Oxbridge Applications 2019 (Part Three)

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Today is a big day for many... time for a new thread too

I would that teachers like me are the majority and not the other way round.

*I would say.

Yes. I’d agree with that, thankfully Of course it is all equal out by some amazing teachers.

The “A team” as they labelled themselves were meant to sit their exams for science and maths early but were not ready so did it at the same time as everyone else. Not one of them got As in all the sciences and maths, dd did. Infact dd got better results than all of them.*

That's interesting to hear.

There's a famous IQ study by a Stanford professor from the 1920s on a similar age group (11 years old). I think it is called Terman's Termites.

School kids in California took the test with a cut off of 140. Terman ended up with 1500+ extremely bright group with average IQ of 151. 77 had IQ in range 177-200.

None of them went on to accomplish anything you would associate with true genius. Many of them had very ordinary lives in the end. I think a couple of them ended heading up depts at Stanford.

Of the rejects, at least two went on to become Nobel laureates (in Physics, I think).

Window, when I said Brampton identified talent in Year 7 I didn't mean they schooled them for Oxbridge from that point - just that they kept a lookout for pupils with academic potential.

I do wish the sort of scrutiny being applied to Brampton Manor's practices were being applied to other schools. Their success is being met with some suspicion - as if they are somehow not playing fair. All they are doing is opening pupils' eyes to the fact that top universities are within their grasp and then creating conditions to help them achieve - like quiet study areas. That emphatically does not mean that they are ignoring other pupils' needs. As for them being selective in sixth form - most sixth forms are, but if Brampton Manor demands a higher standard than most, then that is perfectly understandable given their open aim of getting more kids from tough backgrounds into top universities. What all the children there have in common, besides academic potential, is that they come from deprived backgrounds or have been in care. They are not whizz kids who have been hothoused - far from it.

Where selection is emphatically wrong is at an earlier age because, as Window said, potential can often develop later.

I doubt Brampton is claiming to be perfect but they are making one of the few serious attempts to counter the private-school bias at elite universities. I applaud that, and the fact that they are changing the lives of vulnerable pupils.

I find it strange though cinnamon that we do not recognise the fact that obviously when a state school emulates a private school the children succeed. Whilst I understand this might be the only way to counter disadvantage I do find it a pity.

• sorry I mean a highly selective private school.

Agree with the general sentiment of your post Cinnammon but you exaggerate. Not “all” the children come from deprived background. Also I find it a little sad that those who don’t make the grades have to leave so that clever children can thrive. It seems a wonderful school but like everything in life it’s not perfect.

I do wish the sort of scrutiny being applied to Brampton Manor's practices were being applied to other schools.

Cinnamon, you know why this is. Just ignore them. It's as if this country has never had highly selective grammar schools that hoover up talent. Brampton Manor isn't that selective.

People are fixated on this school. There are a lot of state schools that do well around that area. Schools that are not selective, not that indigenous people would want their kids attending these schools.

This is getting a bit too political for me so I'm going to duck out of this thread now. Well done to all DC with offers (no matter what school they are at} and good luck with A levels too.

This thread has taken a weird turn dd has had an email confirming her offer grades as A* A A . Parents evening next week to review mock exam performance.

Yeah, also I'll say goodbye. I initially only wanted to respond to a poster who said Brampton Manor achievement made them "feel uneasy".

Given recent posts I thought I should check to see where I'd based my idea that students didn't have to get great grades to get into Brampton and it was on the BBC which I'd read this morning:

*One student ....is 17-year-old Jeffery Maya.

He joined Brampton Manor from a local comprehensive with a mixture of A and B grades and is now working hard to make good on his offer at Pembroke College, Cambridge to read natural sciences.

He says he's "defied the odds".

"You don't see a lot of people around Newham going to college," he says. "A lot of people get into illegal stuff."*

So I then looked at Brampton's Admissions Arrangements (which I can only see for 2019) and they do require an average of 7 across all GCSEs, which is actually on the high side when compared to the average required at top state selectives:

"Selection for entry into the Sixth Form is based on academic achievement
at GCSE, with students required to meet all of the following criteria:
 Grade 7 or higher at GCSE in all subjects they intend to study at AS
Level;
 A grade point average of at least 7.0 across all GCSEs studied
(minimum entry criteria a grade point average of 6.5).
 A minimum of a grade 5 in English Language and Mathematics,
regardless of the subjects studied at AS Level.
2.3. Please note that the above represent the minimum entry criteria. Where
courses are oversubscribed, the best grades will prevail and significantly
higher grades may be required in order to secure a place."

That requirement implies that either my previous post was wrong (based on the detail in the article) or that the requirement has changed quite a bit since this student was admitted in 2017.

This is for Colchester Royal Grammar School:" The minimum grade requirement for entry into the Sixth Form is five grade 7s; grade 7 (or above) is required in the subjects to be studied at A level. For unreformed GCSEs (graded A* to G) grade A (or above) will be treated as equivalent to a grade 7. A reformed grade 5 or above must be achieved in GCSE (or GCSE equivalent, as defined by the DfE) English Language and GCSE Mathematics, regardless of whether or not these subjects are being followed at A level."

Pate's Grammar School: "Sixth Form Admissions Requirements
Due to the changes to GCSEs, which are now graded on a 9-1 scale*, we have adjusted our points system for entry into Sixth Form. We will look at the top eight predicted GCSE grades, using the following points system:

Old GCSEs/IGSEs Numerical grades for new GCSEs
Grade A* A B C 9 8 7 6
Worth 8.5 7 5.5 4 9 8 7 6

Entry into Year 12 will require a minimum of 57 points from the top eight GCSEs. A minimum grade of 5 is required for English and Maths."

Tiffin School: "The minimum qualification for entry into the Sixth Form (the entry requirements) is 8 GCSE grades
from the qualification list (see Appendix E), with an average grade of 6.625. The student must also
have a grade 5 or higher in English Language and Mathematics, which may or may not be included in
the average grade calculation. The applicant must have a grade 7, 8 or 9 in three subjects that are to
be studied in the Sixth Form."

I'm really confused. There must be more to it than appears on the face of the published admissions criteria but I'm struggling to see how these students selected for the sixth form manage to get the grades which seem to be required. I'd assumed their prior schooling was a bit of a mess but now I'm just - well yes, confused.

Cross post with the complaints about the politics. I was curious about the admissions, prompted by an earlier post. I don't want to pursue it though, I just thought I'd check it out.

The sixth form is selective and highly sought after, with 2,000 to 3,000 applications for 300 places in the lower sixth. All candidates are interviewed before being offered a place and some students make long journeys – as much as two hours each way – to attend.
Guardian yesterday.
Going now...……..

Two to three thousand? Blimey.

Complaints about the politics? Having a two-tier education system IS political, so it's bound to come up.

Best of luck to everyone's DCs - regardless of where they are at school and which university they go to, they've all done extremely well and deserve every happiness and success.

I hope that includes understanding that every aspect of life is political though!

Of course it's all political but mine was a cross post and it gave the impression that I was bulldozing on, whereas I was simply clicking on websites and then getting distracted by their other info etc, in my usual way of getting sidetracked incredibly easily.

Yes, anyone with an offer has done really well and the students who've been in care and interviewed for the papers especially so. All credit where due.

Hubbleisback - when you come back please make sure you name change to Hubbleisbackagain. I would find that very satisfying.

On a less flippant note, don’t stay away too long, we’d miss your insight!

cinnamontoast surely not eeeeeeeevery part of life is political. Also, I’m not convinced it’s bound to come up on a thread that is for supporting parents whose children are applying to Oxford.

ds has an offer holders day so he gets to go and have a look. If I read their statistics correctly they gave out about 17 offers last year and only seven people made it in.

Have read it right?

Total offers and total acceptances. I'm reading the acceptances as those who end up actually passing STEP. Is that correct?

Hubble, yes, every part of life! Your food, your access to art galleries and museums, your rubbish collections, your healthcare, your maternity leave, your rights of ways, your ability to travel throughout the world with or without a visa, your public libraries, your street lighting, your high street, your rights as a woman, your seatbelt that you put on every time you get in a car, your freedoms and the ways in which they are curtailed, where you can smoke, where you can gather, where you can park. All these, and much more, are shaped by political decisions. In fact, tell me which parts of your life are not political.

Politics came up on this thread because it turned into a discussion about who got an Oxbridge offer and who didn't, and how those decisions might have been made. The background to those decisions is intensely political because it is rooted in our school system. That system is much more politically sensitive than in other countries, thanks to its inherent elitism. I would love it to be less political but while it is what it is, let's not pretend that politics are not intrinsic to Oxbridge entry.

Sorry - Hingle, not Hubble!

Probably. The maths admissions graphs do look brutal.