Young Carer - Grammar School admission

[busySunflower]

My elder son who is a young carer has qualified for grammar school, the admission criteria says:
"Children who have exceptional medical or social needs (e.g. registered young carers), which can be met only at this school, supported by written evidence from a doctor, social worker, educational welfare officer or other appropriate person. "
Can some here guide me how do we mention that this school can only met the needs ?
Has anyone been through this journey, do we need to fill EMSAR ? EMSAR considers only one grammar school and it has to be top preference, our 3rd preference specifically prioratise young carer but we realised this very late.

This is for Bucks

@titchyThese are grammar schools. The numbers qualifying in those categories are small. So no. However I’m not sure this claim is remotely the same. It’s tenuous.

Then the admissions authority won’t approve the EC application. 🤷‍♀️ OP has to give it her best shot surely? Nothing wrong with that. She’s not cheating the system.

Also at RLS, young carers criteria comes below LAC, living in catchment area, siblings of dc already at the school snd dc of staff. Exceptional medical and social is 5th category. So the school doesn’t prioritise them.

Exactly. Young carers are specifically mentioned as an example of exceptional social needs, so OP has every right to give it a try.

In Bucks, a young carer under the age of 16 with caring responsibilities for a child must be referred to Children’s Services. This is to access assessment of need. So if this is done, then making use of the admissions procedure is part of the need.

Previous years' admissions stats for all Bucks secondary schools are on this page: https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools-index/school-admissions/school-admissions-guides-policies-and-statistics/school-place-allocation-statistics/

In 2025, not one of the grammar schools offered a place via the EC criterion..There were some at the "upper schools" but not at the grammars.

It's not enough to be a young carer. You have to be a young carer with a provable need to attend a specific school. The policy is clear. Exercising a right to "give it a go" when its clear you have no case is a waste of public resources.

"There were some at the upper schools" so there are indeed some arguments for a particular school for young carers.

No. The places were for exceptional needs. There is no evidence to indicate whether the children who got those places were young carers.

They were at Bourne End Academy, Cressex Community School, The Grange School, and the Misbourne.

Ah, I see.

@Arran2024 The OPs DS has achieved a score high enough for grammar school selection. The upper schools listed are not grammar schools. If the dc can get into a Bucks grammar based on the admission criteria posted by the two grammars they mention, they should do this. If they live outside the distance for admission, relying on another criteria that, in the case of RLS, comes below distance from school, appears pointless. No one would want the Grange over RLS or AGS in the Aylesbury Vale area.

It's not enough to be a young carer. You have to be a young carer with a provable need to attend a specific school. The policy is clear. Exercising a right to "give it a go" when its clear you have no case is a waste of public resources.

Yes, that’s made clear in the OP. If the OP feels that they meet the criteria then of course they have the right to apply under this criterion.

However @OhDear111 has made the point that it’s a low ranked category so would be unlikely to make any difference in any case. We used to live in Bucks. We applied under this category for a different reason and were unsuccessful (but did get our first choice of school regardless). However we were eligible to apply under this category - so we did.

The op does have a need for DS to go to a grammar: he got the mark required. The DS has a need to go too! Who would deny their child this education?

However I doubt they are truly set up for this type of child and I know certainly AGS will expect a lot of homework (unless they have changed!) so time after school is used and then there’s participation in after school events. How will this work and what about transport? I would prioritise education and caring and definitely would not prioritise an upper school based on my DS being a carer. For his whole life he might be resentful if he’s denied the grammar and he deserves the grammar too. Well done him for getting the score needed.

I have no knowledge of grammar schools as I live in the dark North 😂. However I have navigated over a decade of having a disabled child and a sibling. And it is shit, exhausting a constant battle. Therefore I will “ have a go” wherever and whenever I can to try and make child’s life at least equitable to their peers. With no guilt.

Agree with every word. We have a disabled child (now young adult) and a young carer and yes to everything you say.

It’s clear who understands and who doesn’t.

I'm on the other side of the fence, administering (and being one of the decision makers for) many weak EC applications from people who obviously haven't read or understood the EC criteria wording.

The key is that there needs to be an exceptional need for this specific school. Not a general need for this type of school. So @busySunflower 's (the op's) child would need to:

1. Qualify for the grammar score (they do)
2. Have an exceptional need (they arguably do) that only this school can meet (they don't).

The op's case would need to consider all the other local grammars and explain why they couldn't possibly cater for the child's Young Carer needs. She can't think of a reason to distinguish one of them (hence her thread) and in fact has explicitly stated above that any of them would be an option, therefore she doesn't qualify for the EC criterion.

She could make up a lie, but she would need evidence to back it up.

cc @OhDear111 @CatkinToadflax

... an example. If a child qualifies for a grammar, is permanently in a wheelchair (evidenced by professional medical reports) and there is only one grammar with a lift to its upper floors, then that is a relatively strong case.

If there are two grammars with a lift, but one is inaccessible to this wheelchair user for other reasons (e.g.raised kerbs, or not near accessible transport options - with evidence) then it is still a relatively strong case.

If all the grammar schools are equally accessible to the wheelchair user, then they don't meet EC criteria and will be considered by distance like everybody else.

@FoxRedPuppywell in Bucks go for a grammar then. They are wonderful schools.

we have no intention to make a lie, we have all the needed evidences all 3 grammar school in that area are amazing.
we have reached out to admission team, they have advised us to apply through EMSAR

@eereely Can I PM you.

Good luck with your application and I hope you get the school you want. I went to one of the Aylesbury grammars and was very happy there x

Let us assume that the child’s highest-preferred school does not have a lift. The parents initially assumed that lifts would be available but only realised later that this was not the case and submitted the CAF. However, this school currently has 20+ wheelchair users and is a grammar school and an acedimc school

The second-preferred school is a grammar school that has lifts, has won awards for wheelchair racing last year, and has <5 wheelchair users.

The third-preferred school is also a grammar school, has lifts, and explicitly mentions wheelchair access as an example in its admissions criteria. This school also has <5 wheelchair users.

The fourth-preferred school has lifts and full wheelchair accessibility, but it is non-selective and not academically comparable to the grammar schools. It also has fewer than five wheelchair users.

Relevant EMSAR Rule
You can usually only submit one EMSAR case for your child’s highest preferred school, unless (for secondary school applications) "your highest preference school is a grammar school and you also want to submit an EMSAR case for your highest preferred upper school".

what does this mean ?

Question:
In this scenario, how should the EMSAR process work?
If the highest-preferred school cannot reasonably meet the child’s accessibility needs, does the EMSAR consideration fall back to the second preference, and then subsequently to the third and fourth preferences, if required?

@busySunflower No parent of a child in a wheelchair would not look at lifts! They would not assume there were lifts. Accessibility isn’t wheelchair racing either (is this applicable in Bucks?). If a number of schools can offer a suitable place, then parents would look at the admission criteria and stats to see where dc was most likely to get a place. Then parents should rank the schools. Not sure many parents get 4 options for grammars in Bucks. Certainly not in north Bucks.

Not helpful to the question you asked but the school can timetable all lessons and after school club for wheelchair user on the ground floor.

my bad it was a wrong example in a continution to the previous reply, replace wheel chair which is a visible need with an young career needs, our focus and care was always towards the younger child who has sever needs.
there is nothing much that can be done as we have already submitted the application long ago. I am here to understand the rules and how it works.
I would like to keep my enrgy for my younger child, elder one will thrive where ever he goes.

Its a waiting time from now till the time panel reviews each application, though we submitted all the evidences timely but when it comes to researching schools and comparing the needs we gave up our energy levels.

Not for Young Carers, it doesn't.

It's a specific definition where the impact upon a child as a result of somebody else in the family having disabilities/SEND is taken into account so that the child's needs are put foremost.

duplicate post