proximity confusion

virtuo · Post by **virtuo** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 10:33 pm

As there will be extra 18 places ,does this go to siblings again or can you get in on distance. surely all siblings are given places every yr.it will be interesting to hear of people who did not get in on this rule. the headmaster tells you that all siblings get in , even if they do not ass the test.There will be 45 places for the test . so there will be many community places, am i right or not??? Very Confused. [/img]

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:37 pm

Sibling get in.

They do not even need to take the test!

WP · Post by WP » Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:35 am

virtuo wrote:As there will be extra 18 places ,does this go to siblings again or can you get in on distance. surely all siblings are given places every yr.it will be interesting to hear of people who did not get in on this rule. the headmaster tells you that all siblings get in , even if they do not ass the test.There will be 45 places for the test . so there will be many community places, am i right or not??? Very Confused.

It depends on the school, and how they prioritize their criteria. Each school allocates places to their criteria in order, and at some point they run out. With 18 extra community places, they will run out further down the list, probably in the last criterion, which is distance for each of these schools.

For Parmiter's, up to last year the criteria were:

looked after children
siblings
medical
distance (18 places)
academic (65 places)
music (18 places)
children of staff
distance again

Because of the priority they give to siblings, they all get in. But the number of siblings affects how far down the list they get before they've allocated all 185 places:

In the 2005 entry, they ran out of places before they were able to allocate all the music places (criterion 6).
In the 2006 entry, they were able to allocate all the music places and children of staff, and even 2 more distance places (criterion 8.) before they ran out.
In the 2007 entry, they were able to allocate all the music places, and some children of staff (criterion 7), but ran out before they reached criterion 8.

This year, the academic criterion has shrunk to 46 places, and the children of staff criterion is gone, so they will probably get all the way down to the extra distance places.

The Watford grammar schools, or the other hand, always allocate all their selective places, and then allocate their community places according to ranked criteria. Up to last year, the criteria were:

distance (18 places)
siblings at the same school
children of staff at either school
siblings of children at the other Grammar school
distance again

So siblings at the same school all get in, but not necessarily those with siblings in the other school:

In the last two years, not all boys with sisters at WG got places at WB.
In the 2005 and 2007 entries, not all girls with brothers at WB got places at WG.

With the extra 18 community places (and no places for children of staff), those siblings will probably now all get in too (unless there are lots of siblings), and any remaining places will again be allocated on distance.

virtuo · Post by **virtuo** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 11:11 pm

Thanks WP that has made things alot clearer!!!
Well I hope there are not that many siblings this yr,as I am hoping to get in on distance only.
Does anyone know the cut off distance for WGB?

WP · Post by WP » Thu Nov 29, 2007 1:15 am

virtuo wrote:Well I hope there are not that many siblings this yr,as I am hoping to get in on distance only.
Does anyone know the cut off distance for WGB?

See watford87's post in the watford tests thread. That was for 18 distance places. The distance will vary each year with the number of siblings.