Surrey Preferences and Tiffin Girls - Help please!

[WOTMum]

We live quite a way out from Tiffin Girls, almost 8m, so the journey will be a horror but our DD is top of her class in most areas and we want to give her the chance to go, (if she performs on the day). We also live within 2.5m of a good comprehensive where many of her friends in her present State primary school will go. My question is referring to the Tiffin entrance policy, where it mentions that parents can opt to put their DD back on the waiting list to be treated in criteria order after removal from the list if they have been offered a higher preference school. Does this ever come into play in practice? I understand if you have opted to put down other grammars higher than Tiffin, and your DD scores highly enough in theory to be offered places at any, and then you have a change of heart - would that put them at the top of waiting list if they scored highly but did not put it as a 1st preference? It doesn't really sound fair, but I need to understand it properly. I am asking because I am unsure as to whether to put my local comp first to ensure she can get a place with her friends, but then wanting to be able to put her on the waiting list for Tiffin also knowing that she is likely to score well. It does sound like having your cake and eating it - and also that I assume she will get a high enough score, but up to now I have always assumed I would need to put Tiffin 1st to have any chance of being offered a place should she score highly enough. Hope that makes sense to someone out there who can advise!

[WOTMum]

Sorry just need to add something - Surrey admissions' booklet says you cannot go on the waiting list for a lower preference school without exceptional circumstances if you already had a higher preference offer, yet Tiffin's policy says you can ask to do so, and is obviously its own admission authority. Does Surrey' policy overrule Tiffin's if I am applying from Surrey?

[hermanmunster]

If you want her to go to Tiffin then put it first, if she is not eligible ie doesn't score high enough then she will be allocated to her next available choice as though the first choice never existed.
if you try it the other way and ask to be put on a lower school waiting list then you have to remember that there are lots of people on the list and not many places ever come up.

[Thingsbehindthesun]

You could call your local council about changing school priorities but I think you should put the school you really want first then the others later.I would put Tiffin first then if she doesn't get a place she can still have the comprehensive.Although most of her friends may be going to the other school friendships can change and children always end up making friends even though they might not think so.

[WOTMum]

Thank you, you are telling me what I have always gone along with thinking until I read this. Hermanmunster - even if she did score quite high, I suppose the risk is because we live relatively far away she might tie for score and then not be close enough? I am confident on a good day she would score very well. I know I ned to make a hard decision here and I know I probably should just stick with Plan A having come this far. I just like to understand the "what ifs"...

[laretta]

Hi
I copied and pasted this directly from the Tiffin website.

The names of girls who have sat the test but who have been offered a higher preference school will not be placed on the waiting list. However, parents of these girls can request that their child’s name is added to the waiting list. If they do so, their name will be added in criteria order i.e. rank score order;

I take it from the above that if your daughter scored highly enough to be offered a place, but was awarded another higher pref school. You could request to join the waiting list - I think you would be placed at the top as all the other girls on the list would not have scored highly enough to gain a place - otherwise they would not be on the list in the first place? The only exception being other girls who may have joined the waiting list having been offered a higher pref school like your DD.

[mitasol]

We have an equal preference system, so you will be considered for each of your choices as if it was your only preference. If at the final stage you can be offered more than one of your school choices you will be given the one you ranked highest. Have a look at the detailed info - http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/school ... nce-system" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You should put them in the order of your true preference. If you put Tiffin first and don't get in, you've not affected your chance at the comp.

The only reason to put the comp above Tiffin would be, if that was your preferred school.

Finally, all offers including those from the waiting list, will come through your LEA. So you need to be certain that the LEA will permit a lower preference offer.

[loopylou]

You would need to put Tiffin first if you prefer Tiffin to the comprehensive school.
If your DD scores well enough on the day, she will be offered a place at Tiffin but not at the comprehensive school.
If she doesn't score well enough on the day, she will be offered the comprehensive school and not Tiffin (assuming you live close enough to the comprehensive school to get allocated it but that's a separate issue).

If your DD does not score a high enough mark to get a place at Tiffin, it ceases to exist as an option on her form and her highest preference automatically becomes the comprehensive school. You do not damage your chances of a place at the local school by naming Tiffin first.

The only thing you need to double check is whether you truly prefer Tiffin to the local school and want to put it first (I assume you do hence DD taking the test) and that at least one of your lower preferences is a school you would definitely qualify for ie live close enough to / have another child at already. I cannot see what benefit you would gain from putting the comprehensive first, getting a place and then adding DD onto the Tiffin waiting list with a high score where she may or may not secure a place. In theory it gives you a small chance of getting 2 school offers eventually to choose between but in practice it may mean losing out on the grammar school place altogether depending on her score and how many others do this and how many they accept off the list.

[WOTMum]

Thank you everyone. So how about this scenario, we are in catchment but often the local comp is oversubscribed, and last year we would have got a place but the year before we would not have done as too far away. Hence even putting it first may not be enough to get us a place. What are the chances of getting an offer at Tiffin if she scores highly but I only rank it as second preference? Would a good score (god willing) outweigh putting it as 2nd choice should the comp be oversubscribed in catchment this coming year?

[mad?]

Would a good score (god willing) outweigh putting it as 2nd choice should the comp be oversubscribed in catchment this coming year?

IT is not a question of one out weighing the other. In the scenario you suggest, IF the score was above the qualifying mark, your DD would get offered Tiffin. I re-iterate the points others have made, your dd will get the highest ranked school for which she qualifies, if she does not qualify for the comprehensive due to a combination of geography and a high number of closer applicants this year, then she gets Tiffin, assuming she has a sufficiently high score. IF, however, she scores sufficiently highly but you have ranked the comprehensive above Tiffin, then you will still get the comprehensive unless due to the geographical factors you mention she does not qualify.