Failed Nonsuch test by 1 point!
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Re: Failed Nonsuch test by 1 point!
We are in catchment and I have twins that scored 358 and 309.
I doubt 309 will be high enough.
Does anyone know if the school is likely to look favourably on twins as an exceptional circumstance, especially as we live in Cheam about 5 mins. walk from Nonsuch?
I doubt 309 will be high enough.
Does anyone know if the school is likely to look favourably on twins as an exceptional circumstance, especially as we live in Cheam about 5 mins. walk from Nonsuch?
Re: Failed Nonsuch test by 1 point!
Oh that's a blow! Unfortunately I'm pretty sure the answer to that question is no. There was once a sibling preference element to Nonsuch intake, but it is no more, defunct, gone. Tough on the lower scoring twin. Irritating I terms of logistics for you, but in the end I hope it will turn out to be the best for each twin in the longer term.SuttonDad wrote:We are in catchment and I have twins that scored 358 and 309.
I doubt 309 will be high enough.
Does anyone know if the school is likely to look favourably on twins as an exceptional circumstance, especially as we live in Cheam about 5 mins. walk from Nonsuch?
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Re: Failed Nonsuch test by 1 point!
What a dilemma Suttondad, what are your options? It's probably worth putting Nonsuch down on your form in the hope that she will be on the waiting list.
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Re: Failed Nonsuch test by 1 point!
That's a real dilemma. How do the girls feel about it? Would they want to go to different schools?
In answer to your question, unless there are exceptional reasons for keeping them together eg. very distressing family circumstances that require them to have sibling support, an appeal panel will not usually consider keeping siblings together an exceptional reason to allow an appeal. Equally, distance to school and transport arrangements do not tend to help appeals unless there is a compelling reason eg physical disability or other exceptional need for a child to go to the very closest school possible.
The appeals section is very good at recommending the types of evidence to present for a child who has qualified but beneath the score required but I guess the main dilemma right now will be filling out the preferences forms. If you want to be certain they will both attend the same school, you would need to fill them out differently than if you are happy for one daughter to go to Nonsuch and to take a chance at appeal with the other later on.
Of course though an appeal is not an absolute certainty at this stage because, whilst 315 was the score required last year, it is not totally guaranteed that 309 will be insufficient this year. It must be very hard but it might help if the girls have a strong opinion one way or the other.
In answer to your question, unless there are exceptional reasons for keeping them together eg. very distressing family circumstances that require them to have sibling support, an appeal panel will not usually consider keeping siblings together an exceptional reason to allow an appeal. Equally, distance to school and transport arrangements do not tend to help appeals unless there is a compelling reason eg physical disability or other exceptional need for a child to go to the very closest school possible.
The appeals section is very good at recommending the types of evidence to present for a child who has qualified but beneath the score required but I guess the main dilemma right now will be filling out the preferences forms. If you want to be certain they will both attend the same school, you would need to fill them out differently than if you are happy for one daughter to go to Nonsuch and to take a chance at appeal with the other later on.
Of course though an appeal is not an absolute certainty at this stage because, whilst 315 was the score required last year, it is not totally guaranteed that 309 will be insufficient this year. It must be very hard but it might help if the girls have a strong opinion one way or the other.
Re: Failed Nonsuch test by 1 point!
The main thing an appeal panel would be looking for is evidence of academic ability. Do you have CATS / reports / other evidence that show the twin with the low score was expected to do better than she did?
Re: Failed Nonsuch test by 1 point!
Thank you all so much for your advice. It is a really difficult time for us as both twins also passed Wallington but we don't know if they'll get a place or not.
The higher placed twin has her heart set on Nonsuch but feels terribly sad for her sister if she doesn't make it.
I noticed that the number of girls sitting the test at Nonsuch went up this year and the number passing went down so I am hoping that could bring the qualifying score down. But by 6 marks sounds too unlikely!
The lower scoring twin is a 5C in maths and english but nothing exceptional so no grounds there.
An argument is that since they were 2 months premature they might get extra marks as the adjusted ages would place them in a different age band.
Also, some areas allow the PAN to increase for multiple births. Don't really want to take a legitimate place from someone else.
Brochure suggests appeals should be documented now and included with the application if possible, so will try and chat to the Head and some professionals next week before the October deadline.
The higher placed twin has her heart set on Nonsuch but feels terribly sad for her sister if she doesn't make it.
I noticed that the number of girls sitting the test at Nonsuch went up this year and the number passing went down so I am hoping that could bring the qualifying score down. But by 6 marks sounds too unlikely!
The lower scoring twin is a 5C in maths and english but nothing exceptional so no grounds there.
An argument is that since they were 2 months premature they might get extra marks as the adjusted ages would place them in a different age band.
Also, some areas allow the PAN to increase for multiple births. Don't really want to take a legitimate place from someone else.
Brochure suggests appeals should be documented now and included with the application if possible, so will try and chat to the Head and some professionals next week before the October deadline.
Last edited by SuttonDad on Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Failed Nonsuch test by 1 point!
The new Admissions Code allows a twin to be admitted over and above PAN but only where the last child admitted to a school is a twin. So, in a primary school of 60 children per year group, if the 60th child who meets the distance criteria is a twin, their sibling will now be offered a place taking the total in the year group up to 61 (last year this wasn't the case).
Grammar Schools however are different since the same Code forbids sibling priority of any kind for designated grammar schools that rank all children according to a pre-determined pass mark and then allocate places to those who score highest. You would need to check if Nonsuch falls under this definition.
Grammar Schools however are different since the same Code forbids sibling priority of any kind for designated grammar schools that rank all children according to a pre-determined pass mark and then allocate places to those who score highest. You would need to check if Nonsuch falls under this definition.
Re: Failed Nonsuch test by 1 point!
I know of one set of twins - one at TGS and one at NS.
Re: Failed Nonsuch test by 1 point!
Hi
I feel for you, what a difficult situation you are in. Which elements did your dd do better in?
Over the past few years I have known several girls miss the mark for Nonsuch by a few points, but still get into wallington. I take it you are in catchment for both schools. Are the girls comparable in their school results, if so this could help demonstrate to an appeal panel that dd just had an off day, after all she has been deemed selective.
I have read of other cases on the forum where one twin is offered a place while the other not and appeals heard. You could do a search for the word twin using the search tool above and then directly pm the parents for advice.
Best of luck
I feel for you, what a difficult situation you are in. Which elements did your dd do better in?
Over the past few years I have known several girls miss the mark for Nonsuch by a few points, but still get into wallington. I take it you are in catchment for both schools. Are the girls comparable in their school results, if so this could help demonstrate to an appeal panel that dd just had an off day, after all she has been deemed selective.
I have read of other cases on the forum where one twin is offered a place while the other not and appeals heard. You could do a search for the word twin using the search tool above and then directly pm the parents for advice.
Best of luck
Re: Failed Nonsuch test by 1 point!
Thanks Laretta,
have sent a PM to people that can help on twins.
Both twins scored best on English, second best on verbal and worst on non-verbal.
Yes we are in catchment for Wallington too, although maths test there didn't sound very promising for them.
Not really comparable at school.
We phoned Nonsuch to see what the cut-off score was last year and they said it went down a bit from 315.
I'd love to know why Nonsuch put down the pass mark from 286 to 285 when in catchment girls were still passing but not getting a place!
have sent a PM to people that can help on twins.
Both twins scored best on English, second best on verbal and worst on non-verbal.
Yes we are in catchment for Wallington too, although maths test there didn't sound very promising for them.
Not really comparable at school.
We phoned Nonsuch to see what the cut-off score was last year and they said it went down a bit from 315.
I'd love to know why Nonsuch put down the pass mark from 286 to 285 when in catchment girls were still passing but not getting a place!