Dr Bevan announced 211 boys passed in the priority area.

300 places are reserved at WHSB and SHSB for priority boys.

That releases 89 places to OOC boys.

Just seen that in the other thread. That's good news.

Dr Bevan can count too! He taught me maths when he worked at WHSB!

Does anyone know how 211 compares to previous years?

Well done to all the local boys - According to last year's published data:
2017
Westcliff Boys admitted 89 i/c
Southend Boys admitted 117 i/c
Total 206 - so 2018 could be slightly up on 2017 assuming all boys apply

2016
WHSB i/c 83
SHSB i/c 136
Total 219

2015
WHSB i/c 107
SHSB i/c 125
Total 232

There are comments from previous years in threads on the forum, just need to think of a specific enough search. It was definitely 204 one year out of the past few.

_________________
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx

So the IC pass rate for boys looks pretty stable. But with less than 150 applying to Southend High each year, why do they put 309 as the green light pass rate, surely it has been 303 every year listed above.

No, the year that is now year 10 (2014 entry), the school decided to take another 30 boys after the allocations day. SHSB is generally more popular IC and at that point, there were still IC boys with scores above 303 on the waiting list. This situation was not resolved by the extra places being offered, because since the school had already reached the limit on IC places and the admissions policy remained the same, the thirty boys who benefited were all OOC.

For 2015 entry, the policy was changed to a maximum of a percentage of the total being reserved for IC boys (rather than a set number, above which, all places were OOC only), in this case providing another 25 IC, which, given Dr Bevan's mission to get more local DC to consider taking the exam, was probably the original intention.

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Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx

Thank you - really useful info.