Camden School for Girls - sibling/sixth form question

[Modernshelf]

Hi all,

If you have a daughter (or son) join CSG for A-levels, does it mean that their younger sister would be eligible to join in a lower year on a sibling place? (If space is available).

I can’t seem to find info about this on their site. My friend with a child there thinks it’s the case, but I would find that surprising! Does anyone know? Thanks so much

www.camdengirls.camden.sch.uk/_site/data/files/users/53/duska/3F823C15C0F6F225356F0FBC7E5E1EF2.pdf

Their admissions criteria doesn't mention anything about the sibling criteria only applying for certain years, so yes.

Yup they're counted as siblings. It's pretty tough to get a place in the sixth form tbh, grade requirements are high so I imagine this actually gives them a lot of clever younger siblings, without being 'selective'.

The only thing I'd check is what do they mean by time of admission. Is this offer day or is this day of enrollment aka sept.

This is interesting. I would have thought as Camden so sought after they would have closed the ‘loophole’ for siblings of sixth formers.

Any CSG parents want to share thoughts about the school? I know someone with a daughter in the sixth form who loves it…but what about lower years? Anyone know how Camden currently compares to, say, Parli for GCSE results? Parli seems to be a bit cagey about the actual stats on their site…x

Also would love to hear from anyone who knows what it’s like for boys in the sixth form - thanks! X

The 'time of admission' refers to the sibling applying for entry in the year to which that version of the policy applies - in this case, the academic year 2025 / 2026. So the pupil making the applicant pupil eligible under this criterion would have to be going to be on roll in September 2025. A pupil already in year 13 at the time of CAF submission for 2025 year 7 entry (in September / October 2024) would not count, because they would have left before the younger DC was due to start.

However, having a sibling in year 13 should see a mid-year applicant ranked as a sibling, in the absence of any other rule around sixth form and siblings (some schools don't rank the siblings of those who themselves only joined in sixth form as siblings).

Thanks so much @MarchingFrogs . Do you have any idea how much movement there tends to be between years 8 - 10? I know places very rarely come up for in-year admissions…

Sorry, no personal knowledge of the school, I'm afraid - I'm just one of those folk who get to look at a lot of school admissions policies, and how they are applied, especially at this time of year, so I took a squint at that one.

No problem and thanks anyway! X

Sorry but this isn't exactly true. Lots of schools have had to change their admissions policy to make this wording clear. You will sometimes see "and who will still be attending on
the date of application" and other times it's written as per CSG's time of admission. For eg Haringey, time of admission is offer date. So as long as the sibling was enrolled as of offer date, it's treated as that.
It's best to clarify with Camden directly.

It’s not a loophole, the governors actively want this to happen. For a few years I wrote to the governors requesting that they remove the sibling link for sixth formers. My argument was that it’s unfair and unnecessary to have a sibling link from sixth formers. There is no need for a male sixth former to go to school with their younger female sibling, who will be having a completely different educational experience as they’re in a different key stage, and could come from anywhere-not local.

The governors argument of wishing to keep families together doesn’t hold true. Plenty of families send their girls go to CSG and the boys elsewhere for the lower school. And the sixth former would be long gone by the time that the younger sibling has moved up the school. The family wanting the children to travel together is a poor argument too. Local kids do t need to “travel” to CSG, they walk. If you’re travelling you’re too far.

I find it infuriating as the sixth former and sibling can come from a long distance away displacing a local girl. I think it’s morally reprehensible to move your child from an independent school to CSG on a sixth form sibling link but understand thems the rules.

There has been more movement in the school than usual imo and I think it’s been because of the changes to people’s lifestyles during covid. I’m wondering if they’ll be less movement now as the parents who removed their children from CSG to go private may baulk at vat on fees. But probably not.

I realise I’m being unreasonable.

Oh that is interesting. I always presumed (like Marching Frog) that it meant In September of the relevant year, but I have just checked Parliament Hill and that (unlike CSG) specifies that they do need to still be on the roll. I wonder if that does mean date of offer only? Though of course that completely removes the whole reasoning behind sibling link so would seem odd.

I'm also curious about how the offer thing works as the 'potential' sixth former would need to get certain grades and take up a place for their younger sibling to be eligible?

Say you had a daughter hoping to attend for sixth form and she had a younger sister...the older daughter gets an offer - could the sibling go on the waiting list then and there, or would you have to wait for the older one to meet the offer, accept the place, and then get on the waiting list?!

I would hope that one child would need to have a place and this would alter the waiting list position of the other child .

The younger child could get a place from anytime in April. The elder sibling would have a sibling link from this point but can’t have a guaranteed place until they have their gcse results.

The older child needs to show the school their GCSE results before their place is confirmed. From 22 August (is that gcse result date?) the elder child could bump the younger one up their waiting list Or lists.

Probably best to get it in writing from the school though.