7+ Sibling Policies

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Just curious, it seems some schools have sibling / alumni policies? If a child passes the first stage (the academic stage) are they guaranteed a place? Kings College Junior school:

Where a candidate has a sibling with a current or very recent connection with the junior or senior school, the school reserves the right to take this into account so that a pupil of sufficient ability can attend the same school as his sibling.

SPJS:

St Paul’s School welcomes applications from the brothers of current and previous pupils as well as the sons and other relatives of Old Paulines. Candidates will be assessed alongside all other candidates and be expected to comply with all aspects of the admissions process including deadlines and meeting the stringent academic criteria for entry.

I would read that as it is helpful but not a guarantee.

Read it as marketing fluffy words and states DC needs to pass the exams at the same level as everyone else, only would the school connections may be viable. So vague. If they could be clear like exam at 80% rather than 85% etc it would be more helpful.

So does that mean if your DC is through to the 2nd round of Kings for example (100 or so boys are called back as they have passed the academic stage) then they are given a place? For me the academic part is the first stage? 2nd stage is 80% soft skills.

Not all schools have this, WUS does not. So I assume it's an advantage, how much not sure....if it's get past the first stage then it's a massive advantage, if it's one or another child for a place then a small advantage.

Where is this info re: KCJS? I can see they state that they have no siblings policy -

Look on their admissions policy, it's there. The text above is from their formal admission policy.

https://www.kcs.org.uk/media/8528/admissions-policy-js-8323.pdf

point 13

It doesn’t have a sibling policy in that siblings get in…..it reserves the right to take siblings if they meet the academic requirements….so that to me is if he passes the first stage.

Well, I wouldn’t rely on this, especially if you read the full abstract it’s still about individual merit. Plus I know at least 4 boys who had older brothers at King’s but were admitted only after 8+ retake.

They would make an offer after the first stage than. Didn’t happen to us!

Perhaps they need to be in the top 54? It’s for all points of entry…not just 7+. To me it seems it’s certainly an edge based on the formal admissions policy.

So far we know 3 other boys who are sitting 7+ with brothers at school, all progressed to the 2nd stage and no one was offered a place yet. So I’m pretty convinced the school doesn’t offer a place to anyone before all stages are successfully passed.

It sounds like a strategically vague way of saying that maybe if two boys were identically or very closely equally qualified, the one with a sibling/family connection might get the place.

That sounds the most plausible….if there are 5 boys who are the same level…then the sibling/ alumni gets the place/places.