What is the definition of a Super Selective?

[indignatio]

I have seen this term used on MM and indeed used it myself. However, I am not sure I really understand what actually makes a selective school a "Super Selective". Please educate me.

I believe it is a school with no catchment area, so they take the top ? kids from about 12 million applicants.

So, can it be state or private?

I agree. Some areas of the COuntry have - 15% ? 20% ? 25% ? go to grammar schools.
Other parts have just a handful of grammars covering an area that can be reached by hundreds of thousands of school children. Then they only take 1% or 2% of applicants. That is obviously more difficult to get into.

Either.

Any school, such as the one where my children go, where you have to be the absolute elite, creme de la creme by having the good sense to live in the Highlands. Therefore, it is a school that selects based on common sense and bars all those foolish enough to live elsewhere.

The super selectives don't necessarily get better results however.
They might be more difficult to get into, but they don't necessarily out perform ordinary grammars.

So if a particular grammar is deemed SS, what would the pass mark be (on average). If an independent is said to be SS, what would be the mark required at CE? Or is it not just about entrance test results?

That I can't answer.
I don't know about the CE
I believe some pass marks are well into the high 90's.
I know some schools don't divulge the pass mark.

I've never heard the term super selective used of a private school.

The most academic private schools select by pretest/reference/interview and then require anywhere from 65-75%+ as the qualifying mark.

Grammar schools are maintained selective schools where pupils have to sit an 11plus exam. Depending on the school's admission process, there could be a minimum pass mark, and then places are allocated to all children who score above that mark, based on distance from the school, so a child with a score of say 121/140 but living 0.1km away gets in whereas a child scoring 140/140 but living 3km away doesn't. Some grammar schools have a fixed number of places which are given in priority to those in a certain catchment, with the remaining places going to those out of catchment based on highest scores.

The term super selective is usually used of a grammar school where places are allocated purely on the scores ranked from the very highest going down. Anyone from a large distance can apply to the school, and certainly many of the London schools are seeing over 1,000 or even 2,000 pupils sitting for 120 to 180 places.

I've only seen a few MN posters referring to independent schools as super selectives. I don't think that the term really applies here as the entry process is quite different, and very few independent schools give places solely on the basis of entrance exam/pretest results. With a superselective grammar, if you get the highest score, you're in but if you're the 181st you're not. With the likes of Win Coll/Eton etc it isn't that simple.

In terms of examples, The Judd school in Tonbridge, Kent is superselective. Last year any boy whose standardised score was over 411 (where a maximum standardised score is 423) could gain a place, regardless of where they lived. A score of 360 was sufficient to say that you were of selective ability, and there are other grammar schools in Kent where the only requirement was to score 360 or more, and places were then allocated on the basis of distance.

There are a very few super selective independents out there. They tend to not only have high academic entry requirements, but also select for a particular type of child.

indignatio A superselective is a school where the only criterion to get in is passing the exam. Therefore a private school cannot be superselective since the primary criterion for admission is ability and willingness to pay some or all of the fees.

Thanks for the definition. Turns out I definitely work at a super selective then.

Based on my experience of the SS in my area I'd say this was bang on:

Some areas of the COuntry have - 15% ? 20% ? 25% ? go to grammar schools.
Other parts have just a handful of grammars covering an area that can be reached by hundreds of thousands of school children. Then they only take 1% or 2% of applicants. That is obviously more difficult to get into.

I'm not sure there is an offical definition - it's just a grammar that's much much tougher to get a place at, and consequently has much higher results.

Some of the grammars in Kent for exampke, where they are two a penny, don't get any better results than many good comps in non grammar areas or those with a tiny handful of SS grammars.

The term super selective is usually used of a grammar school where places are allocated purely on the scores ranked from the very highest going down. Anyone from a large distance can apply to the school, and certainly many of the London schools are seeing over 1,000 or even 2,000 pupils sitting for 120 to 180 places.

I'd agree with that definition. There is no concept of 'pass mark', it is purely on ranking. The Birmingham Grammars, which are an anachronism, operate on this basis. There is no LEA-wide Grammar system -just this strange rump of five schools belonging to the same Foundation. They offer only approx 700 places to a conurbation of more than a million people. Thus they get about 10 applicants for each place, and you have to remember that applicants are self-selecting (if your IQ is below 120 you probably wouldn't even bother applying).

I would think of a super-selective as a school that aims to attract children within the top 5% of the ability range. Tiffin, say, apparently takes those within the top 2%.

Many private schools are selective, but only a very few limit their intake to very high ability children. Ergo schools like SPGS are also super-selective.

The slight difference between state and private is that the former have to be transparent. You sit the Tiffin exam, and if you get above a certain mark you are in. SPGS will interview and decide whether they think you will fit within their school. As a consequence they will reject some very clever girls. Probably correctly as the sorts of very competitive cultures that can pervade are not for everyone. Bright kids should thrive in most settings and some will enjoy a greater diversity and the scope to be top of the class without feeling too much pressure outside a super-selective. Others will like the very strong learning focus of a super-selective.

Worth remembering that Super-selectives, especially in the state sector, will be picking up all rounders who are strong across the board. Plenty of potential top flight mathematicians and scientists struggle with English, whilst plenty of really creative people struggle with maths. Great to get a place but not necessarily a golden ticket to future academia. If you look at Tiffin results, they are good, but not the all-singing, all-dancing good that you might expect given how selective the intake is.