, as Little Miss says, handled internally and the schools set their own tests for which they do not require or even desire preparation. The idea is to see where a child is in relation to the cohort in the school already and my feeling is if they feel a child has spent months preparing, that is more likely to put them off than encourage them to offer a place. Check the rules for in-year admission by contacting the school and asking - it used to be the case that you could only appeal once for each academic year but I don't know if that still applies.

I think most people who are determined enough can get a place at a GS eventually, but it may be a long haul and I would encourage anyone in this situation to work on getting the child to accept the allocated school and not even mention further attempts to appeal until a long way down the line. It is vital that a child feels parents have faith in a school they are to transfer to at 11; the prospect of more tests, which may come to nought, is in my view just too difficult for a 10/11 year old to deal with in the face of disappointment.

Remember also that all the grammars recruit heavily at sixth form, if all else fails.

Good luck.

[Peridot]

I agree wholeheartedly with Amber on this one as regards focusing on reassuring your child and getting them to be happy with the allocated school. If you do decide to try applying for in-year admission to a grammar, do check carefully with the school first that your child would be eligible; certainly at our local grammars if you do not achieve the qualifying score you cannot reapply for the school until sixth form. Good Luck.

[Stressed?Moi?]

I hadn't realised you could try again in-year for grammar; I thought you only got one chance.
I really hope you get sorted imustbecrazy as this could well be me next year!

[Cup of tea]

I think if you have appealed, you cannot enter in year 7, but you can take the test in yr 7 for entry at the beginning of year 8. It is an english, maths and science test. The school will have no idea if you have prepared or not, you literally book a place with admissions and turn up. the 3 tests take about half a day. One thing to be aware of is, more students mean more money, so the school is more likely to accept a student even if they can see from the tests that they will be at the bottom of the cohort - bums on seats and all that!!! I would go for it if your daughter really wants to go there!

[Amber]

I think if you have appealed, you cannot enter in year 7, but you can take the test in yr 7 for entry at the beginning of year 8. It is an english, maths and science test. The school will have no idea if you have prepared or not, you literally book a place with admissions and turn up. the 3 tests take about half a day. One thing to be aware of is, more students mean more money, so the school is more likely to accept a student even if they can see from the tests that they will be at the bottom of the cohort - bums on seats and all that!!! I would go for it if your daughter really wants to go there!

Maybe there are different systems at the different schools. I know 3 children who entered (different, local) GS in Y8 and Y9. They are most definitely not bottom of the cohort and have proper written evidence to prove the opposite. I also know that more (by about 3 fold) took the in-year test than were offered places at at least one of the schools. I don't know about appealing as none of the children concerned appealed for a Y7 place but like Cup of Tea I also understood that you get only one shot per academic year. I also know one child quite well who was told not to prepare but to annotate questions they couldn't do with something to say that they hadn't covered the material. The school preferred this to trying to second guess what a child had been coached for.

It is certainly true that they like bums on seats and that children leave these schools just as they leave others. And yes I imagine they will take someone who applies at the right time if they are broadly OK to get in. STRS says on its website that it takes children from a broad range of ability (top 40%) so it is easy to see that a relatively able child applying when there happens to be a place is likely to get in as there are financial imperatives on all schools. Pates is possibly a bit fussier although even they probably wouldn't leave an empty place if someone was going to cope in Y9 or 10.