Sutton Grammar - Late test

[tiffinboys]

Just heard that Sutton Grammar is also organizing late test in the 2nd week of December.

Unlike Tiffins, they did not make an early announcement about it before CAF deadline. Still no info on their website about this late test.

Has any one else heard about it?

[999 mum]

How do you find out all this info?

[tiffinboys]

I am myself quite surprized at this news and have written to SGS to find out more.

[London_Mum]

Well it is either a legal requirement or it isn't so in some ways this makes sense but is no less annoying.

It is ridiculous for Tiffins to suggest that they MUST allow late entries under their interpretation of the Admissions Code but for all the other Grammars to insist that this is not in fact an obligation that the Code requires of them.

The trouble is the Code is woolly on this and even more so since it was made more condensed (so omitted the examples of how late entrants should be dealt with that the old code outlined). The code is still worded the same way i.e. that failure to sit the exam alone cannot be the sole reason for being denied a place - but now there is no guidance on how schools might assess late entrants instead, or indeed what constitutes a late entrant. Their solution seems to be making it up as they go along!

[tiffinboys]

What is really annoying is that if Schools have all along planned to deal with the late entrants in this manner, then they should have been open and transparent about it. Then it would be the option of the parents to choose to sit for the test before CAF or at a later date. I know which option, I would have chosen. No amount of age standardization would eliminate the advantage of extra 8-10 weeks of extra focused preparation.

[London_Mum]

I seriously doubt they planned this at all. They are responding to parental demand and threats of legal action by the sounds of things. They are making it up as they go along – none of this was ever in the published admission arrangements of any school.

The old Admissions Code always said that schools couldn't refuse a candidate solely because they’d missed the test. It went on to suggest ways that the school could assess late applicants instead without having to sit a late test.

The new Code still says that candidates cannot be rejected outright solely for missing the test but offers no further clarification. The net result being that dozens (possibly hundreds) of parents saw this as a green light to demand a late test if they listed a school on their CAF without taking having taken the test first - even when they had no valid reason at all for having missed the first test (like moving into the area late for example). This totally goes against the other point of the new code which is to have all testing done and dusted, and results known, by October 31st. Given that contradiction, and the non uniform way of interpreting all these rules, I would not suggest anyone relies 100% on there being late tests next year. It could go either way – all schools start to offer them or they are stopped in view of the fact that it directly contradicts the instruction to test before the CAF deadline in all possible cases.

[tiffinboys]

You are quite right, London_mum. However, Tiffins did sate that they had planned the late test all along.

Instead of testing later, they could have used other means to assess selective ability as under the previous code. Or the schools could have allowed late registration by 31 Oct and taken test early November - instead of giving lot of extra time. As Tiffins clearly said they had planned this all along, they should have been open about it and given the option to parents to take the test late, if they wanted to. The children taking the late test have tremendous advantage over the children who took the early test. In fact, these schools have penalized the children and parents who followed the rules.

[tiffinboys]

How do you find out all this info?

SGS has now confirmed that late test is being taken for those who put them on CAF but had not sit for the earlier test.

[tiffinboys]

To my query, SGS has responded that 'Registering in time is, and will remain, a condition in our admissions arrangements'.

If so, then how come those who did not register in time are being tested now. Seems like this is condition they can not implement and should be transparent about it, leaving parents to decide when to enter their children for tests.

[ThreeKids]

Interesting that it is all the schools with the two stage tests that are offering late tests. Seems none of the others are, but I could be wrong. It has become something of a farce.