Residence requirement

[Etienne]

'Exception' was being used with regard to the application of the rules, and I was trying to give a straight answer to the question "Do you think I have a case here to convince DCGS to make an exception for us?"

What to do about the rules themselves is another matter. It's possible to object to the Adjudicator up to 31st July, or seek judicial review.

I wish I had some easy answers, but I'm afraid I don't.

[mohannl]

Only a couple of weeks back, I came to know about the new residence policy of being resident in the DCGS catchment area before April 1 to be considered for admission in Sept 2011.

We currently live in Hazlemere which comes in the catchment area of Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe. We are moving to Amersham in Sept/October to live close to the tube station to make it easier for me to commute to London.

I am in a difficult situation with respect to the Home address rules of Bucks county council and those of DCGS. After I have moved to Amersham in Sept/Oct, I will not be considered in the catchment area of Royal Grammar because according to the rules, I should in the RGS catchment area on 19th November to be considered in that catchment area, and neither will I be considered in the catchment area of DCGS because I did not live in their catchment area since April 1.

The difference in the two dates put me in a situation that for a person moving from within the Bucks country into Amersham will not be considered for any Boys grammar school catchment area.

What would you suggest we should do to resolve this deadlock issue.

[Sally-Anne]

Hi mohannl

I think we have already answered a similar question from you on the previous page of this thread? The answer is that you will unfortunately not have a catchment boys school, and Chesham Grammar will be your only catchment GS.

Sally-Anne

[Etienne]

Dear mohannl

I moved your post here as you've already posed this question, and there seems little point in a new thread on the same topic.

My answer is the same as before.

The deadline for objections to be made to the Adjudicator was 31st July, and I believe someone may indeed have submitted an objection, so we need to see if anything comes of it.

The only other recourse, as far as I know, is to seek a judicial review, or go to appeal (which I appreciate would not take place until the summer term 2011).

Otherwise, as Sally_Anne says, the situation will be that Chesham Grammar is your only catchment GS.

I'm sorry there are no easy answers.

[zee]

The adjudicators have approved the change of DCGS rules, so you have to live permanently in catchment at least 17 months before admission:

http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/84 ... by_bosses/

[Etienne]

From the Adjudicator:

While considering the objection that was made to the admission arrangements of all the selective Buckinghamshire secondary schools, a correspondent with no known connection with the objection raised an issue in relation to the note in paragraph 5 of Dr Challoner’s Grammar School’s arrangements, which, among other things, disallows leased property closer to the School as a family’s place of residence if the family still owns a property within 20 miles of the school. I have considered whether this unfairly disadvantages families who are struggling to sell their houses, and might feel obliged to do so regardless of financial implications. I have further considered whether, as suggested by the correspondent, the provision with paragraph 5 for ‘a higher standard of evidence of residential qualification’ [than that required by the local authority] would constitute an invasion of privacy. A response on behalf of the School has indicated that the first provision has been made out of experience of families temporarily renting accommodation near to the School to gain admission, and then moving back to the permanent accommodation, and that the provision in fact avoids preferential treatment for families more able financially to invest in two properties. The response has indicated that the second provision has been made to enhance the local authority’s requirement for one from a list of alternatives piece of documentary evidence, in order to combat fraud. I accept the school’s justifications of both elements in the arrangements.
32. The School has in fact gone on to indicate some sympathy for the correspondent’s concern that the position of some families might be inadvertently prejudiced by the first of these two provisions, and have proposed an alternative wording which would exclude from the prohibition families whose owned property was leased to other occupiers for an least one year from the proposed date of admission. However, I believe that this alternative provision would itself be open to abuse, since families considering acquiring accommodation nearer to the School could enter into informal understandings with tenants, alongside the formal tenancies, for instance for leases to be voluntarily terminated early. I further believe that the possibility of less affluent families being unfairly disadvantaged by the proposed provision would remain. I shall not, therefore, be making the proposed change, or any change, to note 5 in the Dr Challoner’s Grammar School’s arrangements.
33. After consulting the School I am amending the arrangements so that they are compliant with the Code, as follows.
a. For clarity, the note relating to the catchment area in criterion 2 for Y7 admissions shall be amended to read: ‘as set out in the Local Authority’s Guide to Parents September 2011-12’.
b. To the first sentence of criterion 3 for Y7 admissions and criterion 4 for Y12 admissions shall be added: ‘and will be on the roll of the School at the time of the proposed admission’.
c. After the word ‘needs’ in criterion 4 for Y7 and criterion 6 for Y12 shall be added: ‘which can only be met at this school’.

[Sally-Anne]

The Adjudicator's full report can be viewed here (scroll down to Buckinghamshire, Buckinghamshire LEA "Over-subscription - verbal reasoning test scores", Not Upheld, Oct 2010": http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov. ... &order=lea" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It is compulsory reading for any Bucks 11+ geek (oh dear, how low can I go? ), because it covers a great deal of ground, and should certainly be enough to keep us all busy until November 26th!

The report mainly discusses an objection about the fairness of using VR as a testing process, an objection that I was not aware of. (Please start a separate thread to discuss the Adjudicator's comments and views on that - there are a couple of classics in there, believe me!)

Further down, on Page 10, the Adjudicator starts to address the Admissions Policies for several schools, including DCGS, Beccy High, AGS, WHS and RGS.

The Adjudicator's conclusion (as an Annex to the main report) is quoted in full here:

I determine that for September 2011 the admission arrangements for all community and voluntary controlled schools in Buckinghamshire and for the selective foundation grammar schools shall be amended as follows.

All community and voluntary controlled schools in Buckinghamshire
After the words ‘are made’ in both the secondary and primary sibling-related oversubscription criteria will be added: ‘and are expected to be on the school roll at the time of proposed admission’.

Dr Challoner’s Grammar School
a. The note relating to the catchment area in criterion 2 for Y7 admissions shall be amended to read: ‘as set out in the Local Authority’s Guide to Parents September 2011-12’.
b. To the first sentence of criterion 3 for Y7 admissions and criterion 4 for Y12 admissions shall be added: ‘and will be on the roll of the School at the time of the proposed admission’.
c. After the word ‘needs’ in criterion 4 for Y7 and criterion 6 for Y12 shall be added: ‘which can only be met at this school’.

Beaconsfield High School
The paragraph about oversubscription to Y12, beginning ‘Where eligible applications’, shall be amended by the insertion after ‘students’ of ‘in public care and then to students obtaining . . .’.

Aylesbury Grammar School
a. To the first sentence of criterion 3 for Y7 admissions and criterion 3 for Y12 admissions shall be added: ‘and will be on the roll of the school at the time of the proposed admission’.
b. After the word ‘needs’ in criterion 4 for Y7 and criterion 4 for Y12 shall be added: ‘which can only be met at this school’.
c. In criterion 5 for Y7 and criterion 6 for Y12, ‘from their front door’ shall be added after ‘home address’ and ‘either Turnfurlong Road or Walton Road’ after ‘entrance gate’. The sentence ‘We use the shortest appropriate route’ shall be amended, since it is imprecise and ambiguous (and therefore contrary to the Code), and ‘appropriate’ replaced with ‘walking’.
d. The school’s response to the absence of the arrangements from its website is welcome, and they shall immediately be added.

Wycombe High School.
a. To the first sentence of criterion c for Y7 admissions and criterion 4 for Y12 admissions shall be added: ‘and will be on the roll of the school at the time of the proposed admission’.
b. The paragraphs relating to external admissions to Y12 and the oversubscription criteria will be amended as proposed by the school.
c. The paragraph about oversubscription to Y12, beginning ‘If more than 20 external candidates’, shall be amended by the insertion immediately before ‘those with the highest average GCSE point score’ of ‘girls in public care’.

The Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe
a. To the first sentence of criterion 3 for Y7 admissions and criterion 2 for Y12 admissions shall be added: ‘and will be on the roll of the school at the time of the proposed admission’.
b. After the word ‘needs’ in criterion 4 for Y7 and criterion 3 for Y12 shall be added: ‘which can only be met at this particular school’.
c. In criterion 5 and in the ‘Home to School’ note, ‘appropriate’ in connection with routes to school shall be replaced with ‘walking’ for the sake of clarity.
d In the section headed ‘Late Entry Admissions at Year 7 and Above’, and in order to comply with paragraph 3.19 of the Code, the paragraph beginning ‘Where eligible applications exceed the number of places available’ shall be replaced by: ‘Where eligible applications exceed the number of places available in a Year Group, places will be allocated in accordance with the relevant set of oversubscription criteria set out in these admission arrangements’.
e. In criterion 1 for Y12 admissions, all the words after ‘Boys in Public Care’ shall be removed.
f. The admission arrangements shall immediately be placed on the school’s website, as required by the relevant regulations.