Grammar place withdrawn following no SATs?

[Confooseddotcom]

Hi All,

Hope someone can help

Situation:

We have recently moved to Bexley and are waiting for my son to get a place in a primary school for year 6 (Applied for almost 2 months ago). The waiting list is long and I worry if he might get a place anytime soon.

He has cleared his 11plus and we have applied for grammar schools as well.

My question:

I have heard that if a child is unable to take his SATs in year 6, they are deemed unfit for secondary and their place offered in a grammar school can be withdrawn. Is this correct. I have tried asking the council over phone and email but haven't had a response yet.

I fear that my son might not get a primary school till May and miss out on SATs and eventually his place for grammar school..

Thanks
A very worried mum

This can't possibly be true as children enter grammar from private schools, who don't take SATs, and from being home educated. My son went to a grammar school after being home educated so he no SATs results

That doesn't sound right. My DS is at grammar school (not in Bexley) and a lot of his classmates came from prep schools which don't do SATs. As far as i know they don't even look at SATs results.
I also don't understand the waiting two months for a school place unless you're after a particular school. Is he currently in school? If so, and a place doesn't come up he'll sit his SATs at the current school. If he's not then get back onto the council as unless you've chosen to home educate they have to offer a school place, although it may not be in a school of your choosing.

Lots of children don;t do SATS such as those who have attended a private primary school or been home schooled.

Schools can only offer places on the basis of their published admissions criteria. Looking at the admissions policy of Bexley Grammar School as an example, there is no mention of SATS. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.bexleygs.co.uk/attachments/download.asp?file=2562&type=pdf

Complete nonsense ;-) Please don't worry!

Once a place has been offered, it can only be withdrawn under very strict circumstances (essentially either you lied, or the admissions authority made an mistake).

Not having SATs is irrelevant and would play no part in the process.

As a PP said, I'd be more concerned at the lack of year 6 place - have they not offered you anything at all? The LA should find a place somewhere, though it doesn't have to be at a school of your choice.

Thank you so much for replying

So far they have just said that I need to add more schools to my list and they will see if any place is available there. We are happy with any school we get as far we get one. He is not attending any school at the moment as it is literally impossible to travel to his previous school daily with both parents working full time..

DD sat Bexley 11+ as well as Kent and Newstead (years ago now) she got a place despite never sitting SATs and being home schooled for the last term of Y6. The SAT aspect hasn’t changed.

The main issue with Bexley is that if you are not in the top 180 places you are then allocated on distance. The address change to be classed as on time is around early December.so your move date may be important. If you moved after then then you may fall into the second round of allocations. You mention you’ve been seeking a primary place for 2 months but not clear if that was before move or since.

They should have offered a place for Primary if you’ve been in your home for a few weeks let alone a few months, have they offered a place but not at one you want? It shouldn’t be restricted to a list, you can express a preference but ultimately if a place isn’t available in any of those they should offer something. Is he de-registered from the previous school? I’ve heard of people who move but not far and they commute to old school until they get something.

Thank you for the reply.

They have not offered us a place in any school so far. We are aware and completely fine with the fact that we won't be getting school of our choice, hence happy with anything else that gets offered.

I am following up with the council but haven't had any success yet unfortunately..

Nevertheless thanks to everyone who has taken time to reply to my post here about SATs as well. It is 1 less thing to worry about now!

I would be concerned your child has not been attending school for almost two months. How many schools have you applied to? If you have applied to a reasonable amount and been refused, ask the local authority about their Fair Access process where your child will be allocated a place.

I am following up with the council regularly and was told today that I might find something out on Monday next week. Fingers crossed.

Thank you very much for your reply.

Update - My kids finally start school next week!!..Thanks to everyone for taking time to respond to me earlier....

What great news. Have a lovely weekend @Confooseddotcom and all the best for next week for a good start at school for the children next week.

Thank you..have a nice weekend as well !!