S W Herts consortium: cut-off scores 2014

[ThreeBeeOneGee]

I don't have a child applying to secondary this year (one last year, two next year) but have been hearing rumours that the cut-off scores for both academic and music places at the schools in the S W Herts consortium (Watford Boys, Watford Girls, Parmiter's etc) are significantly higher than the cut-offs in previous years.

Can anyone confirm or shed any light on this?

That's impossible to police - it's not usually possible to get a tenancy agreement for OVER 12 months, even if you want to. And what happens if you want to extend, but the landlord puts the rent up or sells the house? Clearly biased against rental tenants, who sadly do not enjoy the same security of tenure as owner occupiers.

What the schools can and do police is those who rent WHILST STILL OWNING THEIR PREVIOUS PROPERTY which they then return to - which is clearly bending the rules.

It isn't a blanket rule against renting though, it's simply saying that if you are on a fairly recent tenancy you may be expected to show that all ties to your previous address have been cut. Clearly designed to catch the people referred to in your second paragraph trying, and my fault for not expressing that clearly in my post.

I don't have much sympathy with that poster. It's tough on the child - but the parent had no right to assume that buying a house nearby meant they'd effectively bought a place. The assumptionn that if you put down enough cash (that poorer parents couldn't afford) means you have some sort of 'right' to a place that someone who merely rents doesn't, is offensive nonsense.

But poor kid - they'd done well enough to get in another year. Just not this year.

Shred - I thought those rules already existed?! If not, clearly they should!

Hmm, maybe it already did. I know for a couple of the Bucks grammars there is a provision that if you own another property within 20 miles of the school, then the school has the right to consider that to be your primary address, rather than the flat round the corner from the school that you claim to be your address!

It seems as though everything has moved up a notch in terms of competitiveness.

The cut-off for Queens is now in the range that Rickmansworth used to be. The cut-off for Rickmansworth is now in the range that SCD and WBGS/WGGS inner area used to be.
The cut-off for SCD and WBGS/WGGS inner area is now in the range that WBGS/WGGS outer area used to be.

I've just made a call to the boys and girls school to get siblings in this year. (Different years obv) ,think they might need some extra help with some core subjects after what you've all posted

They're coming from out the area though and I don't know a lot about their grades yet. For various reasons they can't go to the local school where dd is.

think they might need some extra help with some core subjects after what you've all posted

Not necessarily. Some of the children are in the middle ability range and a small number are in the low ability range.

DS1 is not a genius and still manages to be in the top half of the year group.

Some points for thought (look at the remarks being made):

www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/11059511.More_than_200_children_miss_out_on_secondary_school_places_in_south_west_Hertfordshire/?cmpid=cmt

This year had 'just' enough places for children living in the borough. There is nothing currently in place to increase the number of places for next year and the following year is questionable. If you are thinking of moving into the area I would seriously suggest that you think very carefully before making the move.

I live very close to the boys grammar and I am now thinking that Chesham Grammar is a safer bet.

I don't think QE has had anything to do with the jump in cut off marks as a big increase has been show in the cut off marks for every single ranked SW Herts school.

MumTryingHerBest I've been following the debate on the 11+ forum and it does indeed sound grim. I was talking to DH earlier about the incredible shrinking catchment issue, and I actually went out this evening and measured the catchment distance using my GPS watch I use for running - less than 2 minutes walk. I know the area pretty well, and it just seems inconceivable to me that there were that many first born male children of that age living within that area.

Chesham was our plan B as ds passed the Bucks 11+; I thought it looked an absolutely lovely school (and for us had the advantage of being mixed) and we put it as our second choice. But something to consider - I think this was the first year ever that all the places at Chesham were filled on allocation day, so there will be an even bigger knock-on effect once Herts parents get wise to this in the coming year(s).

It is such an emotive issue, and parents understandably have strong feelings about how difficult it is to get into their local state schools. I think there must be only 50-100 properties within a 250m radius of these schools (especially as much of the area is taken up by the school grounds). I don't see how 50-100 properties can produce 20 boys (or girls) of the correct age every single year.

Just done the sums. Using 2003 birth rate, I'd expect to see one Y6 boy in 80 households.

Bit back-of-an-envelope, but I took UK population as being 61,000,000 and average number in each household as 2.36.

Of course people move in specifically for those reasons and of course local landlords clean up. Bit ironic that parent who bought near the school to game the system now complains that others have gamed the system more effectively!

As a point of interest with regards to "buying a place at WGBS" through the use of short term rentals, 10 of the boys given a distance place in 2013 are no longer in the property they resided in when they applied for a place (according to the estate agents). Where exactly those boys are living now, who knows?

Given that there are only 19 places offered under the distance criteria, this means more than half would not have qualified for that distance place just one year later.

MumTryingHerBest: sadly, that doesn't surprise me.

Yes I couldn't help noticing how many rental properties came up within a couple of days of the allocations coming through on March 3rd - "available April 4th" etc.

I noticed that too. This time of year must be very busy for local estate agents.