Support thread for parents of chilldren sitting the transfer test in 2011

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flymetothemoon wrote: »

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RBAI's entrance criteria is the score obtained in AQE and nothing else. c(just like Victoria College). Both schools traditionally took in more Bs than As and also took in some Cs. Hence for kids who didn't make it into their 1st or 2nd choice schools, these schools were still a possibility and that remains the case. Another thing which puts people off choosing these schools as 1st or 2nd choice is the fees (both charge approx £850 p.a.). RBAIs intake last year was approx 54 As & 96 B/Cs and this year it was approx 40 As & 110 B/Cs. AQE announced last yr that a score of around 105 and above was equivalent to an A (hence Quintiles 1 & 2 are As) and Quintiles 3 and 4 are Bi1, B2s with some Cs at the bottom of Q4. So when we see grammars taking in Q4s, these are more likely to be Bs than Cs. Many have said that AQE should never have published quintiles (along with scores) as they have caused a great deal of confusion and bear no resemblance to the 11+ bands.

Thank you for that thorough analysis. However, it still doesn't explain why RBAI is oversubscribed unless it counts second and third choices as applications rather than only first choices.

flymetothemoon_2

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At the open night last Jan in Belfast High the principal explained that once all transfer forms are submitted, the Boards send them out to 1st choice schools only and if the 1st choice schools accept the children, their forms never go any further so the 2nd choice schools would never see them and so on. If, on the other hand, the 1st choice school does not accept the child, then the form goes back to the Board and the Board re-issues it to the 2nd choice school and so on. Hence I imagine that all schools are counting each application they receive regardless of whether the applicant has listed their school as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or even 5th choice.

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Thanks Flyme, that explains a lot. Obviously RBAI is a very popular as a second or third choice but not as a first choice. Not very flattering for such a long -eatablished school. Any school that has Royal in its name seems unable to attract the best pupils. Being boys only is probably a disadvantage as well.

erincc

Hi, Would anyone be able to tell me the best place to get practice papers, we need GL and AQE.
Many thanks.

caz100

hi there i found windmill press particularly useful u can find them online

caz100

can somebody please explain something to me , i was under the impression that the application process foir gl and aqe was two different processes? i was under the belief that parents could apply to two different schools with two first choice preferences if their children sat both tests? now i am unsure as my daughter has come home with a booklet from the department of education saying we have only 3 preferences to be listed in order? so does this mean that my child sat an extra test for no benefit to her.my first choice of school for her is an oversubscribed grammar that only accepts a grades ranked in sas order from the gl assessment if she failed to get the grades then i wanted to send her to another grammar school that relies on aqe results only, so if i apply in this order if she does achieve an a grade, will this mean that my second preference school will know it wasnt my first choice even though they were two separate assessments???? can somebody please explain as i am getting really stressed about it??? many thanks x

caz100

erincc wrote: »

Hi, Would anyone be able to tell me the best place to get practice papers, we need GL and AQE.
Many thanks.

hi there we found windmill press online very useful much better than any we found in easons, more accurate in the stuff that was coming up on real n.i transfer papers

travellinglight_2

yes I think it is one form and you put all schools you want in order of preference regardless of test you used.... also thought a minimum of 3 choices was suggested ... but this booklet has bee tidied and I can't remember where to...

RikM

caz100 wrote: »

can somebody please explain something to me , i was under the impression that the application process foir gl and aqe was two different processes? i was under the belief that parents could apply to two different schools with two first choice preferences if their children sat both tests? now i am unsure as my daughter has come home with a booklet from the department of education saying we have only 3 preferences to be listed in order? so does this mean that my child sat an extra test for no benefit to her.my first choice of school for her is an oversubscribed grammar that only accepts a grades ranked in sas order from the gl assessment if she failed to get the grades then i wanted to send her to another grammar school that relies on aqe results only, so if i apply in this order if she does achieve an a grade, will this mean that my second preference school will know it wasnt my first choice even though they were two separate assessments???? can somebody please explain as i am getting really stressed about it??? many thanks x

No. There's only one application, and the DENI would much rather that you didn't put on any test results at all...

Last year they tried to make schools schedule the transfer interviews for filling out the form, before the results were out.

The good news is that I don't think publicly funded schools are permitted to consider whether you placed them first. But check their published selection criteria.

Lsst year our son's grammar was very good; they emphasized that you could put them last and it would make no difference.

Also, I don't think you are limited to 3 schools (at least you weren't last year). It was recommended to make at least 3 choices. There was room for more, and you could continue on another sheet if you ran out of space!

flymetothemoon_2

caz100 wrote: »

can somebody please explain something to me , i was under the impression that the application process foir gl and aqe was two different processes? i was under the belief that parents could apply to two different schools with two first choice preferences if their children sat both tests? now i am unsure as my daughter has come home with a booklet from the department of education saying we have only 3 preferences to be listed in order? so does this mean that my child sat an extra test for no benefit to her.my first choice of school for her is an oversubscribed grammar that only accepts a grades ranked in sas order from the gl assessment if she failed to get the grades then i wanted to send her to another grammar school that relies on aqe results only, so if i apply in this order if she does achieve an a grade, will this mean that my second preference school will know it wasnt my first choice even though they were two separate assessments???? can somebody please explain as i am getting really stressed about it??? many thanks x

Hi caz100
As RikM has said, there is definitely only 1 transfer form given to each child who is transferring to a post primary school. My child transferred last year and the form had space for 5 choices. Our primary principal advised that, regardless of scores, everyone should fill in at least 2 or 3 choices and include a secondary school in case their child was unsuccessful at getting into grammars. I chose 4 grammars and then a secondary as 5th choice and I vaguely think there was an option to make more than 5 choices. We didn't receive transfer forms until start of Feb (after most schools had held their open nights) however Ruane reduced the time to return the forms from 4 wks down to 2 wks (over the half -term break in Feb) and some schools had to bring forward their open nights at the last moment. This created even more stress and the principals of large primarys complained that they were left with little time to cram in the parental transfer interviews. So, to reduce the stress, I would recommend you be ready with your choices and ensure you have checked the specific criteria for each of them. All the grammars I chose last year took kids in rank order of scores regardless of whether the child had nominated the school as 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. Doing both tests has not been of no benefit to your child, on the contrary, kids who sit both tests have an advantage over kids who sit only 1 test as they have a greater choice of schools. Hence the ongoing debate to try and agree a single test. If kids who sat both tests were permitted to complete 2 transfer forms that would create an even greater imbalance. BEST OF LUCK.