KE Foundation Grammars - Pass Scores

KenR · Post by **KenR** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 6:55 pm

Don't know if anyone can help, but my son took the exam for Aston.He is no. 31 on the waiting list,and was 3 marks under the lowest score to gain a place. Are his chances of getting in zero ???

Hi Rugbymom

The short answer is probably not great.

I can only compare this to the situation 5 years ago with my son. He was 2 marks off the KECHB mark and he was 18th on the waiting list. I don't think he wold have been offered a place. However that year they over offered compared to the PAN. They made 124 offers for 93 places, so they had to have 31 rejections before the waiting list kicked in.

The key thing is to find out how many offers over PAN they made and hence the effective point of the waiting list

rugbymom · Post by **rugbymom** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 7:46 pm

Thankyou,that does help.
Can I ask a daft question,what does PAN stand for? May need to know if I ring them !!
Regards,
Rugbymom.

KenR · Post by **KenR** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:28 pm

PAN is the official maximum number of places that a school is supposed to allocate - for KE Aston I think it is 104 places

lindah162 · Post by **lindah162** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 10:02 pm

My son is 11th on the Aston waiting list. Initially I was elated but now I have come to realise that he is still a long way off in actual fact, and may not still get a place. He was one mark off!

KenR · Post by **KenR** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 10:11 pm

Hi Lindah162

It really does depend on the Head and how many over PAN he decides to make offers to.

As I mentioned the KECHB head a few years ago used to offer way over PAN; the reason being that the previous year he only made a few offers over and tehn found when he went to the waiting list the some of the children didn't accept the offer because they had offers elsewhere, sometimes in the independent sector.

You need to find out from the Foundation Office how many offers over PAN they made. Don't forget as well that some of the children on the waiting list will be late admissions who may be on 3 waiting lists. 1 mark out stands a chance.

KE Handsworth girls last pass mark actually dropped 2 marks a couple of years ago.

stressedaddy · Post by **stressedaddy** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 8:27 am

Hello,

I hope you can help to clear a matter up for me.

We had KEFW as our first choice as my older son is also at this school. My second son who took test didn't make the cut and is on the waiting list, waiting for scores.

My question is : Does a child who has KEFW as their first and is placed on a waiting list get a priority over someone else who may KECHB or KEA, or do they ALL go into the same "pot" and it's purely the highest mark, distance etc criteria.

How does the waiting list work

Child A

1 KEFW
2 KECHB
3 other
4 other
5 other

Child B

1 KECHB
2 KEFW
3 KEA
4 other
5 other

In the above example, child A missed out on his choice 1 and is on waiting list. Child B missed out on their choice 1 and is waiting list, who gets priority if they both have same marks and there is a place at KEFW made available. Does preference come into play?

fm · Post by fm » Fri Mar 05, 2010 9:11 am

In the distant past when my eldest did the exam it was indeed done on giving preference to those who put the school first.

Now, however, I am fairly sure that if children are tied on scores, then the factor which sorts their order is distance from the school.

I suspect KENR will be along soon to confirm this as I am fairly certain it was he who told me this two years ago.

I hope you get your scores soon so you can at least see how you are situated.

Footballdad · Post by **Footballdad** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:45 pm

I requested my DS's score for Sutton Coldfields Girls Grammar School as it was our 2nd choice, wanted to know how well she done there.

She got the following:

Standardised score of 365. Wow i feel so proud at the moment.

lindah162 · Post by **lindah162** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 10:45 pm

Thanks kenR, that has made me feel a bit better!

KenR · Post by **KenR** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 11:23 pm

My question is : Does a child who has KEFW as their first and is placed on a waiting list get a priority over someone else who may KECHB or KEA, or do they ALL go into the same "pot" and it's purely the highest mark, distance etc criteria.

OK this is how it works.

There is a hypothetical waiting list for each KE school based on the score in the exam and the straight distance from the school for those with tied scores. Children can be on up to 3 KE grammar waiting lists and can even be on a waiting list if they have an offer from a KE grammar with a lower pass mark. e.g a boy with a score of say 341 may be on the waiting list for KECHB even though he has an offer from KEFW. To be on a waiting list you must have included that school somewhere on your CAF preference form.

The waiting list is maintained and updated centrally by the KE Foundation Office.

As has been stated before most schools make offers over their PAN. As offer acceptances or rejections come in, the school updates its records. If the number of rejections from parents comes to a point where numbers of accepted or pending offers drops below the PAN then the school needs to make an offer against the waiting list.

At this point the school contacts the Foundation Office and requests the name of the next available candidate for that particular school from the Foundation Waiting list. The position on the CAF preference form has no bearing.

Obviously there may be several candidates on the waiting list with the same scores but their relative position on the list is determined by the straight line distance from the school.

The only thing to bear in mind is that if there are late admission candidates these can be inserted in the waiting list at the appropriate place at any time by the Foundation Office.

Late Admissions can be allowed for a number of reasons including mÃ³ves into the area (and a late extra exam) or maladministration by the home or neighbouring LEA etc.

Hope this makes sense.