Watford Girls or St Clement Danes

[WatfordGirl]

Does anyone know why SCD removed the cross sibling rule and whey they then reinstated it?

[Sallyltb]

Does anyone know why SCD removed the cross sibling rule and whey they then reinstated it?

SCD is a co-ed school.

[Cutting42]

I have a DD in year 10 at Watford Girls and another DD at a different partially selective school in Watford (not SCD). Overall I have been happy with WGSG my DD is doing very well. However like all schools it is not perfect. Communication between parents and the school is not always great. Sport (contrary to what we were told when we initially applied) is not taken as seriously as I had hoped. I also find them to be quite lax with regards uniform standards, earrings, piercings etc. I am sure that your DD will do equally well whatever school she and you choose. I believe that a school can only do so much in facilitating a child to achieve - most research suggests that parental support plays the largest role in a child's achievement.

Both schools are excellent - I understand from friends with children at SCD that they are keen on sporting achievement and if that is important to you then that may be a better option. It also depends what your view is of mixed gender vs single gender schools. Either way you have a choice of 2 great schools.

Can't comment on the sport as my DD is not massively sporty but I disagree about communication. We get at least 3/4 emails a week from WGGS with a great deal of information about events we feel extremely well informed and we have been able to speak to staff on any occasion we have felt the need. Also we have felt a good and appropriate level of attention to uniforms and the girls always look smart when I have seen them but I guess it is down to interpretations as well.

[WP]

The Watford Grammars were forced to remove the cross-sibling criterion for at least 3 years after some parents objected and a Schools Adjudicator upheld the objection. The Admissions Code was changed in the interim to explicitly allow cross-sibling criteria, removing the basis for the adjudicator's interpretation. The schools have re-introduced the criterion, which they always wanted. It is possible that any year parents may object again, and have their objection heard by an adjudicator in the summer before applications are due, but the criterion does seem safer now than it was in the past.

[Cricket]

Noted but what were the statistics for how many cross siblings got in to WGSG and WGSB when the previous cross sibling rule applied? Any records of this e.g. before 2008? Anyone know?

In addition to worrying about which school for dd, is it safer going to SCD and guarantee of sibling entry in 2014 for ds - or will ds get into WGSB in 2014 with cross-sibling rule? ?????

So worried...

[Cutting42]

Noted but what were the statistics for how many cross siblings got in to WGSG and WGSB when the previous cross sibling rule applied? Any records of this e.g. before 2008? Anyone know?

In addition to worrying about which school for dd, is it safer going to SCD and guarantee of sibling entry in 2014 for ds - or will ds get into WGSB in 2014 with cross-sibling rule? ?????

So worried...

Not to want to worry you further but a few years back I attended a meeting at Westminster with the then schools minister, convened to listen to Watford parents objecting to the plans to abolish ANY sibling rules for partially selective schools. Here is the text from Wikipedia:

These schools often also give preference to siblings of current pupils, filling the rest of their places using distance and/or faith criteria. The sibling criterion is particularly controversial, as in combination with selection it often severely limits the number of local children admitted. In response to these concerns, the initial draft of a revised schools admissions code proposed to ban sibling criteria in schools that selected more than 10% on their intake. After many protests, the admissions code as published in February 2007 protected siblings of current students, and permitted schools to give priority to siblings provided that "their admission arrangements as a whole do not exclude families living nearer the school."[10][11] This phrasing was removed in the revised Code published in January 2009.[12]
A late amendment to the Education and Inspections Act 2006 amended the 1998 Act to limit the proportion selected to the lowest level at any time since 1997. This forced four Hertfordshire schools to lower their proportion of academic selection from 35% to 25%.[13]


So the whole sibling rule for any school can come under attack or protest at any time. However as WP states the situation is probably clearer currently than for some time so I would say you were fairly safe with either school and of the two slightly safer with SCD. Also you know your DC's, how likely are they to get a place individually, what are their strengths and weaknesses, what schools ethos suits them the best? I have a couple of friends with kids at different schools as their DC's characters suited different schools. Not everyone can manage the logistics of this but it is worth a thought.