Hi

Is there anyone who attended the Colchester girls grammar school open evening?

My daughter got 338 marks and i am wondering if they have given any indication of any realistic chances at certain score.

I live in Norfolk and we are allowed only 3 preferences to put.
I am not sure if i should apply for ColHSG as first preference as i donot want to lose my local comprehensive if i donot get any grammar school of my preference.

Please advice.

ta

With only 3 spaces on your CAF you do have to make sure that one of those three is a school where your DD is certain to get a place - from friends living just outside Norwich I gather that your primaries tend to be feeder schools for particular secondaries? - but if you put ColCHS first then this in itself will in no way prejudice your DD's chance of getting a place ranked below it on your CAF if she doesn't get in. If you look at the secondary transfer information which your LA publishes, I am sure that it will include an explanation of the 'equal preference system', which means that your application to any school is assessed by them against their published admissions criteria - they only know that you want a place, not where they were ranked on your CAF.

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Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx

I am in the outside catchment area of a reputed Comprehensive school. but technically, i live nearest to people who live in the outside catchment area. If i put Col , West cliff and South-end in my preference and if by chance, i donot get any of these , then i will not be considered under Ooc of my local comprehensive...

Can anyone advice about Westcliif girls and South-end Girls grammar school? In what way, they are different and better than each other?

ta

If you only name a super-selective and two grammar schools for which you are completely out of catchment for, then you run the risk of being allocated the very worst school that your LA has to offer, if it happens to be the school nearest to you that has a place on allocation day.

As to which out of WHSG or SHSG is 'best' - given that they are both excellent schools, what did you and your DD feel about them when you attended the open evenings back in the summer / information sessions this week? Or did the 200-odd-mile round trip deter you from coming to look at the schools at the time?

I apologise if I seem a little unfair here, I used central Norwich to the centre of Southend as distance markers; I appreciate that there are bits of Norfolk which are less than 99.4 miles away from here .

If your DD did get a place at either school, please say that you would be moving into the area before next September...

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Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx

We did not attend the open evening of any school.
Yes, we are ready to move any-where and i would be living within 0.5 mile radius of any of the allocated grammar school either colchester, south-end or west-cliff.
Any feedback on west-cliff and south-end will really be appreciated...

ta

Well, that's a relief . The moving bit, I mean - although I'm not sure I'd be willing to up sticks and move to a completely new area for the sake of a school that neither I nor the child concerned had actually seen.

We have two D at SHSG - DD in year 9 and DS1 in year 13. The school is very good academically, even if I can feel folk muttering that it's not HBS or Tiffin Girls, but also quite laid back and even quite fun. This morning as a representative of the PA I attended the special assembly to celebrate its 101st birthday, complete with presents and cake .

On another thread, someone posted that Southend felt really out in the sticks, but lots of us rather like our - adopted, in my case, little bit of the sticks. And SHSG and SHSB have just been selected, not for the first time in either case to represent England in the 2015 World schools Athletics competition in China.

WHSG looks rather different, the main building being a 'new build' in the early 1930s, as opposed to the main part of SHSG dat-ing from a relocation from central Southend in 1957. I know girls who are very happy at WHSG, but it does have a reputation of being less 'light-handed', for want of a better word, than SHSG. It is only a mile or so from where we live, but DD really didn't like it - and this was with the benefit of some of the excellent 'outreach' work that WHSG does with the primary school that our DC attended. I'm sure others will be able to give you a more complete picture.

It is obviously after you need to complete your CAF, but SHSG Sixth Form open evening is on Wednesday 5th November 6-8pm and WHSG on Tuesday 18th 7-9pm; it may be worth asking whether you could come along. Or borrow a 16-year-old and let them have a 'legitimate' look round as well .

Apologies for oddly-hyphenated word in sentence re school buildings, but the original got 'asterisked'

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Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx

I have 3 children at 3 different schools and I would say that ColCHS is the best school I have dealt with. It is particularly good at tracking pupil's progress and quickly intervening before they fall behind. Discipline is good but not over the top. DD is extremely happy there.
However you need to be aware that it is situated in the most expensive part of town and an area with good comprehensives so housing is highly sort after and not cheap. A 0.5 mile radius would be expensive compared to Norfolk prices.

Many thanks for feedback. This will really help me to prioritise and putting schools in correct order of preference.
As far as house prices are concerned, prices are rising everywhere but it's definitely costly compared to Norwich, Westcliff and even South-end. Lets see what we get first and then decide where to look for house etc. One thing is sure that whatever we get, relocation is definitely on the cards next year.

cheers

I attended the open evening on Wednesday. No indication was given by the school about what scores will be accepted. They referred us to the information sheet that has the list of scores for the different schools showing what was accepted in the last 4 years. They were unaware of people's scores (although we were later asked for DD's score and they made a note of it) and therefore unable to say what the cut off will be but stated that it maybe similar to previous years.