Skinners School consulting to change admission for 2019

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whichwaytogo
Posts: 54
Joined: Fri May 24, 2013 5:31 pm

Skinners School consulting to change admission for 2019

Post by whichwaytogo »

I thought I would post this for those of you looking at schools for 2019. I have a son already there, so we got an e-mail about it. It's quite a change. Bringing in a sibling link and also admission based on geographic area.

http://www.skinners-school.co.uk/news/148" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Sparklecat
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Re: Skinners School consulting to change admission for 2019

Post by Sparklecat »

That will upset some out of county parents.

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/tunbridge-w ... on-157215/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Skinner's will also be expanding, along with several others in the area.
mystery
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Re: Skinners School consulting to change admission for 2019

Post by mystery »

I'm not sure that I understand the consultation draft of the admissions policy linked to above. How does one rank applicants in order of siblings?
ToadMum
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Re: Skinners School consulting to change admission for 2019

Post by ToadMum »

mystery wrote:I'm not sure that I understand the consultation draft of the admissions policy linked to above. How does one rank applicants in order of siblings?
I think they mean, all siblings scoring 360 or over, then if places remaining, sons of staff (scoring >=360), then if places remaining, anyone else scoring >=360, nearest to school first.

If they get down to 'distance', there is no problem with how to rank within that sub-group. But as far as I can see, there is no ranking criterion within 'siblings' or 'sons of staff', should the 140th / 160th boy fall into one of those sub-groups with applicants still outstanding. The only mention of an oversubscription criterion within a category is that of score, should there be more than 5 valid applications for the five 'FSM' places in each main group.

However, it is very late and I may have missed something obvious...
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Peter
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Location: Kent & Medway

Re: Skinners School consulting to change admission for 2019

Post by Peter »

What excellent news for Kent families. At last Skinners are responding to local pressures for grammar school places, exacerbated by out of county families taking up places that should be filled by Kent boys.
mystery
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Re: Skinners School consulting to change admission for 2019

Post by mystery »

I agree with you on most things Peter, but I can't agree that schools should serve children who live within the local authority (at the tier which has an education budget and responsibility) within which the school is located and not other children.

And this is more widely recognised now by Kent CC even. In their free school transport policy, it is now about the closest school to which one lives, not the closest Kent school. This makes a big difference in the area in which I live as the closest school is not in Kent.

We surely can't have it one way for admissions and another way for transport. And what happened to the Greenwich judgement?

It may well be that the new Skinners' admissions policy is a "better one" in the way it ultimately works out for children but the principles behind it (and in my view, the principles behind the over-subscription criteria for many other Kent schools) should not have county borders as "red lines".
Sparklecat
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Re: Skinners School consulting to change admission for 2019

Post by Sparklecat »

Having seen the depressing mad scrum of central London families at an OOC testing centre, and having watched some of these poor children on their long daily journey, I'm comfortable with local children being given priority. Some of the questions asked by parents on here are frankly ridiculous. There doesn't need to be a blanket ban on non-Kent children, but geography should be a major factor in which school a child attends.
salsa
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Re: Skinners School consulting to change admission for 2019

Post by salsa »

It is tricky. Some schools, such as Newstead Wood, have a catchment in miles (9 in this case). This may be okay if the journey is easy. However, some people live in rural areas and any school would be miles away.
Moreover, some more local schools may be harder to get to than one easily accessible by train, even though it may be further away.

Salsa
mystery
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Re: Skinners School consulting to change admission for 2019

Post by mystery »

I haven't seen any ridiculous questions on here.

But county borders don't have much to do with whether one has a reasonable journey to a school or not do they?

The schools easiest to get to from here are in two different counties - not Kent. There's lots of West Kent much harder to get to than places over the border.

Read the draft policy Sparklecat before you get shirty on here.
Sparklecat
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Joined: Fri May 02, 2014 6:16 pm

Re: Skinners School consulting to change admission for 2019

Post by Sparklecat »

Expressing an opinion different to yours is not being shirty; it's called having a discussion.

I have seen plenty of ridiculous questions, such as the parent from Hounslow asking about sending his daughter to Kent every day. I have no problem with children crossing county lines if that is their nearest school. I am very uneasy about children from Deptford travelling past dozens of schools on the way to Rochester, when that place could go to a deprived local child. I also have this quaint notion that schools should be an integral part of their local community.
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