Bucks admission glitch?

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petit-pois
Posts: 216
Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2016 9:27 pm

Bucks admission glitch?

Post by petit-pois »

My Dd's friend used a tutor company based in Luton and MK who have sent out an email stating that many of their students did not get the correct information sent to them via email due to a 'glitch' in Bucks admission email system! I suspect that this is untrue and just an attempt to somehow respond to the influx of emails it says they have received but just wondering if anyone else has heard anything about such a thing?
Sally-Anne
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Re: Bucks admission glitch?

Post by Sally-Anne »

There was a problem with the emails, and BCC published an apology on the website about it. Can't find it immediately, but what you've been told is true.
petit-pois
Posts: 216
Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2016 9:27 pm

Re: Bucks admission glitch?

Post by petit-pois »

I can't find anything on the website. Do you know what the problem was? I guess these things do happen but how stressful for the affected families!
Sally-Anne
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Re: Bucks admission glitch?

Post by Sally-Anne »

Some emails didn't get sent when they should have been, but parents could still log in to the portal to check their allocation. Not a particularly big deal really, unless you'd lost the login details and happened to one of those affected by the problem.
petit-pois
Posts: 216
Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2016 9:27 pm

Re: Bucks admission glitch?

Post by petit-pois »

Oh ok. So the part about some Dc being allocated the wrong and even no school may be incorrect as it's only the fact that some emails weren't sent not a mistake with the allocations.
Guest55
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Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: Bucks admission glitch?

Post by Guest55 »

Yes - children in Luton won't get any of the Aylesbury GS.
anotherdad
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Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:33 pm

Re: Bucks admission glitch?

Post by anotherdad »

There were a few Luton-based parents enquiring about the allocations process after it became clear on 1st March that they hadn't secured a place. I wondered if there was a tuition company or perhaps just a self-formed group of parents who were misinformed about the allocation process and were convinced or convinced themselves that they would get a place if their children qualified. That might explain why those concerned thought that the admissions glitch was the reason they didn't get a place, rather than distance being the problem.
petit-pois
Posts: 216
Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2016 9:27 pm

Re: Bucks admission glitch?

Post by petit-pois »

That's what I thought based on the allocation distances published. Tbh it concerns neither my Dd as she was allocated a place or my friends Dd as she did not qualify but was just curious as the email seem to imply there is still hope for both Luton Dc's that weren't allocated a place in Aylesbury Grammars and Mk Dc's hoping for a place at RLS.

Anotherdad I can confirm (as I think I've mentioned before) that more than one tuition company are misinforming parents about their Dc's chances of allocation based on their location. It's very sad to hear that people are being taken advantage of in this way. I know they will have paid a substantial amount of money in the belief that if their Dc can qualify they will be 'safe' :(
anotherdad
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Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:33 pm

Re: Bucks admission glitch?

Post by anotherdad »

petit-pois wrote:That's what I thought based on the allocation distances published. Tbh it concerns neither my Dd as she was allocated a place or my friends Dd as she did not qualify but was just curious as the email seem to imply there is still hope for both Luton Dc's that weren't allocated a place in Aylesbury Grammars and Mk Dc's hoping for a place at RLS.

Anotherdad I can confirm (as I think I've mentioned before) that more than one tuition company are misinforming parents about their Dc's chances of allocation based on their location. It's very sad to hear that people are being taken advantage of in this way. I know they will have paid a substantial amount of money in the belief that if their Dc can qualify they will be 'safe' :(
It is sad but my sympathy is limited because those parents really should have done their homework before handing over substantial sums of money. None of the information they are belatedly asking for is hidden. The admissions procedures are laid out on the BCC site well before they even registered their children for the Bucks test and the allocation distances for previous years are all readily available, too. They have proved capable of navigating the BCC registration process for testing, and of finding this site and the advice it can offer, but seemingly only after they realise there's a problem.

My sympathy is further limited because for each of those qualifying children with no hope of gaining a place, there is a much closer child on a score of 120.xx who would have qualified in their place, so the stress/anxiety/disappointment is doubled.
petit-pois
Posts: 216
Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2016 9:27 pm

Re: Bucks admission glitch?

Post by petit-pois »

anotherdad wrote:
petit-pois wrote:That's what I thought based on the allocation distances published. Tbh it concerns neither my Dd as she was allocated a place or my friends Dd as she did not qualify but was just curious as the email seem to imply there is still hope for both Luton Dc's that weren't allocated a place in Aylesbury Grammars and Mk Dc's hoping for a place at RLS.

Anotherdad I can confirm (as I think I've mentioned before) that more than one tuition company are misinforming parents about their Dc's chances of allocation based on their location. It's very sad to hear that people are being taken advantage of in this way. I know they will have paid a substantial amount of money in the belief that if their Dc can qualify they will be 'safe' :(
It is sad but my sympathy is limited because those parents really should have done their homework before handing over substantial sums of money. None of the information they are belatedly asking for is hidden. The admissions procedures are laid out on the BCC site well before they even registered their children for the Bucks test and the allocation distances for previous years are all readily available, too. They have proved capable of navigating the BCC registration process for testing, and of finding this site and the advice it can offer, but seemingly only after they realise there's a problem.

My sympathy is further limited because for each of those qualifying children with no hope of gaining a place, there is a much closer child on a score of 120.xx who would have qualified in their place, so the stress/anxiety/disappointment is doubled.
Yes of course I also have a huge amount of sympathy with those children not qualifying due to the excess of others sitting the test, who have no hope of gaining a place due to their distance from their preferred school but also feel frustrated at the tutor companies professing to be 'experts' and guiding families (some of those for whom english may not be the first language) through the process gaining peoples trust.
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