AQE Exam Results

edith999

v._interested wrote: »

Why , is it untrue?

if u say so my dear:T

rubylee11

now now lets not all fallout!!!

Ex-Spendaholic

edith999 wrote: »

then dont send ur child there!!! simples!!! nothing wrong with d grade pupils either:mad:

I don't understand why you are getting so het up on this. I've given my opinion (which has changed dramatically in the past couple of weeks). It is a public forum and people will have differing opinions, thats life. My definition of a good school will differ from the next person.

I didn't say there was anything wrong with D grade pupils. A child can join a class of D grade pupils in any secondary school - there is no need to pay Campbell £2098 a year for that privilege.

edith999

Ex-Spendaholic wrote: »

I don't understand why you are getting so het up on this. I've given my opinion (which has changed dramatically in the past couple of weeks). It is a public forum and people will have differing opinions, thats life. My definition of a good school will differ from the next person.

I didn't say there was anything wrong with D grade pupils. A child can join a class of D grade pupils in any secondary school - there is no need to pay Campbell £2098 a year for that privilege.

u should have stopped after ur first paragraph , having an opinion and just being biased against a Good fee paying school is a different matter i have 2 boys at campbell and people like u make my blood boil wot is it? the money that puts ur back up:mad:

lovelylucy_2

Ex-Spendaholic wrote: »

The VP (not sure of his name - dark hair and glasses) told me about the "C" stream. I have no reason to doubt his word on that but yes it put me off. Whilst my child is bright and academic he also needs a swift kick in the !!! (not literally) now and then to keep him at it. The C Stream in Campbell I fear would have him in a class of not so bright kids and he may become like them. I just feel he would do better in a different school.

Having 3 boys I know exactly what you mean. I do hope you get your school of choice unfortunately it seems to me that it is just going to be a waiting game as no-one seems to really know how things will play out. As for the fact that Campbell accepted D grades I think you'll find that only 3 years ago Methody did exactly the same. I believe that if a child is encouraged, and feels valued, if they want to work they will succeed regardless of grade and this was the very reason that I thought doing away with the grading system was a positive as children are not labelled and judged. My nephew who was in the top 12 of the 60 pupils in his p7 year and was expected to get an A at 11+ got a D so it just goes to show that the system can fail pupils. He has since achieved 9 GCSEs at a Grammar that took in a few D's.

Ex-Spendaholic

Thanks lovelylucy. We were really impressed with the school. The happy, confident boys and the lovely staff are a credit to it. When we went back the 2nd day the head of music remembered my son's name which given the number of people who were there the night before was pretty amazing. We did very nearly go for it but decided that the school on the doorstep (Grosvenor) was the place to go for. Campbell is still on the list and may be where he goes in the end. His friend is there in year 8 at the minute and loves it. I just did have some reservations but I had reservations about a number of the grammars we looked at not just Campbell. In the end its a tough decision which schools to go for as the child will spend 5-7 years there. I have 2 girls to follow and from what I can see there isn't an option like Campbell for them.

Edith999, I will no longer be replying to you. Obviously you can't cope with a diverse range of opinions. Use of nasty icons etc isn't pleasant for anyone else to read so I for one will not be adding coal to your fire.

lovelylucy_2

What about Hunterhouse I have 2 nieces who attended both as boarders initially as their parents were working abroad. They both did exceptionally well and loved it there!!!

Ex-Spendaholic

Yes its an option. In my mind there are more options for a girl. As well as the co-eds there are Bloomfield, Strathearn, Hunter and Victoria whereas the boys have Campbell and RBAI as their options. I think my next child (7 in April) may be better suited to an all girls school. Ideally I would have liked the 3 kids in one school but that probably isn't realistic.

Will you have 3 boys in Campbell at one time?

Belfast_Mum_2

Folks, this has been a very helpful and informative forum. It has given an insight into grades acheived and a guide as to what schools expect to take in. The transfer forms have now been submitted and I don't think there will be any further information to be gained until either AQE issue a statement regarding number of children in quintiles or parents start to hear about cut off grades for grammar schools. I'm sure this information will start to filter through and would ask everyone to post back. Thanks to all who have submmited useful comments.

blfastboy

Belfast_Mum wrote: »

Folks, this has been a very helpful and informative forum. It has given an insight into grades acheived and a guide as to what schools expect to take in. The transfer forms have now been submitted and I don't think there will be any further information to be gained until either AQE issue a statement regarding number of children in quintiles or parents start to hear about cut off grades for grammar schools. I'm sure this information will start to filter through and would ask everyone to post back. Thanks to all who have submmited useful comments.

Eminently sensible suggestion. The transfer forms are in, second guessing is impossible. There's no A-D correlation that can be done with the AQE scores and the 11+ because the method, ranking and no. of pupils that did them are so completely different (half the kids that used to do 11+ did the GL instead). Also acceptance criteria for schools are varying so widely this year.

We'll know the answer in May and any conjecture and rumour between then will probably cloud the issue and drive us scatty, so ignore it and best of luck.

Couple of final points - the AQE don't need to issue a statement of the number of children in the quintiles - it's a fifth of those who took the exam in each, by definition a quintile is a fifth (approx 7000 did it, so 1400 in each quintile).

Also, for an interesting view that may reassure some jangled nerves, go to Youtube and search for 'Newton Emerson education', the video's called 'Don't Panic!' (I'd post a direct link, but you can't as a new forum member). He gives a calmer reaction than that of the politicians to the selection debacle in that whatever school your child goes to will be a good school, since there's a surplus of good teachers in NI and the vast majority of kids here are well-behaved, despite what the scaremongers might think.