School without catchment area

[Guest55]

In response to 1) Bucks DOES have enough - places for 30% of the Bucks cohort but the qualification is set on those sitting the test as it has to be by law.

What we have is OOC children filling spaces that Bucks children would have had 5+ years ago - 'average' travel distances are increasing. Fewer children live local to the GS and so fewer children[and parents] see the school as their community so they don't support activities outside school hours.

[Sally-Anne]

But there are more Bucks childrenw ho would have passed if the OOC children had not sat the test. So they now need to go to appeal for non-existent places and to try and get a grammar assessment. But the panels don't always recognise they are of grammar calibre and even if they did, the schools win the argument as they're already full

Review panels take place before allocations are made. A small number of Appeal cases are heard in the summer term, and those parents do also have to appeal against oversubscription.

[mystery]

Ok, so if you have enough grammar places in Bucks, and enough children who live near those grammar schools then it's the school admission policies that need to change if there's a problem with children not getting places who should and others living too far away to get the most benefit out of the educational and social opportunities the grammars offer?

Why don't the academies address it through their individual admissions policies if it is a significant problem these days and was not before?