reading_1979

After spending 6 years in Bahrain we are planning to move back to UK next year. The main reason for such decision is that my work is coming to an end. The second reason is that my son will be in year 5 from September and in order to register him for Grammar School exam, we need UK address. Hence we are aiming for April/ May next year.

At the same time, we are also planning for our second child. My wife is 36 and don't want to leave it too long. Earlier this year she had a miscarriage.

The doctor said it is up to us whether to proceed with the planning. If the pregnancy is smooth she can travel in the event we have to relocate before the delivery date.

I just wanted to get the views from other members of the following points:
a) I assume my wife will be able to register to NHS for maternity care soon after our arrival, if the delivery happens in the UK( we are British Passport Holders).
b) Do we need UK address for Grammar School exam registration. If UK address is not mandatory then we can move the relocation date to September 2021 so that the delivery happens in Bahrain. Please note that the exam application window opens between May and June 2021. If we miss the window, my son won't be able to appear for the Grammar School exam in October 2021.
c)Are we being too adventurous to plan for another child at this moment with too many uncertainties and a relocation is imminent?

If we leave the child planning until after our relocation then we may have to shelve the plan forever due to my wife's age.

I am confused and would really appreciate your views and suggestions.

christmasoompa

Yes, she'll be covered as soon as you move back permanently.

Depends on the grammar school. For our local ones, you don't need to be in catchment to sit the exam (when my daughter did it, lots were there from overseas). But you do need to be in catchment shortly after if you want to accept the place. Others may vary though, you'll need to look at each school's admission criteria to see what their rules are.

And do look at other schools too, most grammar school areas have excellent 'normal' schools, and a grammar school may not be for your child, or he may not pass the exam. My daughter took and passed the exam for a grammar school in Reading, but she decided it wasn't for her - she's now thriving at another school and a grammar school wouldn't have been any better for her personally. We actually moved away from Buckinghamshire purely to get away from the grammar school system as I'm not a fan of it (although daughter then wanted to sit the exam here anyway typically!). So don't assume grammar school automatically means the best, as it often doesn't.

reading_1979

Season’s Greetings to all the members of this forum.

Since my last post in August there are some changes in my personal situation.

Previously, we were intending to return back to the UK before 31st August 2021, to be considered as living within the catchment area for a day place in Grammar School. We are planning to return to the Wokingham Council.

My wife is now in her early stage of pregnancy with some medical complications. Currently she is under complete rest and may not be able to travel back to the UK (as planned) during her pregnancy. Hence why we won’t be able to fly anytime soon to meet the deadline of the end of August 2021. We are now looking to relocate back latest by the end of December 2021.

We are also concerned about frequent travel restrictions worldwide, noting that a travel ban can be imposed anytime without prior notice, such as the current travel ban on UK flights.

My son is aspiring to sit the 11+ plus exam and we don't want to deprive him from this opportunity due to any logistic reason. We are looking into alternate options for him to sit the exam.

In light of this situation, we were wondering if there is any provision to sit the 11+ exam under supervised conditions in my son’s school abroad.

Anyone aware of similar arrangement being made in the past by any council? Any alternate suggestion to overcome this tricky situation.

Thank You in advance for your help.

christmasoompa

Firstly, congrats on your wife's pregnancy, I hope all goes well.

So WBC and a grammar school, Reading Boys then? Your son cannot sit the exam abroad, even this year there were no allowances made and if people couldn't travel to sit the exam in person on the designated day, then tough! The council doesn't have anything to do with the exam by the way, it's the school that does it. Assume you are aware of the rules regarding living in the designated area by the end of the August before the exam or a house there to return to? Reading's rules are stricter than other grammars.

You don't need to be living in catchment on the day though (although you do need a previous home in the designated area by 31st August 2021, and be able to prove you're returning to it, as above), so you'll have to fly in with him for the exam and then fly back. As mentioned above, lots of people do that, it's very common for people to fly in to take the exam.

WBC has lots of good schools, but if you want to have one of the really excellent ones as your back up (St Crispins, Bohunt etc), then you'll need to make sure you're living within about a mile of those as they're hugely oversubscribed. That way if your son doesn't score enough to qualify for Reading Boys, you'll have an equally good option for him. Here you don't need a grammar school in all honesty, the other schools are just as good (personally I think better, as they don't have the pressure and have better facilities for other things as well like sports and arts).

If you haven't visited Reading Boys, I would recommend you try, if their open day goes ahead. It's not for everyone and your son may decide he's not keen after all. And if you'll be moving in the December so that he does his last two terms in primary school, try and consider that too, as if he has a miserable experience at primary it may cloud his view of UK schooling, so again that's worth considering and trying to get a place somewhere good - tricky in Year 6, but not impossible.

Make sure you don't miss the deadline for applying to sit the exam (May iirc). And last tip - whatever you do, don't have him coached for the exam or spend endless hours doing practice stuff. Just get him used to things like the non-verbal reasoning, but I know so many people around here that had their kids coached to get them in to Kendrick or Reading, and then their children have hugely struggled as essentially, they shouldn't be there. It's a very high pressure environment and if he's not naturally outstandingly academic, I wouldn't recommend it personally.

Best of luck.

reading_1979

Happy New Year!!

Thank You for your response.

We are planning to send a request to Reading School and the Slough Consortium to consider our case. I am aware of the deadline of 31st August 2021, to be considered as living within the designated area for a day place.

If the responses are negative, then I have to take my son back to the UK to sit the exam. Since, an address is required before the deadline, I may have to rent a house where we will live on our return to the UK.

Worst case would be that I relocate first, and arrange a rental property in the designated area, and then bring my family back after my wife’s delivery. This may even allow my son to start Year 6 from September while his mother is still in Bahrain. We may have to do frequent trips back and forth during the transition period.

For this year the exam pattern in Reading School has changed, as they've introduced Creative Writing (no NVR), which means that the Slough Consortium (English, Maths, VR and NVR) may have different exam date. This is yet to be confirmed by the respective schools. Any other grammar schools near Wokingham?

We are also considering Slough Grammar School, assuming that the score does not need to be as high as Reading School.

We were in an opinion that grammar schools are at par the British international schools considering extracurricular facilities and the GCSE results, but probably we are wrong in our thinking.

You have rightly said about the Primary school experience. At the moment, my son goes to be a very good school where he is happy and well settled. We are very worried about the school placement which will be done by the Council, we will have no say in which school my son will get a place. Do you have any suggestions for the Primary Schools in WBC?

Regarding Secondary School, we were only aware of Maiden Erlegh School which is Outstanding as per Ofsted Rating. Thanks for sharing that there are many other good Secondary State Schools in the catchment. I hope the Council will not consider how long we have stayed in the catchment and the allocation will only be based on the address at the time of application. I guess there is a huge demand for rental properties in the catchment, which brings another challenge in our relocation process. At the moment, there are only a handful of properties in the catchment for rent on Rightmove website. I hope the situation will get better in Summer.

Actually, if we had the option we would have continued him up to GCSE in his current school in Bahrain, but considering the future uncertainties, I think this is the best time to move and integrate him into UK schools. Professionally, I can stay another couple of years in the Middle East, but that will be too late for him to blend into the UK schooling system and gearing up for the GCSE at the same time.

On a side note, do you know if a new-born can travel back based on parents UK passport? I understand that for the 1st Passport application, both parents’ passports are to be sent with the application. Since I will be travelling during that time, whether the application of the new-born can be made only on the basis of Mother’s passport. If both parents’ passports are to be submitted then this additional logistical challenge is to be considered.

Thank You

christmasoompa

Slough? If you're living in WBC I wouldn't consider any Slough grammar school, that would be a hellish commute! You'd be looking at 4 hours a day on the school run, I can't think of anything worse tbh.

Don't forget that for Reading you have to prove that you actually lived at the address before the deadline and it must be your son's permanent address, so just renting a house wouldn't be enough, you will need to move in to it and have proof of that. "This must be the student’s permanent home address with their parent(s) / carer(s)"

That seems the most sensible option to me, although obviously far from ideal. But it's separating your family just for the chance of a grammar school place, are you sure it's really worth it? What do you actually think a grammar school will give your son that another school wouldn't (particularly in WBC, which is renowned for having some of the best schools in the country)? Are you sure he'll pass the exam and score enough to get a place? Just trying to play devil's advocate, but it's a lot to put your family through for something that may not happen anyway, if you just went with a 'normal' school then it would give you time to all move together without any of this stress/hassle.

Not for boys, no.

Exam results will look better on paper, but of course that's because they only select the very brightest and most academically able children, so the results will always be heavily skewed in their favour. If your child is academic then they'll do well at any good school IMO. My daughter is predicted all 7's and above for her GCSE's this year, she's academic and very driven, so with the help of her school she'll do well and didn't need a grammar school for that.

As for extra curricular activities, any good school will offer those. My children's secondary (in WBC) normally offers over 80 free after school clubs each week.

There are tons, it will depend on where you're living. I wouldn't go with just Ofsted, that can be very misleading. Do read the Ofsted report for the school but just don't let it be your only guide. Once you know where you will be living, join local Facebook groups and ask about the schools in those to get a better feel from actual parents, and of course do go and visit schools if you can as so much of it is 'gut' feel. When we moved to the area, my husband was adamant that our children would go to his old primary school which had a great Ofsted and was the closest to our house. But when we visited it we quickly decided it was absolutely not for our daughter, and went with another school instead which suited her much better.

Most of them are excellent, people move here from all over the country specifically for the schools. As above though, Ofsted is very misleading so don't just use that. For instance, there are a couple of schools that are too new and so couldn't get an outstanding Ofsted rating yet as they don't have exam results to report. But the brand new facilities are a bigger draw for many parents than the 1960's schools. So Ofsted doesn't always give you the whole picture!

How long you've lived in catchment won't be a factor, no preference is given to those who have lived there longer. As long as you are genuinely living in catchment (and they do check - we had them turning up on our doorstep!) by the deadline then you'll be fine. I'm sure you'll find more places for rent later in the year, we're going to be among them as we are moving to the US in the summer, lots of people will move on as hopefully the Covid situation eases a little.

Is there not a school in Bahrain that would do the IGCSE's? That's a shame if you don't really want to move back yet.

I'm sorry, I have no idea. That's a question for the immi section of the forum where the pros there will be happy to help I'm sure.

Best of luck to you.

Russet

Have you considered Buckinghamshire schools? They have an 11+ Grammar school system. My kids attended Dr Challoners, Aylesbury HIgh and Chesham High - I would recommend any of these. Every child in Bucks sits 2 11+ exams in year 6 and approximately top 30% get offered places at the Grammar Schools. You obviously need to live in Bucks and school allocation is based upon your distance from the school.

mikelincs

Given the closing of schools declared today, and the fact that exams are also cancelled, certainly O and A levels, it may be that there will be no 11+ exams this year, what they intend to do I've no idea.

christmasoompa

I went to Aylesbury High, hated every moment! Thankfully my daughter decided against an all girls grammar, I think she'd have hated it too. But Bucks has a lot more choice and is very much a grammar school system if that's what the OP is after. My concern would be then if his son didn't pass the 11+ then the 'normal' schools tend not to be anywhere near as good as in Wokingham (which is why we moved here from Bucks). I'm assuming that the OP is from Reading going on his username so it may be that he just wants to come back to where friends/family are, but Bucks wouldn't be too far to visit.

They ran them last year even with all the other exams cancelled, so I can't imagine they'd cancel them, particularly as things will (hopefully!) be much better by Sept than they were last Sept.