Live 800m from Graveney - any hope?

[MadameLeBean]

As the crow flies we live 0.5miles or 800m from graveney - furthest away offers last two years were 512 and 553 metres I think!! Should I give up all hope of getting in on catchment? It seems very unfair when we live two streets away!

[MadameLeBean]

I literally don't understand how there can be enough 10/11 year olds living within 500m of the school to fill all the places! I know there are 60 selective places reserves but still! Can anyone enlighten me??

[MadameLeBean]

Reserved

[Mintyy]

Yes, those 60 selective places should be scrapped. It's a very silly school indeed.

[MadameLeBean]

But aren't there about 150 or so non selective catchment based places (can't remember exact number but around that)? There are not 150 kids the same age living within 500m!!

[Mintyy]

Siblings?

Very very strangely Graveney gave a Yr7 place to an acquaintance's child (who live about 45 minutes on the bus away) because the older sibling got a place at 6th form there. The older sibling hadn't been all the way through the school, hadn't won a selective place. Just got into 6th form and therefore the younger sibling (5 years younger) qualified for a place too.

Complain to the school! As I said, it has very silly entrance criteria.

[MadameLeBean]

Will check about the sibling policy and will prob appeal if dd doesn't get in .. Massively stressing as I don't want to have to pay for private school and DD is not that academic

Central London jobs x2 means hard to move out

[Mintyy]

Are there really no other schools? The choice isn't only Graveney or private, surely.

You do realise Graveney get their impressive results because of this large selective element, don't you?

[MadameLeBean]

Really not keen on the other schools in the borough. Going to research some out of borough and see what their criteria are. We could move but it's a big gamble

[Mintyy]

God, what on earth has Graveney got that the others haven't? It has a miniscule local catchment so surely the children who don't get in because they live beyond 600m or whatever have to go somewhere? Or do they all turn feral the instant they don't get in to Graveney?

[MadameLeBean]

Of course I don't think that!

DD goes to private primary school, is average in her class but nationally well above, I want her to go somewhere she will be academically encouraged & I'm in favour of streaming (know it's controversial but I went to a grammar school so I'm biased).

G is not perfect it's a big school and I'm worried about that but the alternatives don't look great in the state sector if you look at results - some kids don't get 5 A-C at GCSE! Frankly I think that's shocking.

[GoldenBeagle]

The local catchment is so small because of the ridiculous admissions policy that allows siblings of selective places in - who may take up the 'open' places but live miles away- and because so many people move in to a temporary address to get the oldest child in and then move back to further away and the siblings get in.

I personally know 5 children from 2 families in the school who got in because of a move to a rented flat.

Daft really - for middle / normal achievers it is just another (good) comp. And there are plenty of those in Wandsworth.

But of course it is frustrating for you to be bumped out of a school so close, your closest school, by these antics.

(Not sure if the current policy allows siblings of selectives - but it has in the recent past).

I hope it works out for you, OP.

[MadameLeBean]

Thanks, it doesn't make sense that she wouldn't get into a school 5 min walk away but would get into one a 35 min walk away!

[GoldenBeagle]

MadameLeBean - some schools have kids who don't get 5 A-C GCSEs because they are 'low attainers'. Comprehensives statistics reflect this. Not even Michael Gove and Wilshaw think that every child in the land is capable of 5 GCSEs.

Good comps set and / or stream and teach children within their own ability band. If they set by subject a high attainer across the board will be in top sets and be taught an extended curriculum in every subject.

Look at alternative schools by checking in the Dept of ed tables how they serve the children whose ability most closely matches your dd's. It is probably not the same as the school's average overall.

Just as (as another poster pointed out) Graveney's good results reflect it's intake, so do the overall results reflect a school with a more representative intake. Graveney has kids who don't perform to national average, you know! Whilst schools you may be dismissing are sending high attainers to Oxbridge.

Don't fall for the hype. Look at the facts.

If more people did that you would probably stand a better chance of getting into your local school!

[Killasandra]

Why does it matter (to you) if some kids dont pass their GCSEs?

Surely you only care about her results?

She will probably get the same results whatever school she goes to. How bright she is and how hard working she is matter more than anything else.

When you look at the league tables broken out by low, middle and high achievers it's amazing how most of the schools are pretty similar.

[Mintyy]

Well it does make sense when you look at their illogical admissions policy. I know its frustrating when a selective so-called comprehensive is one of your local schools. It is the same here where I live in another borough. I simply fail to understand how it can be desirable or fair that state schools have this huge variety of admissions criteria. No one is served well by it. It is a fucking disgrace actually, if you'll excuse my language.

[Radiatorvalves]

We live near you OP. we are hoping for our nearest school...Dunraven. But we live about 800m away. The girl next door is at Graveney but she's there in the selective stream.

Where do you think she could go if not Graveney?

[GoldenBeagle]

You do know that all comprehensives set and stream, don't you? Comprehensive education doesn't mean everyone mixed up in one class?

One thing to bear in mind: the distances given are usually those of the first round of offers on National Offer Day. The distances for most schools increase by the start of term. Though I would guess that waiting lists might move less at Graveney given the numbers of people who have made pro-active efforts to get in.

There used to be a Graveney admissions person on MN who used to be very helpful.

[MadameLeBean]

I think she might get in to burntwood or chesnut grove? Coming from a grammar school background though I'm not used to seeing schools have any kids fail GCSEs, I'd be more comfortable if she was at private school or grammar school where everyone is at a high level of attainment, motivated, etc. I don't want her to be distracted by kids who are not academically motivated (& being judgey at me about that isn't going to change my opinion!) but grammar school in London just isn't going to happen realistically especially as we don't live near any of them.

[MadameLeBean]

Yea golden the second round of graveney offers was 533m or sth like that

[Radiatorvalves]

I know people who will be v happy with chestnut grove. We are between there and Dunraven. I think more arty children might be better there, whereas academic types would perhaps not suit it so well. Chestnut and dunraven s results are similar as both are true comps...if you take away the selective element of Graveney I imagine that the remaining results would be in the same ball park?

[GoldenBeagle]

No one is being judgey about you - just trying to explain that the top sets or streams in a comp are the grammar streams. They are full of hard working kids working at a fast pace.

Behaviour in these schools is good, much better than it was in 'our day'.

I hope she does get into Graveney, as it is your closest school, and it should be available to you - but it is still at the end of the day a comp. It has kids who won't get all their GCSEs!

Have you visited Burntwood?

[Mintyy]

Well send her to a private school then if you can't bear the thought of her coming within breathing distance of one of the great unwashed of Wandsworth! fgs.

[GoldenBeagle]

Last year or the year before Dunraven's results were better than Graveney's once you remove the selective factor. And much better if you consider the difference in demography, FSM ratios etc.

[LittleFluffyMoo]

Actually, if you look at the stats, low and middle attainers do better at Graveney too.

Have a look at this website, especially at progress made by low and middle (and high) attainers. Graveney seems to do well by all its' pupils, and in fact does much better by it's low attainers than Dunraven (Or Chestnut Grove, Ashcroft, Burntwood etc).

www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/schools/performance/group.pl?qtype=GR&f=NejCdqK75g&superview=sec&view=aat&set=4&sort=l.schname&ord=asc&tab=178&no=998&pg=1