Change in admissions policy for Year 7 2006 - anyone elses LEA do this?

[FIMAC1]

Just heard through a Private school parent (and had it confirmed by the local LEA - Gloucestershire) that this years year 6 admissions will only get their first place choice (if successful) allocated - in that, if you put a Grammar school down as 2nd or 3rd choice, and they passed the enterance exam, you will not be able to review these places - therefore giving you the only option of

A) putting you local state school as first place choice, and not putting them in for Grammar schools, or

B) putting a Grammar school down as first place choice and keeping your fingers crossed that they pass (and get in). Last year you can review 2nd and 3rd place choices

This all seems really wrong

Or is this in place in other LEA's?

Would be very interested as loads of year 5 parents and children are going to be affected by this change and we need to know if we can do anything about this....

Thanks

This was started last year in London, where all admissions for all London boroughs were coordinated on a single form. It's now being rolled out across the country the odds on you being able to change the system are pretty low, though I believe some LEAs are mounting legal challenges against some aspects of it. But that's just tinkering no-one's really making official objections to the system as such.

The idea behind it is to prevent some people holding three or four offers of school places and pondering at their leisure which one to accept while other people are panicking and have none. Which seems fair in principle, but does mean you have to do all your soul-searching before filling in the form rather than after. You should find that the Year 6 open days will explain in some detail how they think the system will work and what the implications might be.

The key thing to check is whether or not the schools are told which order they have been put on your form. In London the deal is that the school cannot be told by the LEA what position they were put on the form unless they stipulate as part of their published admission criteria that they must be put first. Here it's only been the Catholic schools that are b*ggering up the system by insisting on being a first choice. The grammar schools hereabouts are relaxed about which preference they are for any individual applicant, but you do need to calculate your chances of getting into a given school before filling in the form.

hth

Thanks Frogs

Unfortunately most of the State Schools will only take first place choices, which is putting many of us who cannot afford to lose the local State school place, in a very difficult position

Your info was very interesting - thanks

A friend is in a similar dilemma in Stoke. Her ds is at a Catholic grammar school, her dd at a C of E comp. Both specify you have to be their first choice to be considered for a place. Her 1st choice choice for ds2 would be the grammar but what if he doesn't pass? She can't realistically have 3 children at 3 different schools.

This has been the case here for a while now. The policy that schools cannot be told what preference they are only applies if they are LEA maintained schools. The grant-maintained and other sorts of schools can and, obviously, do insist on knowing and then only opt for those children who put them first.

We have grammar schools here and it really is a choice of being absolutely certain (as far as anyone can be) that your child will pass the 11+ and putting a grammar first, or bypassing the selection process and putting the high school first. It is a government-led policy. Most of the education authorities which have the grammar school system don't want it. Seems to be a back-door way of getting rid of the grammars without seeming to do so (because that would lose them votes) by making the whole process so stressful and horrendous that most people will eventually only opt for the high schools.

We wondered if it was a way of getting rid of Grammar schools, thanks for the info, none of it good - we only have State Comprehensives and Grammar schools in Gloucestershire.

We only really have the chance of Grammar school here

Too far away from comp

only some of the places at grammar go to ability rest on addrresss

So we will only put one down on the list

Although TBH DS will hopefully go to DH school which is private so I know my views don't really count

The tests are for all school in herts.

grammar and comps

all do same tests don't know about order on list cos even if we wanted DS to go to comp he would NOT get in as we are over 1 mile away and there are too many children for the places available.

Plus they give the places to children out of the area which seems mad to me

so local children go buy bus to other side of town and then out of town children get bused in to local schools

There's just been a challenge to this, with regard to Grammar Places, in Kent which prevented the grammar schools from stipulating first prefeence only. Not sure how that affects the criteria for the non grammars in the area though. Worth reading the determination though - there are several e.g. this for Dartford Grammar - full list accessible from here . The principle might well be applied elsewhere too and/or challenges on the same grounds could be made.

Oooohh thanks for that - I will forward the details to the Admissions officer at the LEA - it is the LEA that are insisting on first place choice being the one you are allocated (not the schools, iirc) and it is the local Secondary schools that insist you put them as first place choice to be considered - is this the same thing?

Thanks

Up until last yr, Schools in Reading processed all first choices first, so if you were not succesful, by the time your second choice school got to consider you, they were full up with people who put that school first (except the one school nobody choose anyway.)

Now, all 3 choices are put to all schools to consider all applicants as equal preference. This means if 2 schools offer you a place you will be allocated whichever is highest on form. Therefore, if you want the grammar schools you HAVE to put them first. If you pass you get a place but cannot change your mind as will have lost all other options. Must be sure want a grammar place before taking exam. If not pass, your other choices are not affected.

We live in catchment & have one child at a v.popular school. DS wants to take grammer exam so DD's school will be second choice and LEA have confirmed he WILL get a place there if not succesful at grammar.

Thanks - this is what Gloucestershire are going to be doing from this Autumn, but the Senior schools are insisting that they are first place choice to be considered