Schools admission criteria......

any child that isn't in care or pupil premium is on a back foot.

Just reread your words OP. Then read them again. Then think about what ‘care’ and ‘pupil premium’ means. Then have a little rethink.

Agree. Almost the whole of N Ireland operates on the selective system and this attitude of "as long as my child gets into grammar and doesn't have to go to one of those awful secondary schools then we don't care about the state of said schools or the kids in them' is very prevalent. Certain political parties are very keen to keep the grammar system in place, because it keeps their kids away from as they see it - all those awful disadvantaged ones.

I am actually replused by the elitism and entitlement of the OP.

Your attitude makes me sick. Children in care/pupil premium/open to social care have worse outcomes across the board in all areas of education. Why on earth wouldn’t you support prioritising these children - who are a minority by the way.

@Hazlenuts2016 threads like this seem to come up annually either during school applications time or allocation time. I knew as soon as I saw the title that this would be another thread where OP is bashing look after children.

Hopefully this has been cleared up for you,

My son got Pupil Premium even though I was a hard working family too. I worked part time, my son is disabled, he got free school meals which he wouldn’t eat so I always did him packed lunch. I claimed for them simply so the school got the pupil premium,

So yes “hard working families” sometimes have children who get PP too. Those children have to fight against harder odds to achieve,, My son needed a special school as he has learning disabilities, he would not have robbed your child of a selective grammar school place.

For a child who has managed to pass the 11+ despite challenges it’s only fair they are placed on an equal footing.

It could be argued that the best for ones own children is for their parents to model compassion and care for others as well as show support for policies that seek to increase equality in society. I think teaching your children to get ahead at any cost to others is not really to their long term benefit.

You can care more about your own children while also having the emotional intelligence to understand why other people’s children sometimes come first or need more of something or need something your child doesn’t get.

My child has an EHCP. It would be very shitty of parents whose children don’t need an EHCP to complain about the support my child gets at school just because “they care more about their own”.

Why?

In DDs’ day, admittedly quite a while ago, if you passed the 11 plus, you were offered a grammar school place.

Around here, some would be going to selective independent senior schools, so they would decline, and their place would pass to someone on the waiting list.

I've never heard of PP getting priority, is that a grammar school thing? At my dc school it's LAC/previous LAC, EHCP, siblings, catchment, everyone else. There are usually around 5-10 children each year who get in on the first 2 categories.

My dc are on PP. We get discounts on school trips/clubs which is fair i think. I wouldn't want my dc to go to a grammar school, which was partly why we moved to somewhere there wasn't any. I think my dc1 would have passed as he got 7-9's in his gcse's and AAA* in his a levels. My others wouldn't have though.

How is it not fair?

It's selective so anyone who passes the 11+ are then given priority by a specific order as per other secondary schools.

If they choose not to have the sibling rule as a higher priority then thats the schools choice.

I teach at a state school and after LAC and EHCP the next criteria is children of staff, then siblings, then distance.

A looked after child shoudl absolutely have priority. If a child with an EHCP has passed the 11+ then this is clearly a good school choice. After that they want to offer places to local children as thats nice for community.

You could move nearer the school?

Our local grammar prioritises looked after/formerly La and then PP to a certain quota. Those kids are eligible if they hit the minimum pass mark. When I looked into at the figures very few La places went and the PP quota wasn’t used. Other places go to kids in the (big) catchment in rank order - so a child not La/no PP needs a higher score to get in.

OP I think you are really cross with yourself for not looking at this properly before Dd did the work to sit the exam. All you can do now is apply and hope for the best.

The most shocking thing about this thread is actually that there are schools in this country where "less than 20% of children come out with a pass in Maths and English".
I mean, fuck me, that's appalling.

@DataMum88 In answer to your question, EHCP pupils are allocated first, outside of the oversubscription criteria - separate process. Then LAC / previously LAC. Pupil Premium children are currently only given priority in the admissions policies for a minority of schools, although thankfully this is now starting to change.

Anyone - you don’t have to be a parent or live locally - can raise a case with the Office of the Schools Adjudicator if they think a school’s admissions policy is not in line with the School Admissions Code (available online) and you can look at previous decisions which are published.

Or where work is limited by disability, appropriate employment opportunities, having to look after children... There's plenty of reasons a household (particularly a single-parent household) might be struggling with low income that aren't just "can't be bothered".

Is that we are calling families who trip over the threshold of pp - the squeezed middle?

This is the squeezed poor. Disadvantaged by poverty and the meddling instincts of those who won't acknowledge their poverty or disadvantage.

Fellow adopter here, I hear you! But I just found it unbelievable that someone would publish these views.

We do have the same choice to apply for any school, like the rest of the UK, brought in by the Education Act of 1980. LA’s have differing criteria though, the first always being children within catchment. The second is usually baptismal certificate, if a Roman Catholic school. Most have siblings priority in the admissions criteria but some have it higher than others. This is for state schools. The only selective schools we have is Independent. We don’t have selective grammars in the state system.

I'm just catching up. Having a PP criteria levels the playing field. Rich families can game the system by moving close to the school. Poor families can't. I understand that there will be a 'squeezed middle' that can't afford to move close but also haven't got PP. But what do you want? A lottery system? Would that feel fairer?

Which criterion has changed?

No - pretty standard tone for grammar school wanna-bes.

Very short-sighted view. Of course parents (mostly) want the best for their own children. However, if we as a society don't do our best to get all our children off to a good start, there will be problems in the future when we don't have a well educated workforce to keep the economy going. We also want all our children brought up to understand how the world works so they can take their part as citizens and be good parents in their turn, if that's how life turns out for them.

@Hazlenuts2016 sadly as an adoptive mother I've been on the receiving end of comments just like this. Many people think that once a child is adopted all of their problems and disadvantage magically disappear.

I received negative comments from a school mum friend who was most put out that my DS qualified for contextual uni offers.

I also received negativity from patents at my DDs school because they couldn't understand how she had got in out of catchment.

What makes you assume that children in care and on pupil premium aren't hardworking? The reasoning for putting them first is obvious. There won't be that many of them applying, so if your daughter is at the bottom of the heap it is only because of where you live - which is nothing to do with whether you are hardworking or otherwise.

There not the lowest priority. Only those that don't live nearby. That is how most school work. The non-priority of sibling is unusual though.

Could you move closer to be in the catchment area?