Dear Parent,
For those who have expressed an interest in their child sitting the Transfer Test in November, this information may be of interest to you.
PPTC (GL) Statement regarding Covid-19 (Coronavirus)
"In planning for the 2020/21 Entrance Assessment the PPTC continues to closely monitor the current situation and with it the uncertainty and disruption it brings for parents, pupils, staff, schools and others.
The arrangements for 2020/21 are currently under review and PPTC is working closely with its Entrance Assessment provider, GL Assessment Ltd in this regard.”
Just to clarify, there are two different test systems: GL is the system for entry to a Maintained Grammar School and AQE is the system for entry to a Controlled Grammar School. Pupils can only be considered for entry to a particular grammar school if they had sat the relevant tests. Pupils therefore considering either GL or AQE must register separately for the systems- this can be done on the website of the grammar school, which your child is considering attending. Please be aware that it is a parent’s responsibility to complete the registration form for their child.
The systems operate on separate Saturdays to allow pupils to sit tests: GL tests are sat on one day and AQE sit on three separate Saturdays.
As it stands, the registration process is due to open for GL Assessment on 11th May 2020 and will close on 18th or 25th September 2020. For AQE, registration opens on 29th April 2020 and closes on 30th September 2020.
For parents who have never been through the process before, here is a summary of the GL Assessment:
Entrance Assessment (GL)
• The assessment consists of 2 standardised papers and are multiple choice in format.
• The Maths Paper has 45 Questions and lasts 45 minutes.
• The English Paper has 60 Questions and lasts 50 minutes
• There will be a short practice session before each of the papers and, between the papers, the children will have time for a snack and a toilet break.
• The children will record their answers on a separate computer marked answer sheet.
• The Entrance Assessment will be marked independently by GL Assessment.
• The aspects of English and Mathematics covered by the Entrance Assessment are consistent with the legal requirements of the Northern Ireland Key Stage 2 curriculum.
The test provider AQE have released 3 free tests including answers and a further 3 tests are set to be released on Wednesday 22nd April. Although this test is different in format from the GL Assessment, the content is the same.
These can be accessed from https://aqe.org.uk/practice-material-spring-2020/
Kind Regards
Miss Devine and Mrs Carlin
