Al_Gardener

I'm not sure. I know someone who got Gifted and Talented in Maths, but I don't believe they get any extra lessons (according to my son anyway). The Maths scholars are going on a trip abroad this year with limited places, and when these were not all taken up, spare places were offered to Gifted and Talented Students, so the child we know is going on that trip (I'd assume that would be the same for half-scholarships in this regard). I don't recall any mention of half-scholars for Maths so wonder if they get moved to Full Scholars or G&T once in the school - if you email they will probably answer, but maybe a bit later in the year. Good luck.

My son is just finished Y6. By the last term most kids seem to be making their way to school on their own, either all the way or part of the way. It's a good intro to travelling to secondary and typically the distances are smaller, and mostly walking. Like everything it depends a bit on your child, but maybe he should be escorted all the way to start, then maybe only to the stop he gets off etc and gradually intoduce it. Some that travel a bit further had phones so they could contact adults if needed. Good luck, it's a tough one. If its possible workwise I would escort him until maybe the last term.

BellendenBear Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > My daughter in Y8 also got G+T. As Hoonaloona > said, they seem to get the same opportunities as > those with scholarships, the only difference is > that G+T doesn?t increase your chance of getting a > place at the school. There are loads of sports > clubs at lunchtime, after school and sometimes > during lesson time, above the usual PE lessons, > which are open to all kids. Those with > scholarships/ G+T have an additional session each > week where they rotate different sports. Last year > this was after school, this year it?s at > lunchtime. They also have occasional guest > speakers. I don?t think there?s a requirement to > play for a team if they can?t or don?t want to. My > daughter does about 13 hours of sport outside of > school and still benefits from school > opportunities (and mostly gets her homework > done!). Feel free to PM if you have more > questions. Thanks BellendenBear, that's really helpful. My son does slightly less than 10 hours outside of school so this sounds great if your daughter can still do both Kingsdale and external activities.

hoonaloona Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hi my son also got gifted and talented for sport > and is now in Year 11 and doing GCSE PE. As far as > I can see he's had the same opportunities at > Kingsdale as those with full and half > scholarships. He does loads of sport there and > there are plenty of after school and lunchtime > sports clubs. Hope that helps. Thank you so much, that's great to hear. MY son loves sport - my only concern is with the other sports he does out sdie of school now (and the increased homework). Do they have to do x amount of hours of play for one of the teams do you know? Or is is more do normal PE, with the option to do some extra activities, odd special day out etc?

My understanding for appeals is that you can appeal based on: 1. Some form of error in terms of criteria not being followed (ie your distance has not being measured correctly, your sibling priority has been missed etc). You need to check the criteria of the schools and see where and why you think a mistake was made (and where that would mean your child would get a place) 2. You need to show that the detriment to the school taking your child as extra would be less than the detriment to your child of not attending that school. It can't as Ii understand it be Ofsted related, but can be related to needs of your child so outside of the normal application criteria. I'm not an expert by any means, just what I have picked up reading online. Mumsnet has some good posters on the appeal topic, and I thought there used to be someone from the council who used to post here who dealt with admissions?

Hello My son' been fortunate enough to get a lottery place at Kingsdale. He got didn't get a full or half-scholorship for sports, but did get 'Gifted and Talented'. He does quite a lot of sport already outside of school so does anyone know what this award means in practice in terms of commitmment / opportunity vs a sports scholorship. I can't find anything on the website for sports (there info of the differences for music on there). Thanks Al

We've used Richard Pinner for both our Kids 5th birthday parties, he was excellent. He's not SE22 based but does travel (well did pre-pandemic...) https://magicandlaughter.co.uk/

I went to a private school but we have decided that our sons will go to state schools. I'm sure things are different now, and mine was a language based one also, but I feel I would have been better off in a state school for my needs. We've opted to put some money aside each month for the kids instead, and they do plenty of activities outside of school as it is now (football, swimming, martial arts and drama). Whilst I suspect this is different for the private secondaries locally, my school had kids from all over London so most of your friends lived on the other side of town. I want my kids to have a good based of local friends which we have for primary and has been great, so I want that for secondary if we can. For us Kingsdale looked excellent and will be 1 or 2 on our list, but we have not seen it in the flesh yet which might make a difference as everyone says it's huge. If I was you, I would forget private vs state, work out what sort of school would suit your kids and then see what there is in both sectors, draw up your shortlist and see what is left. The Headteachers wold appear to make a massive difference so worth listening to them and their ethos. Good luck!