CSG - What do the cut off distances mean this year?

[GreenAndSpringy]

I’ve been following the Banded cut off distances for Camden School for Girls (CSG) with interest for some years now.

2020
A 0.46
B 0.77
C 0.47
D 0.40
2019
A 0.82
B 0.49
C 0.31
D 0.54
2018
A 0.80
B 0.58
C 0.88
D 0.35

But the latest have really thrown a curve ball:
2021
A 1.32
B 0.81
C 0.42
D 0.30

I’d like to get my head around what this disproportionate A Band distance is actually telling us.

I guess it’s possible that many of the girls who sat the Banding test and received the higher scores asked to be removed from the Council’s list before the 1st March if they received an Indy offer before then (or moved from Town). This kind of fits in with the narrative that more children are taking up private options this year. This isn’t my preferred theory.

I suspect that it’s more likely that a larger cohort than usual of academically very-able girls took the test and weren’t dissuaded by the historical cut off points. This theory suggests the A band is made up mostly of girls who would ordinarily score amongst the highest 10% of a CAT and thus are distributed amongst the population accordingly - hence the longer offer distances. It also suggests that most of the sibling offers weren’t in the higher bands this year.

Furthermore, if the trend to go private this year is real (at least locally), my guess is that the unpublished Waiting List offer distances for Band A (and to an extent Band B) would extend rather further still.

Am wondering if anybody else has been struck by the unusual cut off distances this year and has any comment, or come up with their own ideas/theories. One final data point is that Band D is 0.3 miles and there are at least 10 girls waiting who live no more than 0.1 mile past that point - it is a VERY squashed band.

@TwentyNotOut

DD1 had her heart set on Parli for Sept 19 entry. On offer say she was around 120 on the waiting list and never got below 50. We live in an area where historically she would have got a waiting list place in any of the 4 preceding years (for which I had data). It was a long, agonising summer.

She is happily settled at another school now (not in Camden, sadly), but DD2 now has a bee in her bonnet about Parli despite my discouragement! We will be applying next year - this thread has been helpful in reinforcing why I am right to discourage her from getting her hopes up!

We are too far from CSG to consider it, but it does make me fume that they give places to staff children regardless of distance, even though (last time I looked in any case!) they are not listed as a priority group for entry.

Wow the schools are really oversubscribed these days

Is parliament hill good?

Camden Banding Distances:

Band A (coloured orange) - in 2022 this was 0.81 miles

Band B (coloured blue) - in 2022 this was 0.80 miles

Band C (coloured green) - in 2022 this was 0.54 miles

Band D (coloured purple) - in 2022 this was 0.36 miles

Not sure how that relates to everyone on waiting lists for Camden School for Girls, but much smaller Band A than last year, and Bands A and B identical.

Thanks Purple. Looking for next year. Please post if you know anything about the waiting lists moving and what distances offers get to.

Again, a tiny band D. All those local girls missing out on a place. It makes me so cross.

2020 intake was an anomaly with A being very small. I suppose this is to do with Covid, but I can't work out how.