Watford Boys Results Please

[Daogroupie]

The same thing happens in the streets around DAO, you should see the amount of to let and for sale signs that pop up at certain times of the year but the school has issued a statement on their website stating that they will continue to monitor the property after the dc starts at the school to make sure they are still living there. If they are not they will take steps to remove the student from the school. Does Watford not make any checks or hire someone to do it for them? DAO has also seen a big hike in the last rank to get in. It has gone up 24 places since last year. QE has gone down a few marks but probably because of a harder paper. This is not going to stop, pass marks and number of applicants will continue to go up and metres from the school to get a place will continue to go down. DAO's went down 40 metres from 560 to 520. DG

[tiffinboys]

I think that outstanding schools (such as DAO or Watfords) with sibling policies will attract more attention from parents. Primary level is understandable, but I wonder if at secondary stage, sibling policy is good to have. If sibling policy is taken away, then lot more families would have to live close to school and moving away would not be advantageous.

[southbucks3]

I find this thread heartbreaking, the sense of loss to the local community must be huge, with flats and houses just being let for short terms.

I thought it was bad here in bucks..for a few schools it is, but herts sounds appalling. The rules are changing in bucks, so parents must be living at their address on their caf before results are issued, which should help a bit.

The other problem we have is grandparents and relatives all having the same name, a utility bill with the name A.Smith on the cover, could just as easily apply to several members of the same family. Parents are happy to take that risk, and have post forwarded to them, and the children either brag about the fraud, or tell friends how miserable they are commuting and missing activities. Schools are slowly getting stricter, and some do spot checks, but the time taken to check each property would be huge.

This is fresh in my mind, as ds1 overheard a new year 7 boy on his school bus just yesterday bragging, how they have continued the fraud to the extent of getting free bus travel ftom one of the villages on route to the school, his parents drive him over 12 miles to the relatives village, then he gets the bus for free the rest of the way! Crazy, makes you wonder how they lead the rest of their lives?

Rant over, and I sincerely hope the real locals who have committed to buying and settling near the schools get their Watford and Dao places, good luck.

[itsajoke]

Thank you soo much for all your replies.

Yes we actually sold our old house - moved heaven and earth to buy a property with a view to live here long term

at the time the school were quite confident that 293 meters would be ok.

so from what i gather i will be on both waiting lists BUT

1) on distance - i dont see anyone dropping off as the reason they are close is to be in the school so no reason why they would reject offer

2) on marks - from what you say its unlikely to drop 5 marks to 251 and then there will be loads of boys with marks between 251 - 256

so realistically do you feel we have a chance of getting in.

The crazy thing is that we put everything we could + more into buying this long term house - solely to be closer to the school. What a devastation.

also if i went to appeal would i have any grounds to appeal ????

thanks again for all your advice

[noonynunu]

From what I can tell, neither the boys or girls Grammar schools monitor address movement after the child has been admitted to the school. This is not because they can't, after all they must have address details on a database so they can make contact in an emergency. I don't think the schools care where the students come from, provided they get the grades. After all that is what the school is measured on.

I know from close friends that the use of "disposable postcodes" at the Girls Grammar is done a lot. After 6 months of starting at the school quite a number of families move back out to Stanmore and surrounding areas where their family home is. The rented property is then back on the market ready for the next lot of families looking to temporarily relocate to increase their chances of getting in.

I live next to the met station - not on the Metro estate though (and putting it into perspective, my DS would not have qualified for a distance place this year) and the numbers of children who get a train to the boys Grammar has increased a lot over the last 7 years (again likely testament to the fact that the schools don't monitor student home addresses past the point of intake). When I first moved into my property, I used to see a fair number of students heading for the park, walking home. This number has significantly decreased and the majority of the children are driven or walk from the train station.

I think people are kidding themselves if they think the Grammar schools are local Watford state schools. They are not. The reputation that they are free private school is pretty close to the mark. However, not for the reasons people are implying, and not really free either. Due to the increasing pressure, people are throwing more and more money at all the different routes to get in e.g. renting properties, putting their kids in private prep schools, paying for tuition and prep. material. At the end of the day, the price tag must come close to just sending the kids to a private school in the first place. From what I understand, private schools don't normally have a catchment area (happy to stand corrected if this is wrong), if you can pay the fee and pass the test, you get in. From what I can see, it is now exactly the same with the Grammar schools but the fee is hidden in the cost of passing the 11+ and getting into catchment and then further tuition to keep their grades up given that they may have spend two or three years studying just to pass the entrance exam.

I have a couple more years of watching these supposed local schools get harder and harder to get in. whilst doubling the size of Westfield might make the numbers add up on paper for the local politicians, it falls far short of providing a realistic solution to the lack of quality secondary school places, as do all the other half hearted measures they are putting into place. Yes there is a new free school opened up on Tolpits lane, However, I am not in the WD3 postcode so the chances of this being an option in two years time are remote.

OK rant over.

[kenyancowgirl]

I do take your point but I still suspect, (barring actually buying a property) with the average cost of fees (not including other expenses!) to a private secondary being around £15-20,000 a year, it is still "cheaper", to do all the things you suggest, to get access to a Grammar than to pay privately for the next 7 years!

[noonynunu]

OK so it might be a bit cheaper but lets face it, if it was a full on private school, do you think it would be the best private school in the area?

[itsajoke]

story gets worse

spoke to the school - we are only 293m away from school and my son is 19th on the waiting list.

im actually fuming / angry / devastated that we put everything we had + more into this move and at the time the school said we should be fine.

not sure what to now do .... if i go to appeal what can be my grounds apart from saying we moved the earth to buy this house and live WITHOUT fraud which i guess is happening soo much... ....

guys does anyone have any ideas on what i can do

i really cant give up......this is a nightmare

[silverysea]

Our house (60's estate) is next to a very good primary-houses are being built on farmland and in back gardens nearby like mad. In the 5 years we have lived here, most of the houses have become short term rentals, filled with very young families who don't make much effort to be part of the community, then move out once the eldest is 4 and in the school. There are zero kids my daughters' age to play with anymore, and we are thinking of moving now too as the house is worth a lot because of the school, and we could get a nicer one much more convenient for us fitting our life now, for the same price.

We have some nice neighbours and friends here, which never happened to this extent in 15 years in London- there we had several neighbours from H*** (a gunshot, a stabbing, rubbish to top of the fences in next door garden and passageway hence rats, teen gangs threatening as mums walked past) that we quake to even consider risking moving again...

You can't blame people for trying to navigate the system-what do other countries do I wonder? The rules should be coming from on high (policed by local government and funded by fines) that you have to stay near the school to keep the place throughout your years there, really-it would help enormously with traffic and the environment costs too. No siblings rule without the local address. IMHO

[itsajoke]

in total 19 places were given on distance rule and im told my son is 19th in the waiting list as we are 293 m away

i find it sooo hard to believe that 37 boys would actually live closer to the school then us whos family would actually OWN the house and not just rent etc etc

we hear soo many stores of dodgy ways people get in....

again we have worked to hard to sit back and accept this when i am sure that most of the 35 boys MAY not actually live where they say they do...

the school say they do checks etc but its easy to be on the council tax register etc etc

not sure but please advise - i cannot sit back

thanks