11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi -parents at The Crypt School have been emailed a letter from Mr Dyer the new head and it has just been announced that the Yr7 PAN is increasing to 128 over 5 forms from 2015 so I'd imagine there should be some good news for some on the waiting list.

"we are once again over-subscribed for our Year 7. In response to that, Governors have agreed to admit 128 into Year 7 from September 2015 and to cope with this number we are planning to create a fifth form in that year group. "

Weird choice given that it is not a multiple of 5 ...

Guest55 wrote:Weird choice given that it is not a multiple of 5 ...

I always find it odd that two of our local grammars have a PAN of 154 - I've looked round both and don't remember noticing that every fifth room had a whacking great chimney breast or something taking the space of a 31st pupil .

Guest55 wrote:Weird choice given that it is not a multiple of 5 ...

Yes I thought it was odd too but it is a jump from a PAN of 112 and there are 30 in most forms I think.

So they clearly expect to lose over-subscription appeals? 5 x 30 is not 128 ....

Guest55 wrote:So they clearly expect to lose over-subscription appeals? 5 x 30 is not 128 ....

I think it's all about money. SHS, Marling and Pates are going to increase yr 7 entry to 5 forms (150 or 30-32 in a form depending on appeals) but the gloucester grammars don't have the space to add a whole new class so they are increasing to 128. However I understood this to be over 4 forms (i.e. 32 per class). Great news for some if it actually happens from this Sept though!

I have to confess that, when I read the letter, I wondered if the September 2015 but was meant to read September 2016. I know that some of the other grammars are increasing their pan from 2016 so thought it a bit odd that Crypt were doing this immediately. I am still unconvinced that they actually mean this September!

I am guessing that, like other grammars, this will allow a bit of leeway with appeals as there will "be room" for five classes of 30 even though the pan is lower. It's good news though and it's interesting that it has followed the new test. Hopefully it will mean that all those who qualify will get a grammar place if they want it.

The increases in pan at the Gloucester grammars have been done very quietly though, in Stroud some of the comp heads made quite a fuss and tried to resist, I gather.

Cup of tea wrote:I think it's all about money. SHS, Marling and Pates are going to increase yr 7 entry to 5 forms (150 or 30-32 in a form depending on appeals) but the gloucester grammars don't have the space to add a whole new class so they are increasing to 128. However I understood this to be over 4 forms (i.e. 32 per class). Great news for some if it actually happens from this Sept though!

I was not sure about it being 2015 as well but they do have the classrooms to do it Crypt have just added an engineering block so I guess the new classrooms can be used as form rooms. Agree about it being about money but the area does also have a need for extra school places to cater for the increased numbers coming through primary schools. I

I think this all may have something to do with the situation at sixth form, which is becoming more and more of a 'dynamic' process, shall we say? One of the grammars has started to have problems retaining students into the sixth form and another tries to poach top students from the others. Personally I really don't like what is going on and think it almost amounts to dirty tricks - but because it is essentially a market, there is little to stop it unless schools make some kind of agreement between themselves, which is anti-choice and would serve some at less-than-marvellous schools very badly. What it does do is consolidate the hierarchy which is there already, by swelling the A level grades attained by those at the highest-performing school at the expense of the other grammar schools, and so on down the line. I don't know what the upshot will be but sense that the funding implications of losing pupils at the end of Y11 will be hitting home in some schools soon, which may tempt schools to swell the ranks at the popular lower ends, as well as having to reconsider their sixth form entry requirements.