Ranks take account of every single person. If you had scores of 250, 240, 230 x 2 and 220, ranks would be:
1) 250 2) 240 3) 230 4) 230 5) 220
The 2 x 230's are split by the next criteria whcih is usually distance. I believe that, like last year, ranks will include any Birmingham cohort who chose to share with Warks - this means it skews the ranks a little as some of the children have no intention of taking up a Warwickshire place - and some will now consider it as they have ranked better than they imagined.
With regards to the priority Circle, try and imagine it like two lists - ranked cancdidates within the PC (Group A) and ranked candidates outside of it (Group B). In round 1 only the group A are considered - if the places are not filled then those ranked highest in Group B are considered. So some of the Group A candidates will have scored/ranked lower than some of the Group B candidates that subsequently get an offer, because they are in a higher criteria overall. In both of these lists, initially it is only candidates above the AQS that are offered. In practise, my sources tell me that the AQS is effectively set at a level that hits the school's individual PANs and also takes the highest scored/ranked children across both Group A/Group B, whilst still giving preference to Group A. Pupil premium candidates also skew the ranks a little, if they score within a certain mark of the AQS (from memory, I think most of the schools in Birmingham and Warwickshire allow them up to 5 points below the AQS) they will get offered a place.
All this information is on the websites.
|