Out of area allocations

Eleven Plus (11+) in Buckinghamshire (Bucks)

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Guest

Out of area allocations

Post by Guest »

To Patricia (or any other with Bucks CC knowledge)

We live in Herts right on the Bucks border. Over the years a lot of children who have passed the 11+ have been allocated a place at Chesham High (because there are places available and it was undersubscribed). I have heard rumours recently that Bucks CC are intending to change the rules from 2007 and only in-area children will be eligible to apply for the grammar schools. Can one shed any light on this?

Thanks
Elaine
Guest

Post by Guest »

I don't think they can do that, Elaine. I vaguely remember reading about a legal precedent from some years ago in Woolwich, when it was ruled that state schools have to allow applications from outside their own LEA. I might be mistaken though - perhaps someone else knows a bit more about this?
Marylou (also right on the Bucks border!)
Etienne
Posts: 8978
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Post by Etienne »

Dear Elaine

The "Greenwich Judgement" of 1989 established that LEA-maintained schools may not give priority to children simply because of the fact that they live in the authority’s administrative area. (This does not mean that admission authorities cannot use certain oversubscription criteria, such as the catchment area rule.)

So, there's a distinction between "Who can apply?" (answer = anyone. There must be no discrimination), and
"What happens if the school is full?" (preference can be given to children in the catchment area, but not to children in the whole of the LEA's administrative area. There have been some instances, of course, where the catchment area crosses LEA boundaries.)
Etienne
kerrym
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Mar 25, 2006 12:25 pm

Post by kerrym »

Hi Etienne,

Are you saying that the 'Greenwich Judgement' means that Bucks CC wont be able to stop out of area children applying for a grammar place?
Etienne
Posts: 8978
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Post by Etienne »

Dear kerrym

As far as I know, out of area children must be free to apply. But if they pass the 11+, and if the grammar school they want is oversubscribed, they might find it difficult to get in. (Out of area children living not too far from the school might stand a better chance of getting in under the distance criterion - but if the school is very heavily oversubscribed, even in-area children could have difficulty getting a place!)
Etienne
kerrym
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Mar 25, 2006 12:25 pm

Post by kerrym »

Thanks Etienne,

For whatever reason I didn't see your final paragraph in your first reply, hence my second post!

Regards
Kerry
Etienne
Posts: 8978
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Post by Etienne »

My fault, Kerry, not yours. :oops:

I posted the first paragraph, and then 10-15 minutes later added the second as an afterthought.

Must remember to do what Patricia does ("Edited ...... times by ....... at .......")!

Regards
Etienne
Guest

Post by Guest »

Etienne wrote:The "Greenwich Judgement" of 1989
....sorry - I was in the right neck of the woods, but a bit too far to the east! :?
Marylou
Guest

Post by Guest »

Everyone - thanks very much for your advice.

Regards,
Elaine
Essex Girl

Greenwich Judgement

Post by Essex Girl »

Interesting thing, "The Greenwich Judgement".

"Under the "Greenwich Judgement" of 1989, local education authorities cannot discriminate against applications from outside their area and must treat all requests in the same way."

This is slightly ambiguous to an outsider because it gives the impression that children applying will be treated the same way regardless of where they live and thus, as far as the 11+ is concerned, you would not expect from reading this that you would need higher marks from outside catchment than inside. Nevertheless this is almost always the case.

As Etienne has said, schools are free to decide their own admissions criteria (providing they are in line with the legal translation of the Greenwich judgement", ie anyone can apply (and that's all the judgement means really).

In real terms, a local education authority who knows from their research and figures that secondary school places are going to be short in year xx could decide to make the criteria much tougher for outside candidates in some way or indeed hold a meeting with self governing schools (or whatever schools become as time goes by) to encourage them to make their admissions criteria less "out of catchment friendly".

In the case of Southend and Westcliff High schools, for example, it has been possible, in the past, to get a place from in catchment having come 500 or so places lower than the mark required by candidates outside catchment.

Obviously these things vary from school to school and year to year.

Yet again, I am waffling but what I trying to get out is...

Greenwich judgment means you can apply anywhere,. It doesn't mean that your application will be treated equally if the LEA or school admission authority has other criteria.
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