Message for Guest 55

[vas]

I took my son for the Bucks exam, however I was told by the LEA that to be considered for a place in the Bucks GSs I must have a permanent address in Bucks by Dec 14 2007. I don't know if procedures were more flexible before or if some parents moved temporarily to secure a place. I guess all councils are adhering more to rules due to competition.

[Sally-Anne]

Hi vas

You do not need to have a permanent address in Bucks to enter your child for the 11+ or secure a place at a Bucks GS.

You have either been misinformed or you have misunderstood.

You do need to provide Bucks with evidence of your permanent address (whether in Bucks, Harrow or Timbuktu) in order for them to then calculate the home-school distance. That distance is then used to allocate school places (alongside one or two other factors, such as sibling rules, etc).

As Etienne helpfully wrote elsewhere on the Forum, it is illegal to restrict places to children who live in-county:

The Greenwich Judgement of 1989 established that LA schools may not give priority to children simply because of the fact that they live in the authority's administrative area. (This does not mean that admission authorities cannot use certain oversubscription criteria, such as the catchment area rule which is permitted under the Rotherham judgement of 1997.)

There are many out-of-county children at Bucks grammar schools, including children from as far away as Harrow and beyond.

Sally-Anne

[vas]

Hi Sally-Ann

Thank you for the infor. I was not misinformed and didn't misunderstand. But my postcode is certainly not in catchment for any Bucks GS, hence was told by a Bucks LEA personnel that the realistic possibility of getting a place in a GS was to move within catchment of the school before 14/12/07.

You can apply from Harrow or Timbuktu but standing a chance for the place might be a different story!

Besides I was only comparing it to QE and Tiffins, where there are no restrictions with regard to catchment. (except in the last tied score)

[Sally-Anne]

Hi vas

It depends on which school you were hoping for. If it was one of the 2 Challoners schools, then you would need to be in catchment, as they are very popular and tend therefore to be filled up with kids in catchment.

However, for Chesham High you would not need to be, so you were undoubtedly misinformed. Chesham High has offered places to all applicants, regardless of distance and catchment, in the last few years and still had empty places left.

The same applies to several grammars in other directions that are close to the county boundary.

Sally-Anne

[vas]

Thank you Sally-Anne. Yes, it was DCG that I enquired about as that is the only one I knew of with a straight train journey from where I live and the most heard of in my circle.