I’ve been following the Banded cut off distances for Camden School for Girls (CSG) with interest for some years now.
2020
A 0.46
B 0.77
C 0.47
D 0.40
2019
A 0.82
B 0.49
C 0.31
D 0.54
2018
A 0.80
B 0.58
C 0.88
D 0.35
But the latest have really thrown a curve ball:
2021
A 1.32
B 0.81
C 0.42
D 0.30
I’d like to get my head around what this disproportionate A Band distance is actually telling us.
I guess it’s possible that many of the girls who sat the Banding test and received the higher scores asked to be removed from the Council’s list before the 1st March if they received an Indy offer before then (or moved from Town). This kind of fits in with the narrative that more children are taking up private options this year. This isn’t my preferred theory.
I suspect that it’s more likely that a larger cohort than usual of academically very-able girls took the test and weren’t dissuaded by the historical cut off points. This theory suggests the A band is made up mostly of girls who would ordinarily score amongst the highest 10% of a CAT and thus are distributed amongst the population accordingly - hence the longer offer distances. It also suggests that most of the sibling offers weren’t in the higher bands this year.
Furthermore, if the trend to go private this year is real (at least locally), my guess is that the unpublished Waiting List offer distances for Band A (and to an extent Band B) would extend rather further still.
Am wondering if anybody else has been struck by the unusual cut off distances this year and has any comment, or come up with their own ideas/theories. One final data point is that Band D is 0.3 miles and there are at least 10 girls waiting who live no more than 0.1 mile past that point - it is a VERY squashed band.