Just got in from adjudicator's meeting.

[Blue Peter]

Hi, I just got in from the adjudicator's meeting. Did anyone else go anand what did you think? I

[amychaos]

What went on? Couldn't make it but can't wait to hear??????

[omg]

Help! Deperate to know what happened???

[rosered100]

Same here - I just keep hitting the refresh button.
Supposedly the adjudicator did not want a debate but just people's opinions - a very fine line between the two when education is such an emotional subject.

[yoyo123]

i would be interested in what happened

[Blue Peter]

It was very welll attended with the hall being full. Although there was no official representative for the objector's, The Amherst HT got up and made a speech. A woman from KCC made a pretty non committal speech saying how all the schools in Kent are great. Representatives from the 3 schools in question all presented their case. The floor was then opened up and a few parents from Amherst got up and said their piece. However, most of the people attending seemed to be in favour of the current admissions system. Quite a few OOC parents were there. It's impossible to know what the adjudicator was thinking. He just sat there calmly taking notes. He said that parents have until September 24th to write to him, and that he will take a decision in the following 3 weeks (after the 24th September). He pointed out that it didn't matter how many people who were for or against attended, it was the quality of their argument that counted.

His address: osa.team@osa.gsi.gov.uk - FAO Br Bryan Slater.

Or write to:
Dr Bryan Slater, Office for the School's Adjudicator, Mowden Hall, Staindrop Road, Darlington DL3 9BG

So the decision should be made by October 16th.

[Toby]

I was there this evening. I don't have strong views either way - I can see both sides of the argument. However it was quite perplexing. It was not clear that KCC have any credible objections. I thought their presentation was very weak and evasive. Perhaps they expected a hostile audience - they seemed to agree that there is problem but not really want to be drawn on what they see the problem as being.

Some very strong cases were made by the schools based on the principles of superselection being merit-based and geography-blind. However I felt uneasy that all of their presumptions are based upon the premise that the highest scores are directly correlated to the most able. I just don't think it is that precise a process when you are discriminating between scores of say 415 or 400. Given the competition, these relative minor score differences make HUGE differences as to who gets in. But in reality, one pupil could get 415 one day or 400 the next, depending on the questions, how they are feeling that day, whether thay have been coached or not etc etc.

In the end it felt to me like everyone was espousing a (valid) point of view based on their personal interests. Its incredibly complex. No solution is going to be "fair". I don't envy the adjudicator!

[omg]

Did he say whether the decision would be effective immediately and potentially change the admission policies for the 3 schools for the current Year 6

[SSM]

I presume the gist of what everyone was saying was the same as what is said on here? Was there anything interesting said which stood out?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated for those of us that wanted to attend but were unable.

[Toby]

Did he say whether the decision would be effective immediately and potentially change the admission policies for the 3 schools for the current Year 6

Yes, it would!