2017 AQS & Waiting Lists

[Fatnorville]

Thanks Fatnorville - and good to see you back on here - it's been a while!

Hello to you too! Never been far away but would rather lurk these days and let people (who are far more intelligent than me) lead the conversation.

[streathammum]

I know a few people where the LEA has completely messed up and not made an offer. I would not be surprised it it's a significant number. The feedback they were giving a few days ago was that they were sorting it out and they would get offers if an error had been made but they were trying to figure out with the school if they needed to withdraw offers from some or oversubscribe

As if these kids (and parents) had not gone through enough!

Absolute shambles and rank amateur imo.

Which local authority is this happening in?

[JamesDean]

£67 million in cuts has to impact somewhere ...

JD

[JamesDean]

Thanks Fatnorville - and good to see you back on here - it's been a while!

Hello to you too! Never been far away but would rather lurk these days and let people (who are far more intelligent than me) lead the conversation.

Hello and +1! Very gladly out of the madness

JD

[Fatnorville]

Thanks Fatnorville - and good to see you back on here - it's been a while!

Hello to you too! Never been far away but would rather lurk these days and let people (who are far more intelligent than me) lead the conversation.

Hello and +1! Very gladly out of the madness

JD

Hello to you too!

The only madness I remember were some of the conversations with Gideon. I miss him / her.

[Chuggabug]

I particularly like the Data Protection issue - essentially, in this context, the Data Protection act controls the publication of identifying data. Since pupil names are not included, the only data which the Council could possibly claim is identifying of an individual are the scores. The Council say that they do not publish the scores for Category 1 and 2 pupils for this reason. Yet, low and behold, we can see KES have made a single Category 4 offer to a pupil with a score of 252. Surely Category 4 pupils are far more easily identifiable than Category 1/2 since their identity is given away by both the distance they have traveled to school and the fact that they have one or more brothers at KES?

Hi Niccy - the categories and criteria for over-subscription are different for KES (and presumably most other selective grammars) in that having siblings at the school doesn't have any influence on admissions, so no risk of being identified because of that: http://www.kes.net/wp-content/uploads/2 ... y-2017.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Purely down to score...

[Wonky]

I know a few people where the LEA has completely messed up and not made an offer. I would not be surprised it it's a significant number. The feedback they were giving a few days ago was that they were sorting it out and they would get offers if an error had been made but they were trying to figure out with the school if they needed to withdraw offers from some or oversubscribe

As if these kids (and parents) had not gone through enough!

Absolute shambles and rank amateur imo.

Which local authority is this happening in?

Warwickshire - The child in question did not receive any offer. The initial error was placing them in Southern as opposed to Eastern Circle this was compounded by the fact that they had scored high enough to receive an out of area offer even if they were in the Southern circle.

The question of withdrawing offers or over subscription was not a bid to scaremonger (despite what others may think)... it was a direct quote from the woman on the phone at the authority, it surprised me and therefore seemed appropriate to report the info on this forum. The place has been offered now, but I'm sure there must be less well informed parents out there who just shrug and accept what is on the letter at face value.

It seems that some are happy to hold the bar of acceptable service and quality at such a low level that these mistakes are just accepted. It's a not a position I subscribe to when children's futures are being decided.

[kenyancowgirl]

That isn't a few people that you know then..that's one person.

There is a responsibility on parents to check that the information held on the system is accurate - certainly we were sent an email after the test/before the CAF went in, that said what priority area we were in etc and we were asked to check the information carefully - if this had been wrong, I would have flagged it up back then, before National Allocation Day.

I am certainly not holding the bar of acceptable service and quality at such a low level...I am, however, understanding that there are thousands of children getting allocated school places - and correctly - it is a mammoth task, undertaked by a service that has been underfunded for years and has had cuts in funding recently again, and to expect it to be 100% accurate (especially when there are parents who are, shall we say, more than happy to blur lines, if they think it will advantage their own child), is naive. Would I wish it was 100% accurate? Of course - do computer systems and humans make occasional errors? Yes. Are thousands of kids adversely affected? No. Are a very small minority adversely affected? Yes, sadly. Do the vast, vast majority get allocated the correct school? Yes.

It would be fabulous to be 100% perfect in your job...I never have been - but at least I can acknowledge that - not sure you would, Wonky! - everyone makes mistakes and with so many variables, it is only surprising that more are not made.

[Yamin151]

That isn't a few people that you know then..that's one person.

There is a responsibility on parents to check that the information held on the system is accurate - certainly we were sent an email after the test/before the CAF went in, that said what priority area we were in etc and we were asked to check the information carefully - if this had been wrong, I would have flagged it up back then, before National Allocation Day.

I am certainly not holding the bar of acceptable service and quality at such a low level...I am, however, understanding that there are thousands of children getting allocated school places - and correctly - it is a mammoth task, undertaked by a service that has been underfunded for years and has had cuts in funding recently again, and to expect it to be 100% accurate (especially when there are parents who are, shall we say, more than happy to blur lines, if they think it will advantage their own child), is naive. Would I wish it was 100% accurate? Of course - do computer systems and humans make occasional errors? Yes. Are thousands of kids adversely affected? No. Are a very small minority adversely affected? Yes, sadly. Do the vast, vast majority get allocated the correct school? Yes.

It would be fabulous to be 100% perfect in your job...I never have been - but at least I can acknowledge that - not sure you would, Wonky! - everyone makes mistakes and with so many variables, it is only surprising that more are not made.

Quite agree KCG. I also slightly object to the use of the emotive phrase "When childrens' futures are being decided". I know what you mean, but surely all parents have a duty to minimise any thoughts that this decides your child's future. Their work and their own motivation decides that, whatever school they are in, and such pragmatism surely begins with the parents. If children hear their parents putting so much store by it, how pressured must it make them feel??

[kenyancowgirl]

Quite, Yamin!