The OoC argument - Results day 17th October

[kittymum]

The Bucks schools admission policies, as Guest55 has said have been in place for ages, also as you are well aware they are all academies and so set their own policies so it would really need to be schools you were speaking to re admissions rather then Bucks - perhaps that is where your problem lay?

[Edited by moderator] please read what I have already said twice. The date was 14th November till last year, if not many before that, but was suddenly changed to 1st October this year. And even though it is 1st October for the first round, one can move into the area and apply for a place in second round that happens sometime in March.

Please don't shout at me!

I did read what you said

Admissions policies are reviewed annually and the policy for SWBGS had changed prior to you applying to sit the Bucks test. The current policy is for review in I think April 2015 - the full policy is available to view on the schools website.

Just to clarify your above post, as I think you may not have quite understood the admissions / address policy - you can apply for your place on your CAF in October but your change in address would not be considered in the first round of applications, but it would be considered for subsequent rounds with your current address being used for the first round of allocations. In some Bucks grammar schools you may get a place in the first round (although this is becoming increasingly unlikely) but for your favoured schools (RGS and SWBGS) you would not.

[kittymum]

Eh? I never said that

Don't worry sona it was me who said it! I think somebody was struggling with the quote button

BTW your CEMosa joke is *really* bad but I have to confess it made me laugh out loud

[MrsChubbs]

To resolve the inflation of scores due to OoC entries (if this is the case), maybe whoever is administrating the test could do the standardisation on In County and Out of County separately? Then places allocated to qualifying scores on distance after that. You may argue level playing field for all, but it doesn't actually disadvantage OoC applicants because unless they are living within a reasonable distance (eg not Birmingham) they are unlikely to get a place anyway. Just an idea.

[TIDDLYMUM]

We are Ooc in another area of the country. Catchment children at my son's school get a place by attaining the bare pass. Ooc are then allocated based on score with distance as the tie breaker, effectively meaning they need a higher mark to get in. I'm happy with that, it's much fairer from the sounds of it than the Bucks system.

Good luck all.

[southbucks3]

I am not a conspiracist. (Cannot even spell the word easily) but a huge part of me feels that the heads of the grammars and uppers are far happier with the situation than the parents.

Grammar heads are now seemingly only educating children from the top 20% academic intelligence of the general population as shown by the bucks cohort selected, so easy to get high results and upper schools revel in the achievements of their increasing numbers of high attainers, quoting year on year improved gcse results for the school, bucking above national trends.

As the press has been reporting on parents dismay over less and less local kids achieving places, parents do have a loud voice in the community, but seemingly the academy heads are putting ear defenders on.

Every year we think the next may improve. I obviously cannot yet say if this year's results have come out more favourably for the local cohort than last, I can say with some conviction and without helping out late sitters that the vr was very hard this year by most accounts.

[Reading2015]

Why do grammars have pass score? Children just under that score may have got just one extra question wrong or may not have marked that one answer properly. That one mistake could label them as failed and not eligible for the GS education. That's harsh for any 10 year old. If this artificial barrier is removed then it would solve this ooc problem too.

[Guest55]

Clearly there is an issue with reading information and understanding it for some posters.

The Bucks criteria are clear and, no I didn't 'make up' the year - they've been on school websites for that time.

I noted:

* it was only 'tourists' that posted scores and did not bother to read Sally-Anne's request not to do so.

* 'tourists' asking about allocation when all the information was already on the thread

[loopylou]

a huge part of me feels that the heads of the grammars and uppers are far happier with the situation than the parents.

There may be some truth in that. We live in an area where the debate rages about OOC candidates (Kingston / Surrey area).
Until quite recently - and to an extent even now - score is the most important admissions consideration. Children who live close to grammar schools and pass the 11+ can be passed over in favour of people living miles away (or at the opposite end of the country) who score 1 or 2 points more.

This leads to problems with the comps because local children who would normally go to grammar school end up needing a comp place instead and so demand is very high.
For the comps, it can be a good thing because they get children entering Year 7 on level 5's and even level 6's. The whole top group at some comps close to the Sutton / Surrey grammars is at level 5b and above. This means the better comps get great GCSE and A Level results and children who win places to RG universities including Oxbridge.

The grammars are happy as they stay high in the league tables with an entire intake made up of very highly academic children (top 5 or 10% standard as opposed to top 25% if they only took more local people).

The problem for people living in the area of course is not being able to get a grammar school place despite passing the 11+ and equally not being able to get into a local comp because they are all full. Some Surrey / Sutton children who pass the 11+ exams instead get offered a comp outside their own borough as none of the local schools have any space. The system was designed when people living in Yorkshire would not dream of applying to London schools and even people in North London would think it a stretch.

[Guest55]

Long distance travel to a school can lead to the following:

* requests that the child is not given after school detentions as it's 'too difficult' for the child to get home afterwards.

* not allowing child to be selected for teams because s/he can't get home and parent can't them pick up.

* not allowing child to be part of music groups/school plays as it's too difficult to arrange pick up

* expecting trips to be organised around them i.e. wanting different arrangements for pick-up/drop off

* parents not supporting any school events as they don't want to travel

* not attending Parents Evening (too far to travel) and then expecting a full written report instead

I jest not ... I know of parents that do/have done all the above.

Of course all these impact on the school and diminish the very school they wanted for their child.

[southbucks3]

requests that the child is not given after school detentions as it's 'too difficult' for the child to get home afterwards.

The child who has this excuse in son number ones class really made himself popular when there was a whole class after school detention.