Help with school choices in CAF-Bucks GS & Henrietta Barnet

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Manni
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Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2014 7:53 pm

Help with school choices in CAF-Bucks GS & Henrietta Barnet

Post by Manni »

Hi,

My daughter has got required marks for GS in Bucks. We live in in the catchment of Dr Challoner's High. She has also qualified the first admission test with Henrietta Barnet with 2nd test scheduled in January 2015. We are faced with a dilemma whether we should place Henrietta Barnet as 1st choice in the CAF or Dr. Challoner's.

1. If we place Henrietta in the 1st place (with final result to be announced in March 2015) and don't get requisite marks in the 2nd exam to get admission, we are worried that we might not be invited by Dr. Challoner's High either as it is placed as 2nd choice on my daughter's CAF and there could be adequate number of aspiring students with Dr. Challoner's as the GS of 1st choice from within the catchment.

2. If we place Dr. Challoner's High as the school of 1st choice, she might not even be considered for Henrietta even if she passes becasue we are told that Council tries to place the children in the order of their preference of GS

Can someone who might have gone through the experience or might have knowledge of council rules please advise? Thanks
Guest55
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Re: Help with school choices in CAF-Bucks GS & Henrietta Bar

Post by Guest55 »

Which school do you want the most?

If you live in catchment for DCHS then I cannot see why you are bothering with HBS ...
hermanmunster
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Location: The Seaside

Re: Help with school choices in CAF-Bucks GS & Henrietta Bar

Post by hermanmunster »

the allocation will be based on order of preference.

If you put DCS first and you are eligible for that then you won't be offered HBS even if score high enough

If you put HBS first and do not get through round 2 then HBS will be discarded as first choice and DCS will become first choice and you will be eligible as though you had put it first. People who put it first on the list will not be allocated a place ahead of you.
scary mum
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Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:45 pm

Re: Help with school choices in CAF-Bucks GS & Henrietta Bar

Post by scary mum »

You will be allocated whichever school you qualify for, so if you qualify for the first one on your list, you will get that (subject to other criteria), if not that one is crossed off & you get the next one if eligible, if not they go to the next one, and so on. Therefore if you put DCHS first & have qualified & live close enough you will get that. If you put HBS first & don't qualify you will still get DHCS. Put them in the genuine order you prefer, the schools do not know the order (but I fail to see why you would travel from Amersham or surrounding areas to HBS. Most people would gladly accept Dr Challoner's).

Sorry, cross post on phone!
scary mum
Daogroupie
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Re: Help with school choices in CAF-Bucks GS & Henrietta Bar

Post by Daogroupie »

1.Did you sit HBS as a backup for Dr C? If so you no longer need it and you should leave the places for those in North London who now have only HBS second round as a selective option.

2.Did you sit HBS because that was where you wanted your dd to go and you are prepared to move your entire family for your dd?

3.Or did you sit HBS because of where it is in the league tables?

If 1 then put Dr C first. If 2 then put HBS first. If 3 then put Dr C first.

You can still sit HBS second round if you want to but if you put HBS and get it you will lose Dr C. You can sit other schools all over the place as an astonishing amount of students seem to have done this year but you can only be offered one school so make sure it is the one you really want by putting it first. DG
loopylou
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Re: Help with school choices in CAF-Bucks GS & Henrietta Bar

Post by loopylou »

Of the two statements you have written, number 1 is incorrect and number 2 is correct.

1. If you place HBS 1st and your daughter does not score well enough for a place, she will automatically be offered the next school down your list that she has met the qualifying score for. There is no penalty and no risk to placing a school 2nd. No school gives priority to children who place them as 1st choice.

2. If you place Dr C first and HBS second, your DD wil not get an offer at HBS no matter how well she does in the exam assuming she has a qualifying score for Dr C. By placing Dr C on the form 1st, you are telling thr council that no matter how well she does in the HBS exam, you want Dr C above all others. If that isn't the case, don't place Dr C first.
Sally-Anne
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Location: Buckinghamshire

Re: Help with school choices in CAF-Bucks GS & Henrietta Bar

Post by Sally-Anne »

Daogroupie wrote:3.Or did you sit HBS because of where it is in the league tables?
It's the same discussion that we had over here: http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 5&start=10" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Sally-Anne wrote:Indeed. The sacrificial altar of league tables ...

Some context:

In January 2012 there were 3268 secondary schools in England. (That will have increased with Free Schools opening.)

There are 164 grammar schools. (Let's ignore the partially selectives - too difficult to break out the stats.)

Out of the top 100 state schools (2013 A Level results), or 3% of all state schools, 82% are grammars, and 8 of those are in Bucks.

The difference between any of those schools' results is absolutely microscopic.

The only difference is that QEB has a big number ONE before its name in the tables, and far too many parents develop blinkers when they see that.
In this case, HBS has a big number TWO before its name in the A Level league tables. Dr Challoner's High is a lowly 40th, and only within the top 1.22% of all state schools in England, so clearly not up to scratch.
test2014
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Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:22 pm

Re: Help with school choices in CAF-Bucks GS & Henrietta Bar

Post by test2014 »

and any sibling? where will they be? :)
berks_mum
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Re: Help with school choices in CAF-Bucks GS & Henrietta Bar

Post by berks_mum »

I am not sure if league tables reflect the real picture. We were just explaining this to our DD. The intake for HBS, QE, TGS, Kendrick, Reading Boys is score and score alone so it is a very different cohort whereas the intake for Bucks is pass/fail based (not score based). So, even if Bucks school(SWBGS in our case) is slightly lower in the league tables that doesn't mean they are any less than the super selectives. Also, HBS has a smaller intake than many of the Bucks schools( DR C intake > HBS intake?) so that could affect the league table position as well?
Sally-Anne
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Re: Help with school choices in CAF-Bucks GS & Henrietta Bar

Post by Sally-Anne »

berks_mum wrote:Also, HBS has a smaller intake than many of the Bucks schools( DR C intake > HBS intake?) so that could affect the league table position as well?
DCHS = 150, HBS = 93.
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