11 Plus Exams Forum

I am sorry to add to all the stress already out there. I heard yesterday that as of next year girls with sibling already at the school would no longer be given priority during the admissions proceedure. Admission would be on rank order because in recent years they have been forced to admit girls whose scores were well below the cut of mark. The cut of mark for this year was 410.

Sorry for any additional stress this may cause. Its better to know now.

And the reason for this change is due to the new admissions code of practice which will come into effect in 2008. This will require schools which rank on scores to ONLY rank on scores. Schools that rank on distance-from-school WILL still be allowed to prioritise siblings.

Sorry to labour a point, but does this change affect out of area children? Are they treated the same way as in-area with this sibling rule, or could they technically be treated as "distance" criteria??

I have one child who will try for Tonbridge next year as out of area, but will have another sibling following on the next year. We really need to clarify this, thought we would only face pressure for one, not both daughters!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for any replies in advance

The new Statutory Code of Admissions is quite explicit on this issue.
See www.dfes.gov.uk/sacode/

2.68 Methods of allocating places for oversubscribed grammar schools vary. Some admission authorities allocate available places in rank order of performance in the entrance test; admission authorities for these schools must not give priority to siblings

In other words, TOGS, Skinners, Judd, Rochester Girls and Rainham Mark will not be able to give priority to siblings unless they abandon their highest scores criterion (unlikely).

The TOGS inner/outer division is irrelevant to this.

I think it is more complex than that. See also section 2.21 of the code:
"... the admission authorities for those schools that admit more than 10% of their intake by selection by ability and/or aptitude, if they intend to give priority to siblings, should ensure that their admission arrangements as a whole do not exclude families living nearer the school. This might be achieved by using other oversubscription criteria, for example inner and outer catchment areas, where a number of non-selective places are allocated to families living nearer the school while in the outer catchment area priority is given to siblings."

Sorry, but 2.21 is a section that applies only to schools that select a proportion of their intake by ability, such as Homewood or Archbishops. It does not apply to grammar schools.

2.68 is explicitly for grammar schools. My previous answer applies.

Peter wrote:Sorry, but 2.21 is a section that applies only to schools that select a proportion of their intake by ability, such as Homewood or Archbishops. It does not apply to grammar schools.

2.68 is explicitly for grammar schools. My previous answer applies.

Ah! Apologies! When someone mentioned siblings having priority I assumed the school was partially selective. I will return to Herts, where I belong ...

I have two daughters at Togs at the moment. My third daughter is only in Yr 1 at the moment and we live out of area. What Peter says is exactly what I was told ie my third daughter would have to score very high to secure a place and even though she may have two sisters already at the school at the time she applies.

So no tsure

to neurotic kent mum, I have emailed TOGS and asked them to clarify situation regarding siblings, as have one in year 5 and one in year 4. As out of area we will try for TOGS next year for eldest child. However, not sure second daughter will be capable of achieving higher marks required as out of area candidate. Was hoping for sibling rule to still apply, but haven't heard back from school yet. This could change our secondary choice for both girls as we had hoped that they would go to same school.