Are school sixth forms that rank applicants by GCSE grades in breach of the admissions code?

[havubooked]

Grammar school Year 12 admissions policies tend to set minimum grade thresholds, which apply equally to internal and external applicants. Internal applicants that meet the criteria are, of course, guaranteed a place. However, to manage demand for external applicants, they need to use oversubscription criteria. Rather than using distance or lottery like non-selective schools, its common to rank applicants by average GCSE point score. But surely this is a breach of clause 2.6 of the Admissions Code which says that sixth form academic selection criteria "must be the same for both external and internal places"?

I assume the internal ones already met the other thresholds (like distance) by getting a place in lower school.

It's fine to apply distance criteria. It's not fine to apply different academic criteria to internal and external year 12 applicants.

So what do you want them to do. There are only so many places

Yes, and I'm saying they've essentially done that first. Eventually, they have to select the highest performing.

I want them to comply with the admissions code. Up to them how they do that. They could use distance or lottery. Or they could give the year 12 applicants the same sort of entry test that the internal applicants sat for year 7.

Well whether it's right or not I don't know, but it will definitely happen in our our County this year (and I think it happened last summer), because of the amount of private school pupils wanting to cross over to the state Grammar schools. Now if they don't raise the bar for "outsiders" but just raise it across the board, then state pupils may well miss out. It's a conundrum.

No, they don't have to select the highest performing.

Well, grammar schools select by exam performance. That's what they do...

They have to do it in line with the admissions code.

But they can. And probably will.

ETA: I'm not talking about the code saying they must, just generally that they would obviously want to.

But the OP's point is that if they let in all internal applicants who meet a minimum grade but then select externals based on highest performing, then they aren't applying the same criteria to both groups.

You’re obviously just pissed off because your child won’t qualify based on exam results. It makes sense for the highest achievers to get the external places for a grammar school. Life’s like that so stop whingeing about it.

I'm interested to hear from anyone who might know if this practice has been challenged via the Schools Adjudicator. I've seen a few objection reports, but none so far that have considered this aspect of policies.

Nope, mine did qualify actually. 🙂

Why are you so bothered then?

The schools set their own admissions criteria and determining a pass mark and rank ordering by ability is valid for them to set out.

Don't all the schools (not just grammar) do this to some extent though on individual courses? So if they have 10 spaces on their "Applied Sewing" course, they will select the best candidates not just take the 10 who live closest.

Because I care about schools applying the admissions code correctly, not just about what is good for my own children.

Surely fairer to rely on GCSEs than make students jump through additional hoops for the sake more exam results?

Well, yes, surely GCSE results are as valid a way as the 11+?

I'm not saying the admissions code is perfect, just that the schools are potentially breaching it.

I actually think the distance/catchment etc should apply for those with required criteria as for those more local etc there is like to be transport whereas there may not be for elsewhere. Particularly in rural areas where certain villages form part of the catchment.

Sadly the schools want to focus on good results and leavers destination don’t they.

This is an interesting point, OP.

I assume what you mean is that if a grammar school 6th form has, for example, minimum grade requirements of 6 7s at GCSE.

Usually what happens is that all pupils already at the school, as long as they get 6 7s, are guaranteed a place in the 6th form. External candidates are then ranked according to GCSE results. So if there are more external applicants than places, then you could get a scenario where an external candidate does not get a place, even if they have higher grades than an existing pupil.

Whereas what a school should be doing is ranking all candidates, internal and external, according to GCSE results and then admitting the top 180 or however places they have. And that may mean that some internal candidates miss out. But yes, I believe you are correct, and this is not what schools do in practice.

I have not read the admissions code for state 6th forms, though, so there may be something in the fine print or something that allows it.

They may want to, but if their policy breaches the code it can be challenged. That's why I started the thread - I'm interested to hear from anyone who knows whether it's been challenged in the past.

"Whereas what a school should be doing is ranking all candidates, internal and external, according to GCSE results and then admitting the top 180 or however places they have."

@RockaLock That's not allowed either. Internal students are already at the school so the code says they don't have to reapply for year 12. If they meet the min criteria at the end of year 11 they transfer to year 12.