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

iamaworriedmother

RikM wrote: »

I'm not altogether sure that helps, unless you have figures on the level of attainment of that particular class/year when they entered the school.
There's no easy way of telling whether the school has improved/damaged the performance of that class from just looking at the final figures.

Of course, if they are below the NI average for that year (in a selective school) that would probably sound warning bells, but in that case there's likely to be a lot more obvious warning signs (e.g. staff and principal attitudes).

If you have the year averages for yr8 and yr9 for the previous two years...(example)..then you can maybe see how the kids are doing. Adding this to GCSE results and A level results. A certain Grammar school in County Antrim....that has no principal at the moment (retired Dec 2011)..and had failed the inspector report...parents heard AFTER the open day..and the year scores are low...would you want to send your bright kid there...or choose another local Grammar school..Mmmmm..

RikM

iamaworriedmother wrote: »

If you have the year averages for yr8 and yr9 for the previous two years...(example)..then you can maybe see how the kids are doing. Adding this to GCSE results and A level results. A certain Grammar school in County Antrim....that has no principal at the moment (retired Dec 2011)..and had failed the inspector report...parents heard AFTER the open day..and the year scores are low...would you want to send your bright kid there...or choose another local Grammar school..Mmmmm..

No, but turning it around a bit... If they just had a new principal appointed, and s/he seemed competent, I probably wouldn't take much notice of previous scores. When we were doing the rounds last year, I was less interested in scores than in how the schools organized the sessions (basic skills), the attitude of the staff, and the impression presented by the head.
After the fact I was pretty certain that I'd prefer my kid to go to one of the local secondary schools, in preference to one of the local grammars, regardless of scores on paper, or "reputation". But he got into his first choice grammar instead.

travellinglight_2

got our date today from p.s. headmaster... not long now. 3 open nights this week....pressures on

travellinglight_2

newtownbreda here we come....

Flower-power22

My daughter done hers last year. We had to go and see the principal before we got the results from the exams. Although this was the case the principal did review pupils choices if the sores weren't as expected. So don't fret the choices can be changed if the child does better or worse that expected before the forms are sent off.

travellinglight_2

so.... Grosvenor, Wellington, Campbell,Aquinas, Lagan and Newtonbreda.... only Ashfield to go......now am confused....some things seemed better in each school..... apparently on day of results we can go online and see where child s score comes in the whole of entrants.... useful for campbell who give a £1000 bursary to boys in top 20% of all / this is paid for yr 8 and again in yr 9.... throws a cat among our pigeons.

beccasmum

travellinglight wrote: »

so.... Grosvenor, Wellington, Campbell,Aquinas, Lagan and Newtonbreda.... only Ashfield to go......now am confused....some things seemed better in each school..... apparently on day of results we can go online and see where child s score comes in the whole of entrants.... useful for campbell who give a £1000 bursary to boys in top 20% of all / this is paid for yr 8 and again in yr 9.... throws a cat among our pigeons.

TRAVELLINGLIGHT.
Where do you go online to see where your child's result sits? Is it just the quintile boundaries that are sent out with results or is it more specific? Would be great to get a bit more info. These last few weeks are dragging. Also have another question regarding bus passes if anyone knows rules. We live more than 3 miles from any school but our nearest one is 4 miles and next is 8 miles. Can my DS get a bus pass if he puts the furthest one as first choice as we are outside the 3 mile radius?

flymetothemoon_2

Hi beccasmum

Last year the AQE results came out as a score and there was a separate table of the quintiles too, so everyone could easily look at the table of quintiles to see which one their child's score fell into. It was very clear. The only thing they didn't tell you was your child's percentile ranking however you only need to know that for the few schools that are taking in both AQE and GL.

Good news re: the bus pass, your DS will get a bus pass for the school that is 8 miles away even though there is another grammar 4 miles away. My child goes to a grammar that is 6 miles from our home and has a bus pass. This was given out because there was no grammar within 3 miles (that is the test that's applied). We do have 2 other grammars within 4 and 5 miles but we applied for the school that is 6 miles away. So you don't have to choose the nearest grammar. The only thing that would stop a child from getting a bus pass would be if there was a grammar within 3 miles of their home.

I know what a drag all this is as I went through it last year but hopefully it will all be worth it!

beccasmum

thanks flymetothemoon
I know about the quintiles sheet as my daughter did the first AQE test in 2009 but I was wondering about this online thing that has been mentioned by travellinglight. Thought maybe this was a new thing that was brought out since first time round. I never really understood how the marking thing worked when my daughter did it, we knew her quintile but we didn't know how many sat above or below her. It would be great if you knew how many got each score and then you would know exactly how well they have done. Thanks for the info on the buspass though, it is never really made clear for people who live outside the 3 mile radius from any school.:beer:

Ball_Boy

We had a note home from DD's primary school which said there would be no information on quintiles in the results letter.