Looking ahead...
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It's more than a few for our nearest GS. Take two sisters, five school years apart. The elder sister wins place on basis of score in 2004. The younger sister obtains identical score five years later for 2009 entry but loses out on distance.zee wrote:Yes, but it's only a few pupils in each year that will be decided on distance rather than score (most would get in on either criterion), so the overall intake of each grammar will surely not change hugely?
Go figure, as they say...
Marylou
Oh dear. I'm very sorry for you and your younger daughter, Marylou. I hope you get her into a school you're all happy with.
However, the fact that your child is one of the unlucky ones to lose out in the new system does not imply anything about the overall proportion of applicants who win/lose now compared with the previous method which, as I said, is probably quite small - though I realise that's not consolation to those adversely affected.
However, the fact that your child is one of the unlucky ones to lose out in the new system does not imply anything about the overall proportion of applicants who win/lose now compared with the previous method which, as I said, is probably quite small - though I realise that's not consolation to those adversely affected.
Thanks, Zee - I should point out that we were aware that the oversubscription criteria were probably going to change when we applied for DD1 but, in the event, it wasn't actually that particular change that scuppered us... 
Anyway, I know that we are only an individual case but I do believe that, for this GS, the change from score to distance will have affected quite a lot of applicants and discouraged many from applying from further afield. There are many pupils in DD1's class (Y11) who travel quite long distances every day who would not have stood a chance of a place under the current rules. I also know that one of the GSs in Aylesbury (I think it was the boys' school???) attempted to retain score as a criterion but had to change it. The problem is that, under the new code, you can't give priority to siblings if you use score as the main oversubscription factor, as used to be the case. Now that, I feel, is fair - it didn't seem right that a sibling should be given preference over others with higher scores just because they happened to have a brainy older brother or sister!
Anyway, I know that we are only an individual case but I do believe that, for this GS, the change from score to distance will have affected quite a lot of applicants and discouraged many from applying from further afield. There are many pupils in DD1's class (Y11) who travel quite long distances every day who would not have stood a chance of a place under the current rules. I also know that one of the GSs in Aylesbury (I think it was the boys' school???) attempted to retain score as a criterion but had to change it. The problem is that, under the new code, you can't give priority to siblings if you use score as the main oversubscription factor, as used to be the case. Now that, I feel, is fair - it didn't seem right that a sibling should be given preference over others with higher scores just because they happened to have a brainy older brother or sister!Marylou
