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Original poster

Dartford Grammar School (DGS) New Admission Criteria

130 replies

Pincopalla · 31/08/2024 07:26

Hi there, as some of you may know, DGS have recently changed their admission criteria to reduce the number of places allocated to OOC applicants (50) compared to IC Applicants (130 places).

Do you know if they considered adding the sibling priority rule during the consultation process? I seem to remember that most local grammars (WGS, WGSG, BGS, C&S, Beths, Townley) have this in their admission criteria, except for DGS and DGGS. Of course, siblings would need to pass the relevant 11+ entry test.

OP posts:
Original poster
Pincopalla · 01/09/2024 17:22

No, I didn't know I could object, but thanks for letting me know.

The aim of my post was to try and understand the ethos / motivations behind such different admission criteria for DGS/DGSG compared to the other local grammars (WGS, WGSG, St Olaves, NW, BG, C&S, Townley, Beths).

Especially as the recent change of allocating more spaces to Zone A applicants at DGS seems to move the school's focus away from merit and more in favour of the local community.

Hence, my question: why not allow sibling priority as well?

OP posts:
MarchingFrogs · 01/09/2024 17:14

@Pincopalla you do know that you can object to a schools admissions policy once the new policy is determined each year? The deadline being around the middle of May. Presumably you did this this wrt to DGS this year, but the Office of the Schools Adjudicator failed to find in your favour?

LilacPoet · 01/09/2024 10:05

It isn’t about whether it is a super selective (which isn’t defined), it is that the Dartford Grammars ranks on score. The other schools require a pass of a fixed grade.

Original poster
Pincopalla · 01/09/2024 09:05

Many thanks LilacPoet

You are basically saying that DGS is a super-selective (unlike all the Bexley grammars), hence the sibling rule will be deemed illegal under the Admission Code 2021.

However, I am not convinced that DGS can be considered a super-selective as they don't just use merit in their selection criteria.

I give an example: in the case of DGS, for 2024 the cut-off score was 386 (Zone A) and 404 (OOC), with the 180 places allocated equally between the 2 groups. Several OOC applicants with higher scores than Zone A applicants (i.e. those with scores between 187 and 403) have missed out on a place, despite their higher merit in the Kent Test. As you know this is going to get much worse next year, as 130 places (out of 180) are now allocated to applicants from Zone A, so presumably the cut-off score difference will increase from about 20 points to perhaps 30+.

I don't see pure 'merit' being rewarded by the current admission criteria at DGS. This is very different from, for example, St Olaves / QE / Henrietta where the only criteria used is merit (all applicants are tanked by their test score and no consideration is given to any other aspects, including home address / distance from the school / catchment area).

In this context, as merit is not the only criteria used (in fact, going forward, where you live will be a lot more relevant than your score, with 130 places allocated to Zone A applicants at DGS), I believe that the School Admission Code, paragraph 1.9, does not apply here and therefore introducing a sibling priority rule would be possible / legal. In fact, it would allow families not to split their same-gender siblings, often travelling (or, worse, being driven) in different directions as they are attending different schools (sometimes in different LAs, i.e. Bexley v Kent). Surely this would be a positive for the students, their families and the schools as well.

All Bexley grammars (plus WGS, WGSG) have the sibling priority rule and, for the reasons I explained above, I believe DGS is a lot closer to these grammars (in terms of ethos / connection to the local community / selection criteria) than to St Olaves (which is a true super selective).

Would you still disagree with me and believe that the Admission Code would not allow the introduction of the sibling rule at DGS?

Thanks.

OP posts:
LilacPoet · 01/09/2024 07:45

Under the Admissions Code a school that ranks places can’t also apply the sibling rule. So no the school can’t consider this unless they changed their admissions to be like lots of other Kent schools and just a pass.