Secondary transition and banding tests

[Macramepotholder]

Hi all

We're in year 6 with no EHCP (yet, refuse to assess appeal in 2 weeks, but regardless won't be in place before the summer term). We're also on the border of 3 boroughs in S London where almost every school seems to have its' own bespoke admissions test that needs to be taken at the school in question. Lots of them also have e.g. a workshop day for a bursary as well. DD is autistic and dyspraxic and I'm wondering if:

a) there is a way of not taking them at all as she will struggle to manage- not just the tests themselves but the increased stress of evening/weekend sessions (could e.g. her teacher band her and submit)

Or

b) Access arrangements you got put in place (extra time, separate space).

I know it doesn't matter how well she does as it's for distribution, but as it currently stands kids who don't sit the test at all fall to the bottom of the list. I think the Equality Act should apply here and they shouldn't exclude a child from admissions on the basis of not being able to sit these?

The school we would actually prefer doesn't actually need any of this at all but it's not 100% we will get in on distance so need to apply to 3 ish others in case. What did others do?

If we do have an ehcp by the end of the year we can name the school anyway but we might not if further appeals etc.

Access arrangements such as extra time and a separate room are possible.

There isn’t a way of not sitting the test without being at the bottom of the admissions criteria.

The alternative is to not take the test(s) and DC will be allocated a place somewhere but it might not be a school you particularly like. It might not be close either.

DD had extra time to sit the one she did. It was well managed and she didn't get stressed about it which surprised me. There were a few stressed people but that appeared to be because parking's a beast round there!

I didn't feel it was helpful to us as a choice though as I didn't know how she'd do, so couldn't guess at distances. She actually placed in band 8 of 9* (they kindly told me later on when I asked) so probably wouldn't have got in.

I put them 3rd choice.

I think the most DC are admitted in bands 3 and 4 (normal distribution) so if your DD could sit it but didn't do too well that could actually be an advantage in admissions terms.

I don't know if it's one of the schools you mean but it could be.

*that's not a stealth boast - she was heavily prepped for NVR testing at her primary.

@Phineyj could have been, one of them is chain which has one test for all the academies (I've heard they manage it better) and a couple in other boroughs.

I guess she would probably be around the middle academically but has no test taking history at all so who knows.

@EndlessLight I wonder what happens if you literally can't get them in the door for it then? Obviously you'd hope they had an EHCP to circumvent but we all know the state of that at the moment. The school admissions code says they have to apply the Equality Act so I suspect there are a lot of schools putting themselves at risk of legal challenge.

(I hate banding tests, another form of stealth selection).

At some schools, even DC placed via EHCPs sit banding tests. If the school is named, DC aren’t refused a place, but the place is allocated from the band’s allocation.

I don’t know anyone who has had this adjustment for a banding test, but I suspect it would be like access arrangements for other exams and alternative venues are possible.

If the child is unwell on the day, at some schools, a doctor’s note confirming the illness and the primary schools recommendation is allowed. Although, this wouldn’t be able to be a pre-emptive way of not having to sit the test.

If you think the determined admission arrangements are unlawful, you can refer them to the Schools Adjudicator. Too late for 25/26 though. However, banding tests are allowed. I suspect the access arrangements would be considered the reasonable adjustments. I don’t think altering the admission criteria that comply with the admissions code would be seen as reasonable.

Yes, I know they're legal- so not generally unlawful (although there is one local school that continually sails very close to the wind in that regard and has been rapped on the knuckles by the adjudicator) I just don't think they should be. There's lots of evidence they don't do the job they're intended for anyway and sift out DC who are disadvantaged in some way.

Anyway I've written to all the schools asking for the scope of their reasonable adjustments. One we are likely to avoid altogether due to how the test is administered. It's bonkers really, we're looking at 4 tests plus possibly 2 'workshop' days.

The joys of academisation eh. it would be interesting to test, in our area you could end up with none of your 6 if you couldn't get the banding test done- obviously you'd get a school but the LA likely to end up paying for transport then (massive borough) - and I do think it's a disadvantage to not then have the same range of choice as other DC (who only really have that choice if they have organised, engaged parents with enough resource to get them to a random secondary school at 9am on a Saturday morning). Or have a common national banding test, sat in school time so only one needs to be done and where SENCOs etc could support as necessary.

I was thinking about this some more and you can't "fail" a banding test so I reckon if you can get DD through the door and to do something on the paper, then she'd be "banded" even if it was band 1.

I guess the point for admissions is that overt banding (which you can't fail) prevents selection by house price? Although, as I said, you've got to live very close anyway if your DC scores in a higher band.

A great deal less hassle than paying several grammar tests, anyway!

Paying? Haha Freudian slip. Taking.

This isn’t unique to academies. Some free schools and maintained schools use fair access banding.

Yes that's true others do use them, and it's also not evenly distributed- the rural area I'm from doesn't use them at all.

@Phineyj in principle that's what they're supposed to do but of course the chaotic/stressed families end up not sitting the tests anyway so the schools get to screen them out without actively doing so. And as you say, living close still massively ups your chances within a given band so it doesn't remove the gaming by house price issue.

The Sutton Trust has quite a neat tool on its website- the 5 or 6 nearest secondary schools to us all take fewer FSM students than are represented in the population data of the surrounding area. So it isn't working (or possibly from the schools' perspective, is working).

Those schools are almost certainly more representative than the grammars, however. I mean, all you have to do for the banding test is turn up. They write to you after you apply through the regular admissions system giving you a date and time and you turn up. You don't need to prepare; you don't have to book; there aren't a capped number of places; it doesn't cost anything.

I'd be a bit worried if a parent couldn't manage that tbh.

The £70 quid blazers, however, are more of a barrier to entry.

I have been very pleased to find a non blazer school! What a waste of money those things are.

The blazers! And instantly lost of course.

Unfortunately in DDs primary I think there are quite a number of families who will find it a challenge, hopefully the school will help to support. Apparently Southwark used to do one in school until all the secondary schools decided they wanted their own special one.

We live in a grammar area, which has it's own issues, but at least all the schools band together so you sit one test for all the grammar schools. You'd think if multiple schools use banding tests they could do the same.

They do let you sit the same test for the schools in the same academy chain round here.

But there are 3 different versions of the grammar test!