Is it worth putting the long shot as top choice?

[FraterculaArctica]

Another thread about how to rank school choices for the armchair gurus! Which of these schools should we put top?

School A: single sex, non selective but stellar academic reputation, very good GCSE results and Progress 8. We almost certainly won't get a place (about in in 10,000 chance).

School B: "banker" catchment school. Mixed comprehensive. Virtually everyone from DS's primary goes there unless going private. Has a reputation for good academics but statistics are not that impressive - national average, and progress 8 around zero. I don't understand why it doesn't better results given that it's in a "good " demographic and has pretty stable staffing.

DS wants B as first choice and realistically that's 99.9 percent chance where he'll end up anyway. We were impressed at Open Evening and the logistics are 100x easier than A. But I can't quite get past the very average exam results.

Should I push the issue with DH and DS and put A first, so we feel we've given it a go and get to remain on the continued interest list?

DS is reasonably academic (top 25 percent ish), possibly ADHD (awaiting assessment), low-moderate interest in sports and arts.

We are in North Herts.

PS I totally "get" the allocations rules, so realise there is no "risk" to putting A as top choice - except if we get it and DS is wildly unhappy and we have to face the difficult logistics!

My concern would if you do get the long shot and your child is adamant and distraught do you change your mind, have you burned your bridges with school B (would it be oversubscribed so you wouldn’t be able to swap down to it?)

Given the huge long shot for A, your son's preference for B and the nasty logistics should you get A, I would just go for B.

You can use the time/money spent on travel for A for extra curricular or tutoring to help with the not quite stellar academics.

(and I say that as a parent of a Y11 DC who does a very expensive 90 minute each way commute for secondary - but a) her top choice, b) specialises in her major interest, c) we had terrible local choices the closest of which was almost an hour anyway).

Thanks - you're both echoing my current thinking. Yes we would have likely burned our bridges with B, if we got A and then wondered why we'd done that to ourselves! I'm also thinking just to put B first to give DS certainty and feel like his opinion matters.

I went to an extremely academic school myself so find it difficult to calibrate comprehensive results "normally".

I get that - I was at a super selective grammar so the idea that everyone doesn’t just pass everything with high grades seemed very odd.

Main thing is - do they set effectively? Do they have a high achieving cohort hitting those top grades? Do they cater for your child’s particular interests?

DD’s comp has an amazing languages offer - that I was very enthusiastic about. Unfortunately utterly wasted on her as she’s severely dyslexic and we all agreed MFL was never going to work! Happily they are also incredibly good for her rather niche interest.

Have a look on the gov website for progress 8/attainment for the high achievers at school b. This might put your mind at rest. www.gov.uk/school-performance-tables

I would agree with this but also just compare results based on prior attainment between schools - they are often fairly similar and overall results can just reflect a different intake.

B.

Just put B first. It sounds like a reasonable school that your kid wants to go to and is likely to get into.

I’d just put B first. You’re not going to get a place at A anyway, so why risk worry and anxiety for your DC for something that won’t happen anyway.

Thanks - we've done the application now and have indeed put B first!

Just a thought. Progress 8 scores of zero are considered very good in the area I live. However, if they have high attaining students coming in from primary schools then their progress won't mirror that of a school with mid attaining students who perform better. E.g.

Student A is a high priority attainer and predicted grade 8 in GCSEs and gets grade 8s so will have a zero P8 score. This students is highly unlikely to get a positive P8 score as there is only one grade above their target (and 9s are highly unpredictable). It could be that your second choice school has many high priority attainers.

Student B is a mid prior attainer with grade 4 targets but achieves grade 6/s will get a positive P8 score as grade 5 and above are a possibility for them.

I see this commented a lot. And yet, grammars and superselective grammars often have excellent P8 scores, despite all/most of their intake being high prior attainers.