OSA rejects objection to Tiffin's admission arrangements

[Etienne]

The Office of the Schools Adjudicator has completely rejected an objection to the admission arrangements for Tiffin School.

However, the Adjudicator does require changes to some aspects of the arrangements for Y7/Y12 which are unrelated to the original complaint.

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[whichwitch]

Tiffin Girls need to take note of this for yr 12 admissions too

[tiffinboys]

Thank you, Etienne.

On the contrary, upto just few years ago, our LA was advising parents that catchments were illegal.

About year 12 admissions, this judgement might also benefit QE children.

[Etienne]

Thanks.

It wouldn't surprise me if the Y12 admission arrangements for quite a number of schools, nationally, are non-compliant.

[tiffinboys]

I hope that for final tie breaker, the school will adopt its previous policy of offering place to all candidates who are on same score/same distance, instead of making random selection.

[loopylou]

Random selection seems a very odd way to decide a tie-breaker. Most schools opt for closest distance to the school if this has not been taken into account already.

I have seen quite a few Year 12 admissions recently (a general observation not aimed at Tiffins here) that seem to be sailing very close to the wind in terms of applying extra selection criteria beyond the purely factual ones they are supposed to employ.
The Admissions Code makes it very clear that no meeting or interview can in any way form part of the offers process for example yet many are insisting on these and being less than clear about the GCSE grades or other non subjective criteria required for an offer.

Some 6th forms (again a general observation) seem to want a university style process whereby they can fill places with the cleverest, most dedicated and best behaved students when in fact they are supposed to set an approved minimum criteria and stick to it, not cherry pick.

[tiffinboys]

Loopylou, the Adjudicator was referring to the situation where the score was the same and then, the distance was the same as well, therefore, the need for a further tie breaker. In this rare and unusual case, the TS indicated they would use random draw. I hope that instead they go on to offer place to all such candidates, as that would seem fairer, rather than a stroke of luck.