Bennett Memorial and other non GS's

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Snowdrops
Posts: 4667
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2007 5:20 pm

Post by Snowdrops »

Excuse me?

These ARE hard facts, I stated I KNOW them personally.

Did I say they did it 6 months before they applied for the school? NO, I did not!

There are people in this world who know the system and will use it to their best advantage, even if it takes years to get to their goal. Do you really think they don't?

Please don't take my words and twist them to suit your needs.

The facts ARE that they became cub and scout leaders and then the moment their chldren got into the school of their choice they dropped it like hot potatoes. I was sat in the pub with them discussing school allocations when they admitted to it.

It helped their cause because it was known as 'doing good deeds in the community'.

How about you getting to know the sytem properly before you comment on it?
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jimmymack
Posts: 44
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2009 9:48 am

Post by jimmymack »

Snowdrops wrote:These ARE hard facts, I stated I KNOW them personally. I was sat in the pub with them discussing school allocations when they admitted to it.
...
It helped their cause because it was known as 'doing good deeds in the community'.
Well, obviously, then you should report these 'facts' to the school, shouldn't you?

I know the district scout leaders so it should be easy enough to check the facts. Apart from anything else the scouting movement isn't going to be very impressed so they need to be informed. What beaver, cub or scout group was it?

Anyway, I have set out the school's admissions criteria in full below. You will, I hope, notice that there is no reference to 'doing good deeds in the community' or community service of any sort. The admissions focus exclusively on the religious/Christian nature of the family. So I am very much afraid that you are mistaken if you think that involvement in the scouting movement has any relevance to admission to the school.

PS Please don't shout.
A Children in public care.
B Children from Anglican families at the heart of the church. The definition of this is a child who has one or both parents worshipping regularly (by which is meant at least three times per month on average) in an Anglican church and who have done so for at least three years up to the time of application. It is also required that at least one parent is communicant, in other words takes part in Holy Communion services or the Eucharist, and that the child for whom they are applying is baptised. If applications which meet these criteria exceed the number that can be offered, applicants with a sibling at Bennett will be ranked before those without a sibling (see definition of sibling below), and then within each group applicants will be ranked by distance from the school.
C Children from non-Anglican Christian families at the heart of the church. The definition of this is a child who has one or both parents worshipping regularly (by which is meant at least three times per month on average) in any Christian church and who have done so for at least three years up to the time of application. It is also normally expected that the child for whom they are applying is baptised. If applications which meet these criteria exceed the number that can be offered, applicants with a sibling at Bennett (see definition of sibling below) will have priority, and then within each group applicants will be ranked by distance from the school.
D Children from Anglican families attached to the church. The definition of this is a child who has at least one parent who attends an Anglican church at least monthly, or takes part in one form of service to the church on at least a monthly basis, and who has sustained this pattern of commitment for at least two years. It will also be required that the child is baptised. If applications which meet these criteria exceed the number that can be offered, applicants with a sibling at Bennett (see definition of sibling below) will have priority, and then within each group applicants will be ranked by distance from the school.
E Children from non-Anglican Christian families attached to the church. The definition of this is a child who has at least one parent who attends a non-Anglican Christian church at least monthly, or takes part in one form of service to the church on at least a monthly basis, and who has sustained this pattern of commitment for at least two years. It will also be normally expected that the child is baptised. If applications which meet these criteria exceed the number that can be offered, applicants with a sibling at Bennett (see definition of sibling below) will have priority, and then within each group applicants will be ranked by distance from the school.
F Children from Anglican and non-Anglican Christian families known to the church. The definition for this will be a child who has at least one parent who attends any Christian church on an occasional basis, less frequently than once a month, but at least as frequently as three times a year, or who takes part in a regular form of service to the church, less often than once a month but at least three times a year. If applications which meet these criteria exceed the number that can be offered, applicants with a sibling at Bennett (see definition of sibling below) will have priority, and then within each group applicants will be ranked by distance from the school.
sallyj
Posts: 212
Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2008 10:45 pm
Location: Lincolnshire

Post by sallyj »

Oh my goodness,that turned into a swift 'row' !
I agree with you jimmymack.that no school's head should be turned by someone's Scouting prowess,but to come to snowdrops defence it does happen.
As a family we have a long association with Scouting,& we've met several people over the years who definately have ulterior motives for getting involved. A lot of groups locally-two of the ones we're involved with included-meet on church premises & have strong ties with the church. We attend multiple church parades throughout each year & are expected to help out with church fundraising etc. I know of one social climbing family in particular who have joined anything & everything they can think of which will help in thier attempts to secure the school places they desire for thier children.It already got them places at an exceptionally oversubscribed primary school,despite them living well out of catchment.The mother actually gloats over her 'luck',& she has made no secret of her secondary school goal :x
It makes my blood boil too that they will use the fact that they are better off financially to step over those who would definately join in/attend more/help out but find they are unable because of family or financial constraints.
It all goes back to the fact that it will never be a completely level playing field & that there will always be those who happily play the system to get what they desire. "Not what you know,but who you know" springs to mind.
Ok,I'm off my soapbox now :lol:
Sallyj
Snowdrops
Posts: 4667
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2007 5:20 pm

Post by Snowdrops »

JimmyMack is making an awful lot of assumptions about my postings.

I shall leave you to it - you seem to think you know it all.

I will not be commenting anymore on this thread.
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samtheman
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat May 30, 2009 3:10 pm

Post by samtheman »

I agree with jimmymack; if Snowdrops is so upset about this family he/she should report them to the school and to the local scout district. And as jimmymack says 'doing good deeds in the community' is irrelevant for getting into BM so scouts has nothing to do with it.
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Post by Guest55 »

I think a few scouts are getting a tiny bit upset here - scouts is just an example of the sort of lengths people will go to manipulate the system. I don't think any criticism of the scout movement is intended ...

I also know people who have 'bent' the system - and yes - many have got caught. Recently, in Bucks, places have been reallocated because of such practices.
sp
Posts: 379
Joined: Thu Mar 09, 2006 7:09 pm
Location: groombridge, e.sussex

Post by sp »

Todifferentiate between 2 families applying who perhaps both attend 3/4 times per month, a recommending letter from the vicar confirming other community activities would definitely take priority over a letter without
SSM
Posts: 646
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2009 12:09 pm

Post by SSM »

jimmyjack and samtheman, I think you are being a bit harsh on snowdrops. She was just agreeing with how this thread was going and stating an example that she knows of. There is no need for any one to go on the defensive as she was just trying to give an example using a situation that she knows of.

She did not say that it was relevant to BM. Also, how do you know that she did not report it to the school?
Etienne
Posts: 8978
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Post by Etienne »

sp wrote:To differentiate between 2 families applying who perhaps both attend 3/4 times per month, a recommending letter from the vicar confirming other community activities would definitely take priority over a letter without
To differentiate between 2 families applying who perhaps both attend 3/4 times per month, one has to apply the admission rules. :)

"If applications which meet these criteria exceed the number that can be offered, applicants with a sibling at Bennett will be ranked before those without a sibling (see definition of sibling below), and then within each group applicants will be ranked by distance from the school."
Etienne
peterpeter1
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu May 21, 2009 4:39 pm

Post by peterpeter1 »

SSM wrote:She did not say that it was relevant to BM. Also, how do you know that she did not report it to the school?
Well the thread is about a particular school, BM, not faith schools in general. Why can't Snowdrop just say which school it was, if she reported it to the school and, if she did, the outcome?

Unless they are expressly part of the published arrangments, any school using doing 'good deeds in the community' as part of the admission criteria is going to run into trouble. But I have never come across a school with good deed in the community written into the admissions criteria. Any examples, anybody?
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