Wolverhampton/Walsall sitting exams 2019

[Pkaur]

Hi Everyone, I am new to this forum and have greatly appreciated reading everyones posts.

I wanted to ask some advice on the following:

My son is considering either 1st choice Adams Grammer or 2nd choice Queen Marys Boys grammer.
Anyones children sat the tests here recently? (We will be sitting it Sept 2019 if he still wants to).

I have read on the site that Adams do not publish actual score, but QMGS do and it is better to sit the exam at QMGS. Is this correct?

Are we able to sit the exam at QMGS even though our first choice will be Adams.

At the moment my son is doing some past papers (not timed) and he is getting about 60%. I am so proud of him.

thanks in advance

[MSD]

Hello PKaur,

As I understand there are currently five grammar schools in the Shropshire, Walsall and Wolverhampton Grammar School Consortium.

Adams Grammar School
Newport Girls’ High School
Queen Mary’s Grammar School
Queen Mary’s High School
Wolverhampton High School for Girls

And you child takes the same test for all Grammar schools but the results will BE reported separately by the schools you applied to at the time of filling application. Schools publishing the results should have no bearing on which school you should give preference to. Both schools you indicate in your post publish results but I understand QMGS provides lot more information that Adams. If you are concerned about getting the actual scores for your child, you can request that from Adams by quoting certain data protection acts anyway.

All the best!

MSD

[quasimodo]

Are we able to sit the exam at QMGS even though our first choice will be Adams.

The simple answer is yes you can do that and that is what some parents have been doing in order to obtain the score so that they can make a more informed judgement.It is what I would do in your circumstances.

Five years back my dd sat the exam at QMHS which is very local even though it was always our attention for her to go to WGHS if she got an appropriate score.In our case it was convenience.

As MSD quite correctly points out you can obtain the score with a FOI request but it is hassle and can take some days to obtain.

[MSD]

Quasi - I can't see why Adams refuse to publish meaningful results. I found Warwickshire results to be nice and neat - they provide a breakdown SD for all 3 areas, rather than the two Birmingham gives, and a rank order out of all cohort and out of boys/girls, whichever is applicable. I have always advocated schools providing raw marks too for the sake of completeness. It is always worthwhile to know the actual score achieved by the child alongside the age standardised score.

[Rooroo]

You have to list them both though at the time of submitting your application for the exam if you wish to be considered for both. We only chose QMGS because that is the only one we are interested in but our friends selected both. Her son was assigned Adams for the exam even though she wpuld have preferred QMGS so I'm not sure how you would ensure you sat it there.

[quasimodo]

You have to list them both though at the time of submitting your application for the exam if you wish to be considered for both. We only chose QMGS because that is the only one we are interested in but our friends selected both. Her son was assigned Adams for the exam even though she wpuld have preferred QMGS so I'm not sure how you would ensure you sat it there.

I would suggest at the time of making your application making it through QMGS rather than through Adams.The rest I presume is up to when the application is made and if they have to redistribute candidates depending on the demand at each school for the exam.

[Pkaur]

Thank you so much guys for taking the time to reply to my post...I am so grateful for your answers and knowledge.

I am taking it all on board. I think as suggested I will apply for the 11 plus exam through QMGS and state we are interested in Adams school also and hope we get to sit the exam at QMGS, thus ensuring a result detailing our score.

I just want to be prepared for these situations.

Can't get over how good this forum!

[Inspector General]

Quasi - I can't see why Adams refuse to publish meaningful results. I found Warwickshire results to be nice and neat - they provide a breakdown SD for all 3 areas, rather than the two Birmingham gives, and a rank order out of all cohort and out of boys/girls, whichever is applicable. I have always advocated schools providing raw marks too for the sake of completeness. It is always worthwhile to know the actual score achieved by the child alongside the age standardised score.

.

The HM at Adams argues that not knowing the scores prevents any unhelpful comparisons at a later stage when the boys who were awarded places arrive at school. There is a logic to this but at the same time it potentially gives parents (and their sons) false hope which in my mind is a worse evil. As I understand it, all boys who are 'of grammar school standard' (i.e. have 'passed' the test) are sent letters 'strongly recommending' that an application is made on their behalf - even if their standardised score is well below the realistic cut-off. They then have 6 months to wait for disappointment to arrive in the post. I think the HM at Adams is wrong but he is a man of strong opinions and is very unlikely to change course! When my own DS1 sat the test 3 years ago+ we ticked the box for QMGS as well and got the score from them, but that option is now closed as has been noted on this forum. The only way to get the score is to apply to sit at QMGS (and hope you are not redirected to Adams) or make a freedom of information/data protection request (quite a hassle) but my understanding is that this would not necessarily arrive in time for the LEA application cut off date.

[MSD]

I am not convinced the comparison of scores are as widespread as reported. Moreover, as the children settle within school, it would be a common practice for teachers to read out scores for internal tests and highlight standout performances in the class. Wouldn’t that then be contradictory to HM’s policy of not revealing scores and discouraging any form of comparison. Unfortunately, I don’t buy into HM’s reasoning in this instance.

[Poker Face]

You are able to email the University of Durham who set the CEM exam. On their website they explain what you have to do to obtain students results ( for any of their exams not just the 11+). There is a £10 admin fee. Which is worth the money if you are desperate to know the score. The score is then emailed to you, they state 28 days ( i think) but depending on volume of requests they normally reply much sooner than this.


I feel it's better to sit the test at the school that you are most interested in, especially if your son has been to have a look there, or you're local as the surroundings will be familiar; also they may be with school friends who are also sitting the test ( good for calming nerves on the day when you're queuing at the gate to go into school for the test!)