WGHS Vs Queen Mary - 297 for real???

[Petitpois]

So just looking at the schools performance tables and WGHS is a statistically significantly better school than Queen Mary and if you had the choice, you would choose WGHS, ignoring cultural ie non academic achievement factors.

So the 297 is completely anomalous and you should be looking at 325 or similar to get in, as there are virtually no middle or low achievers at the school. They (WGHS) have consistent high achievement over several years on a par with the top Grammars around the country e.g. Altrincham Grammar for girls.

So if its an option you would be nuts not to, but why only 297 to get in vs QM telling people girls will struggling if below 313.

Am I missing something????

[Turtlegirl]

When WGHS first ran the CEM exam, people seemed to get confused over whether they should apply and 297 was indeed the last score admitted (see http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 97#p392176). I think it's possible that people also didn't prepare correctly for a CEM exam that year either.

It is extremely unlikely that this would happen again as people now understand the scores and process. But WGHS *have* admitted girls on that score, so they are letting parents know.

[MSD]

PP - Q explained in one her previous posts that 2013 was the first year when WHGH became part of CEM testing and Walsall consortium. My understanding is that parents were not clear on the minimum score required to qualify and as a result lot of good candidates ignored to apply bringing the cut-off for that year down to an unexpected 297.

And that's possibly the reason why they are advising on that score even though the cut- off picked up significantly in 2014 and 2015. At least that's my understanding of the whole situation.

Sorry crossed

[Petitpois]

Thanks for this. I had some one today say they were going to hold out based on 280+, based on / because 297 was not massively above 280-ish. I genuinely did not get that WGHS had significantly better academic results than Queen M.

Okay that is helpful, what I was really looking for was confirmation that it was a top top grammar and it is, so we will be visiting WGHS for the time being rather than QM.

cheers

[saraakash]

Our tutor had told us very early on in our journey that WGHS is academically better that QMHS...but as all the class were Walsall based she never pushed any parent towards it and as QMHS is literally a 15/20 minute walk to all of the kids in the class parents never thought of anything else( including me ) I'm hoping 297 is for a real, as with 309 being DD scores it's our only hope to get into a grammar.

[Petitpois]

I think one or two may be shocked at the scored required for WGHS. 297 is completely at odds with the stats in comparison to CHG.

CHG with a very similar in take wants 230 in Birmingham. It is likely every single girl would have been level 4 if not level 5 reading and maths at the time they took the 11 plus. They were def level 5 in year six. It is reasonable to assume that solid reading and maths is likely to get you a 230 plus score in Birmingham or 330+ in walsall.

Unless I am getting things totally wrong, whgs made a major mess up with their advice and thus some made the cut with much lower scores.

For me observing the abilities of all the level 5c+ at year 5, these are ones that have got 350+ scores, broadly speaking, which is likley to be consistent with a significant rise in score for somewhere like wghs. To be blunt whilst queen Mary is a very very good school, 25% are only getting level 4 at year 6, and these kids will be a significant factor in the 8% of kids who then end up not getting 5 GCSE at 16.

So long term wghs can lower the bar, but it will not have to be clever to its academic record if does in my opinion.

That said if you can get in do so. Academic leagues are not your concern (only dd) and I don't believe this snooty nonsense that kids below a certain grade will struggle. All the experience I can draw from friends and family suggests that any kids will up their game rather fail.
I am shocked at how many anecdotes there are of kids getting places at GS, but supposedly being unhappy and struggling to keep up. They always come from same or similar quarters

[ToadMum]

The DfE data will also tell you the progress for the different attainment groups within a school (unless the number in a group is very small), so you should be able to see whether the 25% made the expected progress to GCSE. The 'expected' GCSE grade for a level 4 is C, I think.

If everyone benefits from (the pace of, because that is the main differentiating factor) grammar school, regardless of performance in selection tests - but not, apparently, regardless of performance in SATs - why have selection tests at all, though?