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

confused_mummy_3

[
P.S. If anyone else needs scores, I have the Bel Tel articles for the past 2 yrs.[/QUOTE]



Flymetothemoon

You may have opened the flood gates :L I'd appreciate it if you could tell me score for past two years for wallace and banbridge academy

Thanks in advance x

flymetothemoon_2

BOBS wrote: »

Yes please - Coleraine High and Coleraine Academical Institution for past 2 years please - really appreciated. Thanks

BOBS

Here's what the Bel Tel published -

Coleraine High - 2010

lowest score accepted was 95
90 girls (75% of places) allocated in rank order of scores, remaining places allocated using non-academic criteria
Overall intake was: Q1 16%, Q2 24%, Q3 23%, Q4 19% & Q5 17%
5 girls did not sit the test and 1 was admitted with a statement of special needs.

Coleraine High - 2011

Lowest score accepted was 91.
Applications 145, admitted 120.
Quintiles accepted 14 Q1s, 22 Q2s, 25 Q3s, 29 Q4s
Admitted 30 pupils using non-academic criteria.

Colerain Inst - 2010

Lowest score accpeted 82
100 places were allocated on basis of rank score in tests - remaining 25 places allocated using non-academic criteria.
Of the 100 pupils there were 10 Q1, 17 Q2, 31 Q3, 25 Q4, 17 Q5


Coleraine Inst- 2011

Lowest score accepted 66
Applications 126, admitted 126
Quintiles accepted: 10 Q1s, 14 Q2s, 18 Q3s, 27 Q4s, 31 Q5s
Admitted 12 pupils who did not sit the test & also accepted pupils using non-academic criteria.

flymetothemoon_2

confused_mummy wrote: »

[
P.S. If anyone else needs scores, I have the Bel Tel articles for the past 2 yrs.

Flymetothemoon

You may have opened the flood gates :L I'd appreciate it if you could tell me score for past two years for wallace and banbridge academy

Thanks in advance x[/QUOTE]

Confused mummy

Wallace High

2010 - lowest score 101 - Intake was 61 Q1s, 67 Q2s & 42 Q3s.

2011 - lowest score n/a as Wallace used bands.
Applications 282, admitted 172.
Quintiles accepted 67 Q1s, 71 Q2s & 32 Q3s.

Banbridge Academy

2010 - lowest score 92
184 admitted: 67 Q1s, 55 Q2s, 48 Q3s & 14 Q4s.

2011 - lowest score 95
Applications 218, admitted 187 - 53 Q1s, 67 Q2s, 52 Q3s & 10 Q4s

Good Luck

flymetothemoon_2

dprovan wrote: »

flymetothe moon, thank you for the information and your wishes. My dd got 224 so if the scores are remotely comparable she should be elligable. I never considered this option until we found ourselves in this position, however st louis achievement record is second to none in ballymena including the academy. My dd would clearly end up beside none of her friends and it would be a huge step/change but something to consider. I know a temp teacher from the school so have left a message to get more info.

I have never even been in the school never mind going to an open evening which i now see was last week. I wonder if i contacted the school whether they would be accomodating.

Dprovan

I'm sure St Louis' would accomodate you - they'd be only too glad to take in another B2 rather than a C or D) - ring them 1st thing tomorrrow and ask. I know parents who did this sort of thing last year with a no. of schools all of which were very accomodating.

Pmum

I think quite a few schools have an extra open day/evening after the results for folk whose child got a score they weren't expecting.

travellinglight_2

Can someone tell me how the quintiles info is arrived at? My son did well 103 and now looking at Grosvenor they accepted 103 as lowest last year I thinkn.... but where do quintlies come fom as may be relevant to other choices. We had family illness/ hospitalisation for his brother over 1st aqe and GL and grandfather admitted to hops before Gl and died between 2nd and 3rd AQE - awful so I hope special circ will be taken into account.... usually top one or 2 in class... thanks

RikM

travellinglight wrote: »

Can someone tell me how the quintiles info is arrived at? My son did well 103 and now looking at Grosvenor they accepted 103 as lowest last year I thinkn.... but where do quintlies come fom as may be relevant to other choices. We had family illness/ hospitalisation for his brother over 1st aqe and GL and grandfather admitted to hops before Gl and died between 2nd and 3rd AQE - awful so I hope special circ will be taken into account.... usually top one or 2 in class... thanks

So far as I know, you can't work out the quintiles without the details of all the scores... It's the division of the field into 5 groupings based on score.
But as usual the advice is - ignore the scores. Put your first choice first, then the second etc. and if you have any proof of special circumstances, don't be afraid to use it.

flymetothemoon_2

travellinglight wrote: »

Can someone tell me how the quintiles info is arrived at? My son did well 103 and now looking at Grosvenor they accepted 103 as lowest last year I thinkn.... but where do quintlies come fom as may be relevant to other choices. We had family illness/ hospitalisation for his brother over 1st aqe and GL and grandfather admitted to hops before Gl and died between 2nd and 3rd AQE - awful so I hope special circ will be taken into account.... usually top one or 2 in class... thanks

Travelling Light

Quintile Info was issued by AQE last yr & the yr before along with scores but it seems they've not issued quintiles this year and I think that is good because parents were confused by the quintiles which basically separated kids scores into 5 equal bands (of 20% each) from the highest band (Q1) to the lowest band (Q5). If you know your score, that's all you need. 103 would have been in Q3 last yr and the yr before - said to be broadly equivalent to a B1. As for Grosvenor, athough the lowest score accepted last yr was 104 (which included 29 Q3s), it was 92 in 2010 (and this included 46 Q3s & 14 Q4s). Quite a difference for some reason? Your son has done very well, go for Grosvenor, I'd be hopeful that they go below 104 this yr because according to the info published in the Bel Tel last year this was the highest cut off of any school. The year before the highest cut off was 103 at Dalriada. Good Luck.

BallyclareMum4

RikM

You seem to have a good idea what you're talking about - wonder if you'd give your thoughts on my dilemma? DS got 96 which I know is very border line for a grammar school place - Ballyclare Secondary stipulate that you have them as first choice - not sure if it's a worthwhile risk to take?




Does anyone know if there is streaming when kids enter B'clare Secondary?



Thanks to everyone on here, very interesting and informative, would have been completely lost. Without this forum.


Congrats to all kids who did their best no matter what score! Well done!

Ex-Spendaholic

Sorry to butt into your thread but my heart is breaking for some of the kids.

Im just here to echo what Rolo has already said. Im another parent of a child who went through this fiasco 2 years ago.

Seriously people, forget about the quintiles and forget about the scores and list the schools in order of preference. Cover all bases put down every school that your child can feasibly travel to. You have absolutely nothing to lose (I know the Ballyclare situation is a bit different)

With regard to Grosvenor, in year 1 of this fiasco, they accepted scores down to 92. What I believe happened here is that people didnt believe their child's score was high enough and applied elsewhere instead. Had I taken the advice of the primary school principal, I would have put somewhere else as first choice but luckily I did my research, stuck to my guns and put it as first choice followed by every other grammar we could travel to. My child got in. Unfortunately many of his friends didnt as they didnt apply despite it being their first choice. Their parents didnt think the score was good enough and listened to the primary principal. I tried at the time to tell them they had nothing to lose. As a result a lot of those kids ended up in Inst etc with their 100+ scores. Meanwhile kids of more savvy parents got in on 92.

Then what happened in year 2 was everyone assumed if they had 92+ they would get in there and didnt pay much attention to their other choices. There were a lot of shocks when the bottoms score admitted was 103/104 (cant remember which). In a few cases kids in the mid-late 90s ended up in secondary schools as not enough grammar options were on the form.

No amount of reading previous intake scores or Belfast Telegraph articles can guarantee what this years "lowest score" per school will be. Please, please, please dont rely on this information.

Im really sorry for waffling so long but we all owe it to our kids to follow this process as we should so I repeat put down schools in order of preference regardless of score. You dont want to end up in the position of your kids not getting in to a particular school because you didnt apply and then hear that friends with 10 marks less got in.

Also when we went through this process we revisited several schools after the results came out to help make our decisions. We always knew what choice 1 and 2 were but were in a dillema in which order to put the others in.

Also with regard to kids friends, yes it is nice if your child takes kids with them but believe me they will make lots of new ones.

Be proud of your kids for doing their best. Once they get to their new school in September, this score becomes irrelevant.