Sutton and Kingston grammars - what's the lowest rank you can get?

[ReneJacques]

Dear All - I was wondering what the lowest rank you can get on your school selections for the Sutton and Kingston grammars.

DS has reached the attainment for all Sutton grammars and has gotten through (hate having to us such terms for children but it is what it is) to the second round of the Tiffin exam.

We were of the view of putting Wilson's as the top choice and then Tiffin second with the other Sutton grammars third and fourth. However, this made us think, what if he is putting 2 very competitive choices as 1 and 2 and therefore misses out on the other grammar schools as a result? Is it better to choose one very competitive school (Wilson's or Tiffin) and then have a less competitive choice as your second?

So, in essence, what is the lowest choice that you are likely to get regarding the grammars in the context of a child who has 'passed' the Wilson's exam?

p.s. I'm not especially fond of all the 'tactics' required for school selections but am appreciative of any help anyone may be able to offer!

Put them in your genuine order of preference. The schools don't know where you rank them, if you can't be offered your first choice, your second choice becomes your first and so on.
It's called the equal preference scheme & should be explained on your local authority website

Your application to every school is looked at separately and then you are offered the one that ranks highest. So just put them in the order you would like them.

Yes exactly what @Nonameoclue says. You put the one you want most first and so on.

The algorithm works its way down the list. It does not know where you rank a school. If you place a school last on your list, and you don't gain a place at any you rank higher, you will get a place there if you qualify as per the criteria. Someone else putting it first who qualifies lower down the list (eg further away if done on distance) will not leapfrog you, even if you place it sixth. Does that make sense? In essence there are no tactics required.

Good idea to put a banker tho – your local school – as if none of your prefs are available, you may be offered a less preferred school further away.

Exactly that - with 6 choices put them in genuine order of preference and include a school that you are 100% likely to get into at the bottom of the list somewhere. And congratulations to your DS!

The way I looked at it was this: in an ideal world, if I assumed I could get a place at all the schools I wanted, which order would I put them in?

We ended up being offered 6th choice (comp), then 5th choice (comp), then 3rd choice (grammar) and landed on 4th choice (comp). We never moved far up enough on the WL to get offered choices 1 or 2!

We would have accepted the grammar place had we moved house, as originally planned. But as we didn't move, the journey time (at +1 hour) was too much to expect from an 11 year old. So we had to turn the place down.

Ahhhh

Because I was under the impression that if lots of people but a ‘less competitive’ (again hate the lingo) choice as their number one preference then they are far more likely to get it.

eg if all schools have 100 places and the child finishes, say 101 for both Tiffin and the Sutton schools (and puts Tiffin and Wilson’s first and second), the third choice may be filled by the 100 boys who have put the third school as their first or second choice.

But you’re saying this is not the case at all and it’s actually all down to what position you came in the exam?

Have I understood that correctly?

Thanks for your post as well, it’s extremely useful as are all of the others.

Exactly. They will rank all the people who passed in performance order. Then give your child a place at the highest preference school for which they qualify. I can’t say this enough - put them in true order of preference

So if you live next to your local comp, and put it first, and tiffin second, even if your son came top for tiffin, because you put the comp first and qualify for it you’ll get that. There’s no gaming required. Put them down in order of preference!

You are allocated the highest preferred school for which you qualify. So being pupil 101 for 100 places at first preference(A)may mean you are not allocated there and qualify for school B or C . However chances are at least one of those first 100 qualifying at A has a different order of preference(BAC) and qualifies for school B listed further up their order, so pupil 101 receives an offer from A and other pupil B.

Yes as others say, that's correct.

I am no grammar expert but I presume they either go in order of pass mark OR there is a pass mark overall and then another criterion such as distance for those who pass?

So yes it's down to whatever the criteria are. If someone puts a less popular school first then they most likely will get that - bc the algorithm assumes they want it most.

In your example, the person will be allocated the third choice if they qualify for it higher than those who put it first or second. Just as others qualified for Tiffin above them. even though they may not have listed it first.

@ReneJacques , you've totally misunderstood how it works!! I hope you've read the posts above and put down your genuine order of preference.