Graveney - catchment area half 2012 distance!!

[SWandStressed]

I have just seen the figures for 2013 (and compared them to 2012) and noted the following:

Applications 2115 (up from 2076)
Selective Places 63 (63)
Looked After 6 (up from 2)
Social/Med needs 2 (down from 4)
Staff 1 (n/a)
Sibling Places 102 (up from 81)

Distance offered 1 March 532 (down from 913)

That is a major reduction in catchment - and wonder if anyone has got any idea of why that happened. Was it an anomaly? I guess it must be at least partly explained by the extra sibling places taken up this year.

How near do I have to be to be safe for next year?

[KandyBarr]

gazzalw I suspect we're in broad agreement - we clearly agree that selective schools are a good thing and are happy to take advantage of the choices they offer - such as streaming, a choice of co-ed or single sex and so forth. But to try to argue at the same time that places at such schools should be reserved for local families is illogical.

Re bright children from poor backgrounds at Graveney, I don't know, but my DC's extension stream class is a very mixed bag. But as GraveneyLady's figs have shown, those children admitted on criteria about which locals on here are objecting are also very few: just 4 commuting in from more than 7000m away, for example.

[aliasPrickleandJones]

GraveneyLady, you asked "the rental thing is a perennial issue. I wonder if any of you know any other schools/authorities that have found a good way to tackle this?"

Here is a link to a letter to prospective parents for another local(ish) school that is very popular and I believe has similar issues as your school.

admissionsletter

Is this similar to the stance that Graveney takes?

[Classicsgirl]

Thanks aliasP&J - very interesting. I think if this was standard wandsworth practice then several families in my DCs classes might not have got places.....but I now see this has been debated to death on another thread on MN so I will retire from the debate.

[gazzalw]

Oops I had a comment deleted - what did I say that was controversial?

[Blu]

[SWandStressed]

Interesting. I missed it. What were you discussing?

MN will delete stuff even if not particularly controversial, simply if the school asks them to (witness Kingsdale threads and so on). And of course we know the school is reading this thread through the eyes of GraveneyLady!

[gazzalw]

Judging by the context I think I was being deeply cynical!

[GraveneyLady]

Hi - back again

Stressed - the 250 was not a typo. Standardisation rather surprising this year.

And places are withdrawn from time to time. Obviously I can't go into detail about that, but it does happen. It happened last year.

Alias, thanks for the letter. They are pretty tough, aren't they? I wonder if it works for them? We do insist that applicants who get in on distance prove their address of course.

[SWandStressed]

Thanks, GraveneyLady.

Buth then is the ?273? mentioned in the letter a typo. I have a copy in front of me. It reads:

At this stage of the process, only those applicants scoring 250 or above have been offered a place under Category 1.

However, it then goes on to say:

As can be seen from below your child?s score is lower than 273 which is why he/she has not been offered a place under this category.

Unless I?m being dense (always possible), either 250 or 273 is a typo!

[GraveneyLady]

273 is the typo

[gazzalw]

So does that mean that children might have got in this year on selectivity on a lower score than in recent, previous years? I am not good with statistical analysis (blush)

[SWandStressed]

Great, thanks. My friends DC then might stand a chance on waiting list!

From past years' experience, do some of the initial 63 ever decline places?

[gazzalw]

Good luck to your friend's DC, SWandStressed

I'm sure some will decline places as I'm pretty certain,as with us, that Graveney constitutes the 'fall back' option (for some) if a DC doesn't get into a grammar school (not saying that's the case for everyone but the children who do the 11+ tests tend to also do the Wandsworth Test, particularly if they are out of Borough). So there will undoubtedly be some children with selective places at Graveney who are high up on waiting lists for grammar schools.

[GraveneyLady]

Gazza is right - we anticipate some movement once the Grammar waiting lists start moving.

[gazzalw]

, GraveneyLady!

[SWandStressed]

GraveneyLady - just wondering if you did have the figures for what %age of the 63 selectives are FSM (and the non-selective for comparison) - asked this above but you may have missed the question.

[SWandStressed]

(Of course, you may have ignored it not wanting to get into that debate )

[GraveneyLady]

No, not ignoring, just missed the question, sorry. Which year were you interested in?

(I do reserve the right not to get into that debate though)

[gazzalw]

Hijacking SWandStressed's question here, but the past five years and in relation to the rest of the cohort would be useful too! Thanks!

[SWandStressed]

Agree. One year could be anomalous. Five years entry to see if there is a pattern would be great.

Thanks, GL!

[GraveneyLady]

We currently have 310 pupils in years 7-11 who are FSM, ever FSM or children in care/formerly in care (we call these Pupil Premium pupils, as we receive a premium for them). They represent 25% of the total numbers.

Of these 310 pupils, 34 were admitted on test, which represents 11% of the total Pupil Premium pupils in years 7-11.

[aliasPrickleandJones]

Thank you GraveneyLady, that's very interesting.

That means that over half of this year's grammar stream are from FSM backgrounds. That's great to hear that a significant number of the poorer children are getting into the school to benefit from the grammar stream.

Taking your figures, on average there are 62 children/year who are FSM ? only 28 FSM for the rest of the year's intake. That does not seem very many at all!

Is this because of the affluence of the school's catchment area?or the fact that people 'rent' their way in to the school? I don't know the area enough to make a judgement on that.

[AnnoyedAtWork]

523 feet or metres?!!!

I thought we lived in area but apparently not. We are 0.7miles walk away (not straight line). This is 1.1km walk (perhaps 800 or 900m in straight line).

Does the school provide a list of addresses in area? And is it closest within area get in first?

Damn it. Don't want to have to move dd primary school in year 5 in order to get in somewhere else.

[AnnoyedAtWork]

In admissions criteria it just says "proximity to the school", closest first. No mention of 523 or anything.

How do I find out if we have a good chance of getting in?