Proposed admission Criteria B'ham Grammars 2020

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thirdtimemum
Posts: 386
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:21 am

Re: Proposed admission Criteria B'ham Grammars 2020

Post by thirdtimemum »

Distance rather than score for category 5 would be in keeping with their proposals. It would also stop some of those whom are eligible getting into one school from them then being at the top of the queue in cat 5. I'm assuming that someone with 250+ will still get a choice as they will get one of the few cat 5 places in the school of their choosing. My personal preference would be a mileage catchment followed then by distance over the magic score. That would then fulfil their proposals of local children at local schools.
I can't see the other arguments even being considered. It is such as shame though as the schools are all so different and they will loose these individual characteristics. If it was changed to distance my youngest would have Handsworth grammar as his choice, my son loves rugby but when we last visited they didn't do rugby, will this change? I suspect not for a good few years.

On a separate note I eventually heard back from my MP. It came with a letter and a phone call. Sandwell MP Tom Watson is very supportive and has already wrote his objections. However I was told that I am the only person in Sandwell to have made contact about this issue. Seriously does noone in Sandwell care that a grammar choice is being taken away from us?! I am astounded.
JamesDean
Posts: 1537
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:03 pm

Re: Proposed admission Criteria B'ham Grammars 2020

Post by JamesDean »

Manon wrote:The priority area seems to work for Warks ...
I'm not sure that the residents of Alcester and Stratford would agree with you there, Manon ...

JD
Manon
Posts: 74
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2016 12:29 pm

Re: Proposed admission Criteria B'ham Grammars 2020

Post by Manon »

Quite possibly not and it probably wasn't the best choice of words. Their process/priority circle does, as I acknowledge, create its own anomalies such as including parts of Worcestershire, which has no grammar schools of its own. To give each school its own priority circle wouldn't alleviate that necessarily and might even create pockets within Warwickshire itself that don't come within a priority circle at all, such is the nature of circles. So then we'd be looking at say a priority area based on county boundaries - which is akin to what the Foundation are proposing...
guest201
Posts: 484
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:04 pm

Re: Proposed admission Criteria B'ham Grammars 2020

Post by guest201 »

Priority circles will never be to everyone's taste as there will always be people who miss out. The two Warks priority areas are quite different, I believe South Warks is a simple circle whereas East Warks is much more complicated as there are two priority areas, they are referred to as the "inner area" which is East Warwickshire and the "outer area" which is a circle with a ten mile radius from the Water tower in Rugby which incorporates parts of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Coventry. The "inner circle" is also in the outer circle. The first 50% of places are offered to inner circle kids and then the other 50% to outer circle kids (which includes inner circle kids too) when you add in pupil premium it is a bit less than 50/50.
The effect being that the East Warks kids can opt for all of the places but there are guaranteed places for the outer circle kids too.
I think this would be a good compromise for Birmingham as it would prioritise the local children but also guarantee places for the children who live close to the school but just over the "border"
Ricky74
Posts: 732
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2016 1:55 pm

Re: Proposed admission Criteria B'ham Grammars 2020

Post by Ricky74 »

An article in the recent TES in case you've not seen this.

https://www.tes.com/news/exclusive-gove ... oor-pupils" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Emmal
Posts: 22
Joined: Sun Nov 18, 2018 4:54 pm

Re: Proposed admission Criteria B'ham Grammars 2020

Post by Emmal »

Thanks for the link Ricky. The article says around 6,000 children take the test for 900 places at these schools. Is that true? I feel so strongly, actually angry, that tax payers' money is being spent on administering all this. Those against the proposals must realise this is unsustainable and that this money should be spent on education. I hope that the proposals will reduce this financial burden - looking at other areas, I think a ratio of 2 applicants for each place is more usual.
PettswoodFiona
Posts: 2134
Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2014 11:24 pm
Location: Petts Wood, Bromley, Kent

Re: Proposed admission Criteria B'ham Grammars 2020

Post by PettswoodFiona »

Emmal wrote:I think a ratio of 2 applicants for each place is more usual.

I don’t know where you got that from? In my area where we are on the border of three different grammar areas, Kent is the highest chance with about one in four (23% pass plus a few more on Headteacher appeal); Bexley has about 6000 sitting for just over 800 places, DD’s school have around 1000 sit for 160 places and the Boys equivalent has around 2000 sit for 120 places.

Saying that however, what people put on their CAF can be used as official ‘applications’ But this is usually those who think they in with a chance of getting in based on score or distance so DD’s school goes from over 1000 who sit the test to about 600 who put it on the CAF once they know results etc.
BucksBornNBred
Posts: 1031
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:01 pm

Re: Proposed admission Criteria B'ham Grammars 2020

Post by BucksBornNBred »

JaneEyre wrote:
JaneEyre wrote: I think the idea of contacting the MPs is a very good one.
For parents opposed to these proposals, feel free to write to your MP and give them well articulated arguments.

For those who do not feel confident in their use of the English language, do not shy away! Myself cannot write properly but I can till convey my logic and proofs. I will add tonight some documents to help you write with a better style and with more emphasis. But you can already write your draft. :wink:

To find your MP, just put your postcode in
https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I am not sure style of writing matters but I have just been introduced to cleft sentences which might help with clarity (being native English I am sure I was never taught about this but it is fascinating; how do non-English speakers even learn the language?? In fact, other than "for sure" I think they know more than we natives - though don't get me started on the new trend of starting a sentence with "So")

These are the links if they can help someone:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learn ... v149.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://mbgortiz.files.wordpress.com/20 ... ences1.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

No wonder people say English is hard to learn as a foreign language!
tom40
Posts: 15
Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2017 11:28 am

Re: Proposed admission Criteria B'ham Grammars 2020

Post by tom40 »

Now that the consultation has closed does anyone know when a final decision will be made on the admission changes?
Sally-Anne
Posts: 9235
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Re: Proposed admission Criteria B'ham Grammars 2020

Post by Sally-Anne »

The School Admissions Code requires the Admission Arrangements to be determined by 28th February each year, and they must be published on the Local Authority website by 15th March latest.
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