11 Plus Exams Forum

Re proposed admission changes to Wallington and Nonsuch, I have just found out (at 4pm today!!) that there is a discussion scheduled for tomorrow , Tuesday the 24th Feb at 10.00am, involving Schools Admissions Forum being held at the Civic Offices in Sutton.

This is a public session involving the Council and representatives from the Borough's Schools. Public can attend to show and express their fellings on this issue.

In view of very short notice, I won't be able to attend but if anyone is interested and can get away I recommend you go. If anyone can go, it would be good to hear some feedback from the discussion.

Amazing! I live in the borough of Sutton, am active in local affairs, and knew nothing about this. I have called several people who are all livid - they have very strong views about this issue, live in nearby roads, yet they were not informed.

What a sham.

I agree Huntlie - I think its a disgrace.

It does make you wonder about the Councils agenda. My daughter attends a local school and is due to transfer to high school this September. Fortunately, she is competing for a place at Wallington under the current rules (her younger siblings, i fear will not be so fortunate). Her school was only notified yesterday of this meeting - I would imagine that it would take at least a couple some weeks to organise a meeting for all the necessary participants to attend - maybe the late notification was by design so as to minimize public opposition.

I've been following this thread and am with you all the way. I too have lived in wallington all of my life and even attended carshalton boys (I wasn't clever enough to attend Grammar!). It is obvious to me that most of the children in the boroughs grammar schools are from outisde the borough. This dynamic is simply set to shift further. Its interesting though that most people who live in the borough are against the proposed changes and most people for the changes are outside the catchment area. I wonder if their views would change if the roles were reversed. Personally, I wouldn't wish to send my daughter beyond a 3 mile radius from where we live (extended travelling really is detrimental to a childs education). So, if I moved to Croydon now, I would not consider wallington girls as an option.

Hi KK
come and live in Lambeth and you might change your mind about travelling.
It is obviuos and sad that people is on one side of the debate depending on were they live. That is because the secondary system is by its nature divisive.
Trying to be objective, if we accept selection by ability then the argument for catchment area is weak: "yes, you are a clever girl/boy, but you cannot go to school with the other clever girls because you live more then 5 km away, go to your crappy local inner london comp, instead, because here we pay higher council tax (maybe)"

Please, no offence, but it does not make any sense.

and the "local" could well be 50 minutes from home, about the same time it needs to go to Sutton

Giulio, how about another version of your sentence - 'You're a clever girl, you got 345 in the 11+ and you got level 5a at the end of year 5. But you can't go to the Grammar school at the top of your road because other girls got 366, mainly because they were crammed at preps from the age of 7. So, you get to travel to and from Guildford / Wimbledon every day.'

Giulio,

I understand your point of view regarding selection by ability, but I cannot believe it is in any way beneficial to undertake what I would consider to be long journeys which may typically take in excess of 1 hour from door to door.
Yes it is advantageous to live in the London Borough of Sutton (under the current rules), but I believe the catchment area fulfils another role. it ensures that there is not a heavy burden on the child through travelling to and from school.
You mention Lambeth and i presume you are from that borough. How long would it take for you to get to Wallington and what modes of transport would you use. Does it in any way seem reasonable?
I had 6 options for my daughter this year and 2 selections were for Grammar Schools, the rest Comprehensive. the common theme was that they are all in my borough.
I do want the best for my daughter (and that is all any parent would want), but I have not sought grammar schools in Kingston or any other borough in the pursuit of the 'best' education. Whilst these schools represent a superior education to that of my comprehensive selections. I simply do not believe my daughter would cope with the stress of travelling and meeting the stringent academic standards required of a Grammar institution some distance away.
I really don't look at it as one or the other - for me where you live should be the part of the equation because it will affect the childs performance.

huntlie wrote:Giulio, how about another version of your sentence - 'You're a clever girl, you got 345 in the 11+ and you got level 5a at the end of year 5. But you can't go to the Grammar school at the top of your road because other girls got 366, mainly because they were crammed at preps from the age of 7. So, you get to travel to and from Guildford / Wimbledon every day.'

I believe that makes more sense than the former, it is sad for the 345 girl, but less so.
and the majority does not get prepped
we don't

I agree, long journeys are not good.
For me the options is 60 minutes for DD to get to the school that suits her ability and attitude
or 40 minutes to get to the school that does not (all the schools that are 20 min walking distance for us are either Catholic or so oversubscribed that you need to live 10 minutes walk from it to get a place)
I would think you would make the same choice

Have we come full circle then Giulio.

You agree that long journeys are not ideal and therefore catchment areas do serve a purpose.

The issues, therefore, are the inadequacies of the education system in your local borough which is forcing you into making choices or decisions which you would not otherwise make were the same facilities available to you.

Would I make the same choice as you - in principle, no, but then I am not in your position so it is really difficult to answer with any degree of certainty.

I think the balance that currently exists for wallington is right and i really see no benefit in the new proposals. There are no easy solutions either to this conundrum but i know it cannot be right to displace one child from one borough to the next. All I know is that the system isn't broken as it stands, so why are the governers of the schools concerned trying to fix it?!!! Isn't a 99% percent pass rate of A-C's good enough (with predominantly A's and B's)?