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"?

Hmm, if you say so, not sure I believe this unless you want your child to be competing with less able students

Hi OP,

ah, right, I didn’t know that - as I said, I haven’t read the admissions code.

I suppose you could argue that because when students join in y7 via the 11+ they are ranked primarily on score (sometimes with a distance/catchment area element e.g. a number of spaces reserved for children living within a certain distance of the school), then it is right to apply the same sort of oversubscription criteria to external 6th form applicants i.e. to rank on GCSE score.

But the whole rule of essentially prioritising internal students does seem unfair on external applicants, particularly for those applying from schools that do not have a 6th form and so have to apply elsewhere. But that’s a whole other discussion, I guess!

Yes, I think that would be the schools' line of defence. But it's arguable. That's why I'm wondering if it's been challenged in the past.

You are right it breaches the code. Personally I think the code is wrong. Internal candidates who meet the academic requirements should have priority.

You are free to object to the schools adjudicator if you believe they are in breach of the Code. The deadline is 15 May.

But the point the OP is making is not that a grammar school shouldn't be allowed to use an academic selection process, but that the criteria should (according to the rules) be the same for both internal and external candidates. So no, having an entrance test for every applicant (including internal applicants) would not be more unfair than the current procedure (i.e. internal applicants all getting a place if they meet the minimum entry requirements, but external applicants not getting a place unless they are in the top end of those meeting minimum entry requirements).

Can’t sixth forms set their own code then? The grade requirements round here vary wildly ( no grammars) and existing pupils always are guaranteed places if they get the minimum requisite grades.
But some sixth firms want 7s whereas others do a point system ( eg42). So no standard code at all.

The problem is lack of spaces.

My DD's comp has a 6th form with 200 places overall.

Not all over those places are even for A levels as they also run a T level course.

Of those 200 places, 160 are ring-fenced for internal candidates.

There are 435 pupils in current Y11, and only space for 160 of those, so the bar to stay on is extremely high. Minimum of 6 x 7-9 grades including English and Maths.

40 spaces are for external candidates - iirc there have been in excess of 1k applications this year.

Oversubscription is based on ranked GCSE results for external candidates. I don't really see how else you can do it given it's also about what A level subject choices they have made.

OTOH it is the same and thus fair.

Admission criteria: Places will be given to anyone who meets the minimum academic standard

Oversubscription criteria

1. Internal candidates who took their GCSEs at the school
2. External candidates Within each criteria the over subscription is 'best GCSE average grades'

However by definition (assuming 6th form PAN is the same as the rest of the school) there will be sufficient spaces for all current pupils to move up to 6th form so the over subscription 'best GCSE grades' never has to be applied in practice to internal candidates.

Grammar school near me does this. Internal candidates get in on seven 7s (many will have more) but external candidates not really considered unless they are close to being all 9s.
The outstanding state school does this as well, where current pupils sometimes get to stay without meeting minimum standards (say, they got an unexpected 4 in maths) whereas external students have to have the 777 666 needed.

I know. As mentioned, I'm interested to know if it's been challenged before. I'm hoping someone here may know. I'm also interested in whether I'm missing something.

Internal candidates who meet the academic requirements are already enrolled at the school so can just transfer from year 11 to year 12 without re-applying. The admissions code is clear on that point.

If that key difference is allowed (for good reason), and that's the only way they are being treated any differently, there isn't a problem. Ranking by ability is obvious.

There was a lot of discussion about sixth form admissions codes on this thread - https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/5292130-sw-london-how-hard-are-6th-form-admissions-would-you-avoid-a-secondary-without-6th-form?page=3

State school sixth form admissions policies vary, but they have to comply with the national School Admissions Code here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-admissions-code--2

Do look at the individual grammar school admissions criteria for sixth form as they are often more complicated than you might think. (The internal candidates getting priority is in my opinion far better than just trying to cream off all the high flyers from nearby schools, and shows commitment to the child who already has a relationship with that school community—just like schools don’t throw out children whose families move out of catchment!). In lots of grammars there are also priorities for pupil premium and other disadvantaged children who will get in before others in catchment. Then siblings criteria etc. In the country where I work many grammar schools have changed sixth form admissions criteria in the past few years and few if any now just go for the highest scoring.

You have misunderstood. Internal and external candidates have to meet the same minimum criteria. External candidates are then ranked by their results. They therefore have additional academic criteria applied to them, which is forbidden by the code. They are allowed to have additional non-academic criteria applied to them, but not additional academic criteria.

Opinion doesn't really come into it though, because schools are legally obliged to comply with the code.

"The internal candidates getting priority is in my opinion far better than just trying to cream off all the high flyers from nearby schools"

Internal candidates are already enrolled at the school. If they meet the minimum academic criteria, then they have as much right to transfer from year 11 to 12 as they had to transfer from year 10 to 11. That is not in doubt. The only thing that is in doubt is whether external candidates should have a higher academic bar than the internal candidates, or whether they should have the same academic bar as the internal candidates and instead be prioritised by non-academic criteria such as distance.

No, I haven't misunderstood. They do all have to meet the same minimum, in that the internal pupils won't stay on without the standard results.

Designated grammar schools, or school sixth forms, are allowed to add academic criteria, and selection by ability, to their own oversubscription rules.

So how would you allocate if there are for example 40 places available and 500 candidates for those?

I know school sixth forms are allowed to use academic criteria - I'm very familiar with the admissions code - but they're not allowed to apply different academic criteria to internal and external candidates. It's very clearly stated in the clause I referenced in my original post.

Is this scenario fairly unusual tho @OhCrumbsWhereNow ?

That's a very very big year 11 equating to a school of more than 2000 pupils excluding sixth form. Then it narrows a lot to a more average size sixth form. I wonder why that is?

For comparison, my DCs went to a school with about 200-220 in a year and. a sixth form of about 150. AFAIK those figures are standard across our city, allowing places for all who want to carry on (and qualify) and then space for those at a school with no sixth form (there are two or three locally) or who want a change (maybe to study a specific subject).

It's not the general criteria. It's the oversubscription details.

So how does a school choose?

If you have a situation where the ask is 6 x 7-9 grades for internal.

Then you only have 40 places for external and 500 apply and get 6 x 7-9.

A school can't suddenly magic up 500 places when their PAN is 200 for 6th form.

@havubooked In your situation if there were more internal people meeting minimum criteria than spaces in 6th form, how would the school choose?

Or can that never occur in which case it could just as well be best results?