Sir William Borlase catchment

[CHIShandler]

Hello, I am the mother of a boy in year 3 and we are currently looking to buy a house in the catchment of a good secondary school. I have my eye on SWBGS and have become aware that the catchment recently changed. I am really pretty clueless and new to all of this but am trying to understand how close to the school I need to be looking.

Are there any other schools vaguely near there (south east but not Kent or Essex - wrong side of London for our jobs) grammar or outstanding comprehensive that I should be considering? DS should pass 11+ all being well.

I think I have two years to get this sorted - be living there by the autumn term of year 6 - is that right?

Sorry, I have never done this before - thanks for any advice.

Why have you homed in on this particular school? Do you know it? In Buckinghamshire there are 13 grammar schools so you should perhaps look at those too? I think SWBGS has quite a small area where children actuall gain admission - you can check previous allocations on the Buckinghamshire council website.
There are 163 grammasr schools in England, so it depends what you are looking for really. (Lots in Kent). Make sure you are near a non grammar school that you find acceptable too as plenty who think they will pass, don't.

www.swbgs.com/page/?title=Admissions+Policy&pid=30
Their policy
www.buckscc.gov.uk/services/education/school-admissions/admissions-policies-consultations-and-statistics/allocation-of-school-places/

This should show yoi what happened this year. As above, why this one school? Bucks has 13 grammar schools, 9 of which are boys or coed. If you want coed, Borlase is the school with by far the smallest catchment. The other 4 coeds have much wider catchments and thus much less stress about whether you will end up in catchment.

We're trying to find a good school in an area that would suit us all and Marlow ticks lots of boxes: it's not too far from DH's job, I work in London a lot and could catch the train fairly easily, and we have hobbies that are well served in that area. Also, the non-grammar there looks pretty solid as a back-up, and some of it is in the catchment for John Hampden, I think?

I'd rather go for a grammar with an outstanding Ofsted rating, and not all Bucks grammars have this.

I'd rather go for a grammar with an outstanding Ofsted rating, and not all Bucks grammars have this.

Check the dates of the recent inspections - some of the outstanding ones haven't been inspected for many years. This with "good" may well have been inspected more recently and it's now harder to get outstanding. Any school which is good will be fine.
Having said that, Marlow if a lovely area & I can see why you would be attracted to it, with both good grammar & upper schools. You slightly threw me by asking about any in the south east!

We have twins - one went to Borlase and one went to Wycombe High. Wycombe High is highly pressured - a true exam sweat shop. Borlase is much more laid back (sometimes I wonder if too much to be honest) but I do recommend it as its a lovely village school.
There is the official catchment and there is how many children in catchment get in. The school is either going to, or has already, increased year 7 intake from 120 to 150. If you live in Marlow its highly likely your child will get in. A few years ago when my son entered we live in Little Marlow and a few Bourne End children got in - but in recent years I am not sure if the catchment has extended to that. I know cookham children get in - there are websites which can tell you how far the catchment extended each year the council can also tell you.

My children are at Borlase.

The catchment has only v slightly changed - details on school website. Essentially if you move within 3 miles, are in catchment and qualify you should get in. That would also put you in catchment for GMS which is a fab school.

Happy to answer any other questions.

What about Windsor?

The Windsor Boys School fantastic and has just had Outstanding for 6th form.

Great place to live!!

Hello, sorry for disappearing - I'm still working on this! We do want to live in or near Marlow. How do you find out the information on the furthest pupil offered a place in any given year? I've seen a few distances quoted elsewhere but don't know the source. Don't want to buy a house 2 miles from the school and then find out you can't get in unless you are 1.9 miles or under.

You were given the link above -

www.buckscc.gov.uk/services/education/school-admissions/admissions-policies-consultations-and-statistics/allocation-of-school-places/

Sorry, that's very silly of me. Thanks!

OP, this may help:
www.swbgs.com/attachments/download.asp?file=9&type=pdf
as of last September.

I was going to suggest Chesham Grammar as an alternative, but I see you're hooked on Marlow. Fair enough, it's a lovely town.

@thing47 @KittyMcKitty I live pretty close by and am looking into Borlase as an option.

If I am reading this right, from the map, if you pass the exam, students outside of Marlow e.g. Cadmore End, Frieth etc have priority over students in the town. Is that correct?

@Pipsquiggle no it’s not that. There are 150 places - up to 20 (I think) are allocated to children in the priority area (basically the villages as per map). There are never 20 allocated but when the distance shrank to 3 Mike’s t meant that rural children were disadvantaged- this is seeking to out that right. The admissions policy is v detailed.

@Pipsquiggle where do you live?

@KittyMcKitty Cookham

Go on the Bucks CC website and do the distance calc. Cookham is in catchment and generally gets in (even though it not in Bucks). The year 7 intake has just increased to 150 (from 120).

My my eldest has just done A levels and my youngest just gone into year 12 - both there since year 7. We are catchment (a Bucks village). We’ve always been very happy with the school.

@KittyMcKitty thanks for the info. Glad your DC enjoy it there.

You see kids in the village with Borlase, John Hampden and Wycombe High school uniforms on so I never know which school you are more likely to get in

Bucks publishes all the allocation distances on its website. WHA and JHGS allocate to a much greater area.

^ WHS not WHA

Marlow has a very small postcode if you live in Marlow your child/ren would get into Borlase, John Hampden and Wycombe High.

@Pipsquiggle this will give you all the info you need:

www.buckscc.gov.uk/services/education/school-admissions/admissions-policies-consultations-and-statistics/allocation-of-school-places/

But essentially in March SWBGS allocated to 2.8+ miles (plus all higher categories in admissions policy), WHS 6+ miles and JHGS 11+ miles.

@KittyMcKitty thanks so much for this link - I was looking for this info last night but couldn't find it.

If my DC does pass the 11+ I think it will be very touch and go whether we get into SWBGS. We are on the cusp of all the distances given to rule 6 which is the group we would be in. Good to know, that the Wycombe schools would be a viable option though.

The distances given would also explain why there is such a mix of uniforms in Cookham as a lot of the village would not qualify to get in SWBGS from the distances stated.

If you Google Bucks Secondary Allocations you will get the relevant council pages. Cookham/ Maidenhead children are very fortunate to have access to Bucks schools!

It looks like most years, you'd be fine for Borlase with a house 2 miles away, but there was one year recently where that would not have been close enough. That was before the increase in intake, though.