11 Plus Exams Forum

Would anyone know the software package that Bucks County Council use to determine the distance from home to the school?

Hi Tim

I am not sure if this is still valid but Sally-Anne posted this in 2008

Sally-Anne wrote:Hi redapple

You should also check the distance using this site as it is the closest to the one that Bucks CC actually use (called the Integrated Transport Network) - in fact I believe that the measurements are usually identical, because the ITN is the software that runs the Transport Direct site:

http://www.transportdirect.info/TransportDirect/en/

It's a straight line distance now. Why not ring admissions and ask?

I rang Bucks school admissions and they said they couldn't tell me over the phone because each school had its own individual criteria and I needed to check with the school.

On checking Royal Grammer's criteria it turns out they use the Bucks County Council method for checking distances. So phoned Bucks again and was told that if I emailed in the question they would come back to me within 3-10 days.

If it is straight line distance then I could use free software off the web such as "as the crow flies"

Do you wish to know for the free bus, or catchment?

Just distance (not catchment as I know you can already check this) in accordance to the Buck county council distance assessment method so I can check how far we are from the school.

Then use crow flys, as they use straight line now, but knowing bcc they probably use a map with drawing pins and cotton.
I am intrigued though..what are you up to?

Hi South Bucks

In 2012-13 there were three rounds in which additional offers under rule 6 (distance) places were allocated to Royal Grammer as follows:-

Round 1 9.813 miles
Round 2 14.111 miles
Round 3 16.127 miles

I just wanted to understand the method that Bucks used so I could check my own home address to the school and to assess if there was a fighting chance this might reoccur this year. Unfortunately they could not advise this over the phone and requested an email which I have sent in.

Oh, ok, I thought you were querying their logistics...you need to store that fretting for February now you have pressed send it is out of your hands!
Well most people are fairly sure it will go out further than ever this year anyway, so good luck..now enjoy the fireworks and Christmas and forget about schools for a while. The RGS is great, but not worth losing sleep over if you have other gs options on your caf.

From the Bucks Allocation profile page on here (sorry difficult to do link on phone):

The introduction of straight line distances makes the system more transparent than before, with vagaries such as paved footpaths being removed from the calculations. Although you can use various tools on the internet to attempt to measure a straight line distance between postcodes, the most reliable way to check distances is a traditional Ordnance Survey map, preferably one with a 1:25000 scale, and a ruler.