Continued Interest at Parmiters for out-of-catchment

[AlisonR]

Hi PushyDad

I certainly don't know different. I am in the catchment area for Parmiters so I have never felt the need to investigate the admissions rules for out of catchment children.

From reading Parmiters admissions rules, I interpreted them such that siblings of ANY child at Parmiters would get a place on the sibling rule. I also interpreted them such that the 95% of places allocated to catchment children was only talking about the children allocated places under rules 4, 5 and 6 (ie medical, music and academic selection). This would mean approximately 5% of these places going to out of catchment children which would only be 3 or 4 children.

Obviously this doesn't tie in with the figure of 9 places you have been quoted from Parmiters' admission staff. However, 9 is approximately 5% of ALL places which would tie in with the comment about out of catchment applicants with siblings already at the school not been entitled to a place under the sibling rule.

My previous comments were made purely on MY interpretation of the admissions rules for Parmiters and I was just trying to show that the rules are not as tightly written as perhaps they should be as they can be interpreted differently to the way they are being applied.

As for the Herts Outrun report, my understanding was that out of county on that report means out of Hertfordshire and has nothing to do with the catchment area of any of the individual schools.

Alison

[Pushy Dad]

Hi Alison

I'm too lazy to look it up but I don't think that Parmiters' catchment area extends beyond Herts. If that is true then '9 out of county places' can't mean 9 non Herts places.

I don't know how unique Parmiters is but it is my understanding that it isn't typical for selective schools to offer out of catchment places. So, is the person compiling the council report really going to tailor the report for the few or is he/she simply going to put it all under a one size fits all report heading?

[AlisonR]

Parmiters catchment area covers various postcodes including HA6 which is Northwood and I believe parts of that are in Middlesex (Hillingdon) which would mean out of the county of Hertfordshire.

So I believe that the 95% of catchment places could indeed include out of county places. Additionally the 5% of out of catchment places could be made up of both out of county and in county places.

I don't think the Hertfordshire council report will deal with the school catchment areas just the postal addresses of the child that have been allocated the various schools. They will use this information to determine whether a place was allocated to a child living in the county of Hertfordshire or living outside of the county.

Of course I could be totally wrong. It has been known to happen in the past.
Alison

[Pushy Dad]

I stand corrected. Mrs PB spoke to admissions about CI and the sibling rule DOES apply to out of catchment.

Of the 9 places available, 5 went to siblings, 3 to academic and 1 to music
. DD was originally a bit sad when she found out she didn't get a place but she is feeling much better now that she can console herself that she didn't 'fail' and that she was just unlucky to have all those siblings applying and to have lost by 1 point.

[WP]

As Rosie42 pointed out, they do say on their explanations page that 3 of the 47 academic places are for out of catchment applicants, which is 5% rounded up, and 1 out of 19 music places would be consistent with that, so perhaps they are following their published arrangements after all. I've never seen any suggestion of a restriction on sibling places.

[KS10]

Phew!

[Pushy Dad]

There is only 1 out of catchment music place and my DD is 1st on the list so, in the unlikely event that the music place is freed up, the place would go to my DD.

It would be interesting to see how the sibling rule would be applied coz her twin brother is 4th on the list

[WP]

There is only 1 out of catchment music place and my DD is 1st on the list so, in the unlikely event that the music place is freed up, the place would go to my DD.

It would be interesting to see how the sibling rule would be applied coz her twin brother is 4th on the list

If she were to get a place, he would then qualify under the sibling criterion, regardless of his place on waiting lists. But admitting him would take them over their Published Admission Number (PAN), so I'm not sure whether they would do that immediately or wait for a distance place to be released (which is rare). Some schools state explicitly in their arrangements that they'll admit the twin even it takes them over PAN, but Parmiter's don't say what they'll do.

[Daogroupie]

You have posted before about your dd being overshadowed by your ds, so it is great that she secured a place on the music waiting list four places above him. Was she really pleased with that? On the sibling issue I thought Herts admissions had a recommended multiple birth policy that many of the schools have adopted. DAO adopted this for admissions in Sept 2009. Does Parimiter not mention a multiple birth policy anywhere? DG

[WP]

On the sibling issue I thought Herts admissions had a recommended multiple birth policy that many of the schools have adopted. DAO adopted this for admissions in Sept 2009. Does Parimiter not mention a multiple birth policy anywhere? DG

The Admissions Code requires that multiple births be treated as siblings, and Herts formula is "Children who have a sibling at the school at the time of application, unless the sibling is in the last year of the normal age range of the school." Parmiter's has that, so the twin would qualify, but the question is whether they would get the place immediately (sending the school over PAN) or be put at the head of the waiting list. DAO has the additional wording "All multiple birth siblings will be admitted, provided that at least one of the siblings gains a place at the school under any other criterion." But Parmiter's doesn't make that clear.

Still, siblings have priority, so it probably wouldn't make any difference in the end. It will be the first twin that's the hard one.