11 Plus Exams Forum

On another thread there were some cases of children who did not get places because they were shifted from category B to category D. I contacted the school about this because I need to know if from our current address we would be likely to get a place in September 2015 (yikes, it does not sound that far off now).

Here is the letter and response:

I have read your latest admissions policy. I would like to know what our chances would be of my daughter getting a place in September 2015 in year 7 if we apply from this address.

We regularly attend (every Sunday almost without exception) the parish church in xxxxxx - C of E, so we would be in category B.

Our address is ***.

In past years would we have got in on 1 March from this address? From the waiting list before the start of school etc etc? Please could you give me some stats to illustrate the situation if it is not clear-cut. Since we have used this criteria we have been able to offer places to everyone who applied in category B so you would have got in at your current address

I understand that **** may be part of a bulge year population-wise, and that only 75% of the pupils admitted can come from category B so we could be relegated to category D. On what basis are people moved to category D if category B would otherwise be over-represented - I presume it is distance? Yes it is by distance

Does the 75% from category B include or exclude people who were relegated to category D? the 75% is made up of siblings first, then anyone else in category B ranked on distance we have not had to move anyone from category B to D yet it is possible with a large year that people may have to be moved from category B to D

Are you aware if there are any imminent changes to the current admissions policy on the cards? I am not aware of any changes but you are a couple of years away so can’t be 100% sure if there are changes they would only be slight.


How does this fit with the experiences some people describe on here?

P.S. I'm not sure my third question was very clear so I don't think the answer covers what I was wanting to know.

The school has always been oversubscribed ..not sure how much of a bulge year 2015 would be but if they haven't yet had to move children from category B to D then hopefully that will still hold when we might need it for our girls. I do know families who live Maidstone way who have children who attend. You didn't ask about the Malling, Sevenoaks and Shoreham admissions !

Of course, failing that , there's always the possibility we could marry someone high up in the church , Mystery. I'll leave the grey ones with bushy beards for you.

Sorry I didn't ask about Malling, Sevenoaks and Shoreham, however she seems to be saying that no-one has ever been shifted from B to D, and that all the Bs have got in ever since the 75% clause was added to the policy, whatever the address.

This is puzzling me as there are people on here recounting experiences of being shifted from B to D because of the 75% clause.

Hey, less of the grey business. Some people go grey very young (or very old as in my case).

Like who ? ( who has been shifted from B to D....not who has gone grey young )

I have heard of a few families who have got in on appeal ( and didn't expect to not get a place..so maybe were regular church goers ? ) .

The Head does state that if you attend church regularly etc then he will do his best to get you in. Not sure how if the places are all taken ?

Maybe become a nun Mystery.....won't be able to see those grey hairs then

The people who get scuppered are the ones with a patchy church attendance history. Don't forget they need a solid 3 year history with a minimum of 3 x monthly attendance.

Mystery...perhaps we were unlucky but the appeal that I helped with for this school was for a child with a parent who went to church every Sunday without fail for at least 15years prior to the appeal. This parent became very involved with the church and was and still is very involved. They lived in the Tunbridge Wells area..From memory I think they were listed as being 2.1 miles away. They were put into group D from group B. I helped at their appeal and prior to that appeal we requested details regarding their dc's ranking and the number of other children in group b allocated a place with the same or shorter distance.....in that year I think that there were less than 18 in group b. Perhaps a mistake had been made on this one occasion ...

Thanks mystery for doing the spade work on these important questions
Very interesting and much appreciated
Villagedad

Tigger 2 I wonder if the case you are referring to was a few years back? I have another answer from the school which might clarify?

Several years ago before we changed our criteria some people were moved from B to D but we have not had to do this under our new criteria. The rationale behind the 75% cut off in category be was to ensure that people who attended non- Anglican churches were given a chance of a place at Bennett there were several years before this change that children of ministers and very involved people at these churches were having to appeal for places we don’t check the percentage at the end of the process it is there at the beginning only. Once appeals have been heard the numbers in each category do not matter.



Since we have had this criteria as it is we have only offered a handful of places in category D after siblings. But the numbers of applications we receive in each category do vary from year to year



If you were not to gain a place because you live too far away you would stand a very good chance at appeal. The appeals panel are totally independent of the school and we have to offer places to the applicants they instruct us to.



I have had no statistics about large intake years and very often in the past when a year was said to be a high birth rate year it has not made an effect on the numbers applying to Bennett.



I am sorry I do not have any definite answers for you but as the situation has not arisen it is difficult how allocation places in that situation would work.

Hi Mystery....apologies for the long delay in reply...the current oversubscription criteria was in force when we appealed

Tigger

oooh er so in other words the school has misinformed me.