Looking for a school place for dd. What counts as 'high achiever'?

[Shagmundfreud]

... she's just finished year 8, but been out of school since Easter (long story - behaviour issues, thinking to HE but hasn't worked out). Need to find her a place for year 9 and am just sitting down to do applications for local schools.

I think I should do some sort of cover letter setting out the reasons for needing an in-year transfer, and say something about her. Was wondering whether I can formally describe her as a 'high achieving' child based on her NC levels and whether they take her age into account when looking at this. She's still 12 (13 soon) and is a level 6a for maths, 7a for English and 7a for science. Is that considered 'high achieving' for year 8? She was in top sets at her last school, but it was a school with a very high percentage of low achievers, so I don't know if that transfers across. I'm loath to describe her as a 'high achiever' in a cover letter if they look at her levels and think, actually, that's quite mediocre.

I would not bother to describe her as anything because actually it has absolutely no bearing on whether they get a school place or not. If the school is not full in year 9 starting in September then they get the place any way. If the school is full and you appeal for a place then when it comes to your own personal circumstances the capability and attainment of your child will not be taken into consideration by the appeal panel. They are not allowed to by law. You need to turn it to your advantage by finding things that you child is good at or enjoys and which the school you want excels in.
Again whilst a panel will be concerned that your child has been out of school since Easter and the home educating has not worked out, that is also not a reason to allocate a place at your preferred school unless it is the nearest to your home. Then it might become a consideration. However if there are places in schools nearer to your home than the school you prefer then the panel does need to give some consideration to that.
You also need to understand the system. All places are allocated by the local authority (assuming you are talking state schools rather than private schools), so applying to individual schools is not appropriate. You need to go to the LA school admission office and find out which schools have places in year 9.

Admission - it was the LA who told me to write a cover letter explaining why dd was out of school and to provide any other pertinent background information to send to schools along with the application form!

The school she's come out of is the one nearest home.

And the member of staff I spoke to regarding in year admissions in the education department hinted that schools do take into account a child's academic levels when thinking about places for in year admissions. I know they're not supposed to but half the schools in my area are academies, and I suspect many are becoming a law unto themselves in relation to these things..... All the schools I'm applying for have waiting lists and are over subscribed.

My LA haven't said anything to me about which schools have places for year 9. It would be helpful if they would!

If you choice a school that you want and ask the LA admission office for a place at the school then they have to reply to you. It does not matter whether the school is an academy or not, they all have to process admissions through the LA at present. They will almost for sure say that the school is full and then you can ask them specifically which schools have places. They are not being very customer friendly by not giving you that information in the first place.
They also must know that you are home educating at present, so if you say that you now want your child to be educated in a state school they will be under a legal obligation to offer you a place at a school. It might be rubbish in your opinion and it might be miles away but they do have to offer a place.
There are only two times that a school can take the pupils attainment into consideration. The first is if we are talking about grammar schools, the second is if the school uses a test to put pupils into sets and they then admit so many from each set, so that they get a cross section of ability in their pupils. There is absolutely no other way that schools should be taking a pupils attainment into consideration when it comes to admissions. It is really worrying that officers of the LA are making these kind of comments.

Admission

That's very useful!

2 of the schools we're applying to do their selection process in the way you mention (test, divide into bands, then select section of each band).

Will contact LA re schools with places.

To comment on your original question. 7a is incredibly high for English in Year 8. I have been teaching for 7 years in excellent comps and have never given a level that high in Year 8.

Although your child could be described as a high achiever - agree with admission that this really won't be any extra benefit in the admissions process. Also the fact that you have tried HE and this hasn't worked out and the behaviour issues at the old school should not count against her either. All in-year applicants should be treated the same.
My understanding of the Banding system is that is based on a test set by the schools involved not NC levels. If a child leaves such a school then they are replaced by a child from the same band. So if your dd is placed in band 1, a child in band 1 has to leave the school for a place to be allocated from the waiting list or a new applicant (usually by lottery). If a child in band 4 leaves the school then a child in band 4 from the waiting list is offered the place. Most schools with this type of banding have long waiting lists so I wouldn't get your hopes up too high.
Realistically you do need a clearer idea of the schools that have places available. You could say that you would prefer a single-sex or co-ed school but am afraid that any "choice" you have depends on availability of places.

Kind of interested in your experience, OP, please do update. I am in middle of transferring DS from a private to state school for start of y8. I was told the deadline to apply for transfer (start September) was back in June, I don't know what happens if you're switching from HE. Just saying you may be unlikely to get a Sept place.

The school DS is moving to is considered relatively very good, one of the hardest to get into (pure luck they had places). They have shown zero interest so far in his academic records.

Yes, ability is taken into consideration in many areas, but high ability is not nesseserily an advantage, being high in your ability band is. There are thre ebands, 1 ( top 25%) 2 ( middle 50%) and 3 ( lowes 25%), your daughter is likely to be in band 1. bands are further subdivided into A, B and C. A school may have agreed to take 100 band 2 children, for example, and have a vacancy in band 2, but would prefer 2A child. They may also have a vacancy in band 1, and be "allowed" 50 band 1 children, but prefer 1A children, therefore, in such circumstances, a 2A child might be accepted, but not the higher ability 1C child.

In practice you will have no idea what bands have vacancys, so if you have a band 1 child, as you seem to, you could get turned down from a comprehansive with no band 1 vacancies, and 20 band 2 vacancies, all you can do is apply, be honest about your child, and see what you are offered.

Yes, be honest about the difficulties in the past, this is the best way for staff to know what to monitor in the future.

good luck

Part of what lemonpie says is correct, in that if you are a band 1 pupil then if there is no vacancy in Band 1 then you should not be offered a place.
However under the 2009/10 admission arrangements, which are current at present, if there are vacancies in band 2 and there are no pupils asking for places then they should fill those places by filling from the next nearest bands that is Band 1 and Band 3 in rotation, so that the "average" attainment stays at Band 2 level. That is in Paragraph 2.87 of the 2009/10 admission guidance. The school cannot give priority within bands according to performance in the test, so if you are band 1 then that is the only criteria that can be applied that is around attainment, any other criteria have to be around things like distance from the school or random lottery etc.

all of what I say is correct for here, but it may not be the same in all areas.

The rules are the same throughout England. Any school or LA behaving in the way you describe is clearly breaking the law.

The school can operate with 9 bands (1A, 1B, 1C, 2A, 2B, etc.), in which case they could reject a band 1C child because they only have a vacancy in band 1A. However, if their admission criteria show that they operate with 3 bands and they have a vacancy in band 1 they must accept any child with a score placing them in band 1. They may not legally reject a child simply because their score places them towards the bottom of the band and the school would prefer someone from the top of the band.

Dominodonkey - re your comment about level 7a being incredibly high for year 8 - are you sure?

My DD got 7a in her end of year report for y7. I don't believe she is the only one in the school to ever get those levels in y7. She is in a comp. not a grammar.

High Level 7 in English and Science at the end fo Yr 8 is good, as level 7 is the highest. The Maths level would at the last state school I worked at be average. Maths has Level 8, so she is 2 levels off the top (and we used to get about 15% of the cohort to Level 8 by the end of Yr 8 and about another 25% to Level 7 at the same time.

carrots Yes, as I said I have been teaching for 7 years and (not to blow my own trumpet) at both my schools have generally been regarded as the person to go to for accurate marking.

As trinity said Level 8s don't really exist in English. So if your child is 7a that means she cannot achieve more highly in the next two years of KS 3. She could not have been more than 5a in Year 6 so her school think she has progressed 2 levels in one year. A large percentage of students do not progress 2 levels in the whole of KS 3 (although they are supposed to) . There are some teachers who think that if a child gets 7a for one task/aspect (e.g speaking and listening) then they are a 7a overall. Maybe your child's teacher is like that.

Yes but Domino, your marking may be accurate......is the OP's DD's English teacher's? We know how wildly these things vary (and, as we know, if they were using APP, what the chuffin' Norah, does that 7a actually represent?).

I've given level 7s in Year 8 and Year 7. I teach in a comp. and my marking is also regarded as being accurate.

Domino - of course the OP's child could have been working at a level higher than 5a in year 6! Just because KS2 SATS don't acknowledge anything higher than this doesn't mean a child couldn't be working at a good level 6 before they leave primary school. And level 8s do exist in English at my kids' school - and in most other subjects - although only given to a very few.

Having said that, I'd be a bit suspicious of a 7A awarded at the end of year 7.

May I ask who assessed your dd at those levels? If she's been out of school since Easter, are they levels she was given by school at that point? In which case they are even better than the same levels would be for July.

I have never given this grade to a year 8 student for English and I have taught some very able and talented students. It really worries me when I hear of he number of students being given these very high NC levels as I am not sure all teachers are applying the criteria correctly. The highest grade I have given has been 6a and I have often thought that a greater degree of maturity is required to acquire the skills needed for level 7. I see no harm in describing your child as a high achiever to schools but be prepared for the new school to disagree with these NC assessments.