Data on preferences

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Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Data on preferences

Post by Guest55 »

Thought this might be of interest to the readers of the forum - especially those applying this year:


http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/schools/infop ... sp?ID=2696
Sally-Anne
Posts: 9235
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Post by Sally-Anne »

Those are two fascinating documents Guest 55 - thank you for posting them.

I think they provide a great deal of information, but I'm a tad busy right now, so I'll leave the in depth analysis to Dad40's eagle eyes for now. :D

Sally-Anne
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Post by Guest55 »

The first thing I noticed was how popular Floyd was - perhaps the new Head?
Dad40
Posts: 359
Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2007 4:40 pm
Location: Chiltern District, Bucks

Post by Dad40 »

Good find ! I had a quick look last night but found the documents to be confusing and I'm not yet sure what they *really* tell us. But yes Floyds and Burnham suddenly seem to be immensely popular. :?

I'll have a proper look when I get some spare time and post back here.

Gawd bless Sally-Anne for that implied vote of confidence. :D
Dad40
Posts: 359
Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2007 4:40 pm
Location: Chiltern District, Bucks

Post by Dad40 »

I think the first document may only cover applicants from within catchment areas.

Here’s the logic:

1. The document identifies only 6229 first preferences and one assumes that all applicants will have at least one first preference. The 6229 number compares with 8182 total applications recorded for 2007 and, within that, 5961 applications came from Bucks residents. The 6229 number is therefore closer to the Bucks resident number.

2. The numbers of first preferences who actually qualified for Burnham Grammar and Chesham High are similar to the Bucks resident numbers who got their first preferences at these schools in 2006. The same is true for Burnham Upper. I’m picking on these schools because they take a lot of out-of-county (OOC) applicants so this suggests the OOCs are not included.

3. However the numbers for Floyds and Borlase suggest that the OOCs are included…! It could be that Floyds just had more residents putting it as first choice this year and Borlase might be explained by the fact that its catchment area runs well into Berkshire.

This is how I end up shuffling towards the conclusion that these figures cover all *catchment* applicants. This would possibly explain why the number of first preferences (6229) is slightly more than the total number of Bucks resident applicants (5961).

All a bit tentative. But, if true, it appears that an extraordinary 1690 applicants put down an upper school as their first choice. When the 2007 11+ data is released, it’ll be interesting to see how many opted out of the 11+. I can’t imagine it will be 1690 (it was about 600 Bucks state kids in 2006).

Assuming relatively few prep school pupils put an upper school as their first choice, the 1690 number would go a long way to confirming that quite a lot of Year 6 pupils enter the 11+ exam despite their parents believing they should not go to grammar school under any circumstances !

As for the second spreadsheet, it is just very confusing and the narrative in the schools bulletin doesn’t help !

In fact, both spreadsheets have arguably limited value because there just isn’t enough supporting information to say exactly what they represent.

Either that, or I’m being thick……
Guest

Post by Guest »

Hi

I have also looked at the data, and I am on of those parents that put an Upper school as a first preference, in fact living in catchment, I didn't put any other preference on the form, despite that fact that my child took the 11+.

I did this for a number of reasons.
My child had an elder sibling at the Upper school doing very well.

It was unlikely that my child would pass the 11+, even if they had passed I would have still stuck by my decision.

I was keen for my child to go to a mixed school and I didn't see the mixed grammar as significantly better than the Upper.

My child new from the beginning of the year which school they would be going to and therefore was less stressed.

Why did my child take the exam I hear you ask, because in this day and age exams are an integral part of school and I didn't what my child opting out of this exam, which the majority took, and then feeling that the SATS were optional too.

Having completed a year at the Upper School my child is now in the top sets for English, Science and French and middle for Maths, the weaker subject, having acheived 5,5,4 in the SATS.

I know that I wasn't the only one in our school to do the same.

That may explain some of the STATS.
Dad40
Posts: 359
Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2007 4:40 pm
Location: Chiltern District, Bucks

Post by Dad40 »

Why did my child take the exam I hear you ask
You heard me correctly ! :)

Very interesting perspective - thanks for that.
Sally-Anne
Posts: 9235
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Post by Sally-Anne »

Anonymous wrote:Why did my child take the exam I hear you ask, because in this day and age exams are an integral part of school and I didn't what my child opting out of this exam, which the majority took, and then feeling that the SATS were optional too.
Hi Guest

Thank you for taking the time to post that. I'm glad your child is doing well.

Guest's reason is certainly quite a common approach, and very sensible IMHO. Also, parents who have no intention of accepting a GS place might also let their child sit the 11+ simply so they aren't seen to be the odd one out. There will also be some parents who just don't bother to opt their child out, or don't understand what it is about, so their child gets to sit the test "by omission".

I think that between all of those reasons it is entirely possible that you could get to the 1,000 that you are looking for, Dad40. Good analysis, by the way - thank you.

Sally-Anne
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