The Exam House — June 29, 2020

11 plus exam in Buckinghamshire is being postponed

11 plus entrance exams for Buckinghamshire’s children for entrance to the county’s grammar schools are set to be postponed because of covid 19. The Exam House has tutors and exams in Buckinghamshire.

Bucks 11 plus exam dates set to be adjusted because of Covid 19

The Exam House wrote about the 11 plus exam being changed before here.

There was a prediction there might be a chance this could happen to the secondary transfer tests for grammar school entry.

Exams for 2021 Sept entry but they will now be pushed back further into Michaelmas term to allow children time to “settle back into school”.

The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools (TBGS) website read: “Subject to permission from the Department for Education (DfE), TBGS is planning to test children later than usual this year. Schooling has been severely disrupted for children since March.

Most Year 5 children will have had little or no time at school from 20 March until September.

Further,

“TBGS considered several options but did not consider it fair for these children to take the test at the usual time.

Testing later will allow more time for children to settle back into school. Later testing will also allow schools more time to get used to the new working practices with more children on site..

The new dates will have to be approved by the department of Education. However the department has indicted they wish for the exams to be held later in the year.

TBGS, this would mean out-of-county testing would take place between Tuesday 27-Friday, October 30, and in-county testing would take place from Monday 2-Thursday, November 5.

But TBGS also says this is all provisional and the original dates may still be used.

A frequently asked questions page has been set up by TBGS to deal with questions posed by parents about the change in exam dates.

The key points 11 plus exam points are:

Social distancing will be adhered to with less pupils taking the test in one room

The format will be the same as usual.

There may be a chance of having the Exam later if clash with half term plans. Although this might well leave it open to fraud as some exam candidates might memorise the questions and pass them on.