Help! Moving in Pinkneys green, maidenhead - need school admissions information/ details

[Shal19]

Hi all,

We are moving by end of July in Pinkneys Green, Maidenhead on 25th July. My DD will seat for her 11plus exams this September so we will get her results by Oct. If she passes her 11+, I want to put SBWGS Marlow as 1st option just to try, and 2nd option WHS. If she fails then want to put Newlands girls school as 1st option. But heard that because we are just moving in to this area from Burnham. This could be disadvantage as we don't have a longer period of residency stay in Maidenhead. But we will be there before 1st of September 2024, the academic year anyway. Is this still gonna play up for admissions?

Thanks in advance
Shalini

Are you selling your home in Burnham and properly moving i.e. you are not keeping your home in Burnham and renting in the new area.

Moving to Maidenhead is a sudden plan, just thought of it in May, especially for Newlands only. So we spoke with sales agent and he said we cannot sell it straight away, need to find a buyer and cannot keep it void until we sell. So renting it out with a break clause.

You need to check the admissions policy on the school website. SWBGS is here:
Admissions Policy - Sir William Borlase's Grammar School (swbgs.com)
and includes " Children living in the catchment area of the school must be living in their home continuously since 1 September 2024". It doesn't say that continuing to own and rent another home is a problem.

I am not that worried for SWBGS or WHS, grammar schools have their own committee board and decide.
But my main concern was Newlands girl school as we have this as backup if she fails her 11+. Heard this state school is highly in demand and over subscribed mostly so they have set restrictions as council/ borough decides and offers places.

I’d be more worried about the grammar schools - you need to read the admissions policies carefully. The policy linked to above for the grammar actually states towards the bottom that you can not own another home within 20 miles.
It also says that they’ll do more checks than the usual council ones. I would check with them carefully which address they’d use.

With the RBWM, I’m not sure - you need to check directly with them and get it from them in writing. But use your rental address and you could fall foul of SWBGS or put the Burnham one down and you wouldn’t get Newlands.

"The policy linked to above for the grammar actually states towards the bottom that you can not own another home within 20 miles.
It also says that they’ll do more checks than the usual council ones. I would check with them carefully which address they’d use."

I checked the link and where does it say this statement ? Sorry if I missed something.
Now it's worrying me a lot. I am hoping for Wycombe High school, because their catchment is large, upto 11 miles. But SBWGS has priory area, around 3miles only. Did my research but didnt see anywhere this statement for SBWGS or WHS.

Newlands is an option I have if she fails but looks like I need to have another secondary state school option in mind.

We are moving in Pinkneys green by end of July. Then I am hoping for the good.

oh yes, so it does, right down in section 5. It would be helpful if it referred to that section in the criteria in section 2.1!

OMG you are right.. I read thoroughly the admissions policy for SWBGH and you are right, they have clearly stated they should not own a home within 20miles.
We cannot sell our house in Burnham in a jiffy of time, renting it with break clause and sell it when it gets sold.

I also tried to read Wycombe high school policy, cannot see something like this mentioned but they say the RWMB is involved in admissions. So unsure too.

We decided to move because we have put our second daughter in an independent school and our elder DD will also join the independent school for year6 and upon her results we wanted to decide, but Newlands was our ultimate option.

Where we live in currently, we fall under Burnham grammar catchment and have herschell school as well. But because of the independent school move, I wont be able to drop them and pick up from Burnham, and Burnham has no secondary state school at all, westgate is not an option at all as heard its so worse.

Well looks like we are sailing in a boat now, without a proper destination. Hoping our elder DD will have a peaceful environment in secondary school, because shes very quiet and introvert, hardly opens up even to us.

I wanted to know how others parents chose state secondary school for their kids ? If moved at last minute did they secure a place? Have you heard any real time stories?

I am not that worried for SWBGS or WHS, grammar schools have their own committee board and decide.
I'm not sure what you mean by this? All schools must follow their published admissions criteria.
How would your daughter get from Maidenhead to High Wycombe?
Would a commute from Burnham to Newlands be easier, or aren't you likely to get Newlands from there?

I think you need to ring RBWM and Buckinghamshire school admissions and get some advice and then get it in writing. Admissions policies are set to avoid people gaming the system e.g. renting in catchment and then moving back. Buckinghamshire on their website give a clear definition of a normal address and if you own another property and I don’t think what you’re planning to do will work as for your new address to be used as technically you’d be able to move back and switch between addresses even if it’s not your intention. I couldn’t find the same on RBWM but I’d be surprised it was different.

You’re applying to very oversubscribed schools and there are likely to be extra checks to make sure that your address is your only property. I would not leave this to chance and get proper advice from the admissions authorities at RBWM and Bucks asap.

Thanks so much.
I have read the RWMB admissions policy, and yes they have stated they may ask for evidence if they think we have made a fraudulent move.
We wanted to sell our house in Burnham but Sales agent said we cannot sell in a jiffy of time, it could take time for the process once agreed at least 2 to 4 months. So they advised us to rent for 12months and try to sell later. We will discard this house anyway and buy a house in Maidenhead. We even started looking, didnt find between our budget so let agreed in Pinkneys green from end of July for 12 months now.
We have no intention to move back to Burnham, we have chosen in May only to put our second DD to an independent school as we felt the need of it thinking of her current state. I cannot drop and pickup both of them from different as I work too. Also Maidenhead has lots of activities centres, our younger does go to Stagecoach and gymnastics there but Burnham has not. So we decided to move thinking of all this.
Then when I realised our elder DD who is currently putting so much efforts in 11plus will lose Burnham grammar school catchment (we live near the station so 0.5miles from BGS) so we started looking for alternatives near Maidenhead and found SBWGS and WHS, also Newlands as good options.
We didnt even let her sit for slough consortium as our initial intention was to put her BGS if she passes. But like I said as our second daughter struggles and need more attention, we decided to put both of them for now in an independent school there in Maidenhead from September.
Upon researching and thanks to all your advices in different forums, found out because of all the forgery that happened in the last decade or so, RWMB had put lots of restrictions in place and MAY investigate.
Well our move could be at the last minute but the intention is not same.
I dont want to live with mum guilt if older DD passes her exams but didnt get any place offered because of this area, she will think we have prioritised our younger DD. Such in dilemma now.

Newlands does not have a larger catchment as its oversubscribed school, so Burnham is not listed at all in catchment. I have also in mind Furze Platt secondary state school in option as heard it's a good school.
My only fear now after speaking to you all is, if she passes her 11+ but doesnt get a place offered because of this last minute move, what she will think about us. This is scaring me a lot.
I didnt even aim SBWGS as its got a smaller catchment but WHS has offered upto 11miles from previous records, so I thought instead of Burnham grammar school she will have WHS.
I have my colleague who told me her son got offered in John Hampden school from Burnham even though no catchement. But he scored well in bucks.
So not sure how we can rely on 100% in their admissions policy.

So not sure how we can rely on 100% in their admissions policy.
Since this must be followed by law you can rely absolutely on it!
There is a difference between catchment & distance offered. Someone can live within catchment but not be offered, and likewise can live outside catchment & be offered. If you look on the Buckinghamshire County website you will see the last category offered for each school (usually to x miles in catchment or x miles outside catchment).
Do you know what distance Newlands offered to (not the catchment but what was offered)?

Agree with you.
SWBGS offered upto 3.1miles whereas their radius is bigger in their school map.
WHS upto 11miles and Newlands same as SWBGS offered only upto 1.7 last year but radius is bigger in their map.

The address we have let agreed has all these 3 schools in designated areas but Newlands 0.3miles and WHS 6.5 miles.

But as you said if they want more evidence and proceed an investigation on us, we will have all bills to show this geniune move. But we don't want to be overconfident, and then DD gets upset.

Not sure if this move will affect our DD, depends on how council processes our application by end of October.

Ring admissions get their advice and then get it in writing. Ask what proof you’ll need and then get it in writing. You’ll be applying to RBWM and they pass your application onto the Bucks schools. You’ll at least then know rather than spend months worrying.

Thank you. I will ring them Monday morning.

Burnham has no secondary state school at all

Isn't Burnham Grammar School in Burnham? Grammar schools are state schools...

Burnham Grammar school is a selective state school, kid needs to pass 11plus.

The OP meant it has no state "upper" school as a back up to grammar (Burnham E-Act academy closed down due to a falling roll).

OP, RBWM admissions does clearly state that they would usually regard your old home as your main address unless it is uninhabitable. I think the move is very risky with regards to Newlands school:

"If you own or rent a property, which is used, or has previously been used, as your home address which is within commutable distance of an oversubscribed school, and you state that you are living at, and apply from, a different address which is closer to the school, we will normally treat the second address as temporary, even if the property which is further away is not available for
you to inhabit. It is your responsibility to provide the Admissions team with information on the properties that you are connected to for us to make an assessment on whether a property can reasonably be disregarded for admission purposes.
The aim is to show that the original property cannot be used by your family, to a level beyond a reasonable doubt. The individual circumstances will be considered by two or more officers who will make an evidence-based decision individually and then together, referring to another officer where disagreement exists. If you are unsure of how your particular circumstances would be treated in this event, please email us for advice on your next steps, at
[email protected]."

Based on my research,

• Sir William Borlase's Grammar School (Marlow) includes part of Maidenhead in Catchment B, specifically areas like Bath Road towards Furze Platt and Pinkneys Green.
• However, areas on the other side of Bath Road, such as Cox Green, Boyn Hill, and near the railway station, are outside Catchment B.
• John Hampden (co-ed) and High Wycombe Grammar School (girls) cover all of Maidenhead in their Priority B catchment, and I am aware of some children gaining admission there, but I am unsure about admissions to Slough or Langley Grammar Schools.

In summary, living on the other side of Bath Road (Cox Green, Boyn Hill, Larchfield, etc.) falls outside Sir William Borlase's Grammar School's catchment.