SW Herts consortium schools: admission statistics

[C. J.]

Hi JP,

I've found the admissions secretary at WBS to be very helpful, though I've called in or phoned as it's easier to explain your interest. I know they don't really need to know this but it establishes you as a person with a genuine and personal reason for asking for information.

I don't see why they should withhold information as the March numbers are freely available, so I wouldn't cite the FoI act - unless of course I hit a brick wall!

[WP]

C.J.'s suggestion of trying the phone first seems like a good plan. I'd be interested in the answer.

[JP]

Ok, after several attempts I managed to speak to the Admissions lady who said it was one thousand and eighty something (she did not go away to look it up), I said that sounded like the March figure and she said she did not think it had changed by September. So all a bit vague. But when I mentioned that I had heard it was just under 2k she was fairly adamant that this was incorrect (which is what I think we suspected anyway). So WP, I am afraid not a very accurate figure for you to put in your table but I suspect more accurate than the current figure.

[WP]

Thanks, JP. I've removed the suspect figure. It seems you'd have to write if you really want the precise answer, but the answer you've got is probably accurate enough to be bad news.

[watford87]

WP - Based on past experience when do you expect to know how far the proximity rule(s) extend out for the Watford Grammar schools? I see you have inputted data already for Clement Danes.

[WP]

Clement Danes put the info on their website on 1 March. Bushey Meads and Rickmansworth responded quickly, but the others haven't yet, and they've been slow in the past. The FoI deadline is 20 working days from receipt of the request (26th Feb), but some of them have missed that before.

[watford87]

Thanks WP - so it seems that the distance has stretched further again for WGSG - 1.6 km is quite some distance...

[babycakes]

Wow! looking at the Parmiters scores, it seems that the scores have been going up each year.

No wonder it is getting harder to get into these schools.

[WP]

The Parmiter's scores this year are for the end of March; in previous years they were for May or June. So while there's an upward trend, it may not be as much as it seems here.

[aka]

WP is correct. My DS is in year 7 at Parmiter's. When I asked for his score in March 09, I was also advised that the lowest score to gain entrance to the school at that time was 252. As the year progresses the scores drop as the schools fill up places from the continuing interest lists. This means that the initial score for Parmiter's has dropped by 2 points this year.