I agree with KenR.

If all the places are filled by Cateogry 4 with priority score there won't be any places available for Category 5.

Also if we live with in the catchment area there is no guaranty that everyone get place with priority score. Who ever lives close to the school they will get first priority under Category 4.

The FO state that the qualifying and priority scores will be released before the exam in September.

I don't think we will know what the scores will be until then. I've got a feeling they will be higher than 205 and 220 respectively.

I think the idea is pretty much everyone in the catchment area who gets the priority score will get in - that's the point of it

exactly how many spaces that fills depends on how many children in each area are sitting the test and where they draw the line - the FO know the numbers sitting the test and have predicted 220 will produce the numbers they want getting in

now clearly they've more data and they will know if the numbers sitting have changed so they can adjust the 220 up or down but I doubt the numbers sitting the test will have dramatically changed in one year

What I feared a couple of years ago has come to pass.

I think we all knew what would happen here. Apart from the people at the top who made their blinkered decisions.

It was obvious to me that those with money would be able to get around the system. Either by purchasing a house in the area, or moving into temporary rented accommodation.

I said all along it was never about the less advantaged children, but about liking the pockets of those higher up the chain involved in the private schools!

Interesting isn't it - not sure what the best solution is - the old one:

"places offered to those scoring highest" - this favoured those in more affluent areas, paying for tuition / private education etc etc - encouraged long distance travel and particularly advantaged those in areas like Solihull who had good comprehensives but also had the option of travelling to CHB / CHG etc

"places offered to local children who reach a certain level" - again this favours those who can move to be in the right area, twas ever thus with schools and short of a lottery I am not sure what can be done - only thing it does is probably take away the level of tuition that people feel they used to need.

whilst I agree both systems are imperfect

the current system is less imperfect than the old one

I've always thought students from absolute miles away being tutored to within a inch of their life to get into a Birmingham Grammar and have treks of up to 2 hours each way was madness, whilst local kids had no chance

at least with some of the recent scores it appears local kids have more of a chance whilst not taking away the option for those determined enough to move into a catchment area etc

The new system is still in the early years, there are loopholes, but hopefully over time the KE consortium will be wiser when accepting application with last minute new address and parents "incidentally" owning more than one property that happens to be in the catchment area.

They could look at how KES and KESH screen for pupils eligible for bursary.

Its open to abuse, and you don't have to buy a house - you could just rent one for 12 months. It encourages parents to play the system, without breaking the rules - I personally know several people personally who have done that and fair play to them. You couldn't really put a stipulation on last minute address changes as there could be genuine reasons for that move (e.g. new job).

People who think this isnt having an impact on house prices should look at how South Birmingham prices (especially Kings Heath, Hall Green, Moseley) have gone up by more than 20% over the last two years, while stagnating over the same period in the traditionally more affluent Solihull. And it will only get worse, effectively reducing the chances of the very kids (in less affluent but more distant areas) that the new system was introduced to help.

We all knew this would happen.

I contributed to the consultation and this was one of the points I made.

As I've said before, this was nothing to do with fairness for the kids, it was all about lining the pockets of those making the decisions.

I do agree changes were needed, to stop people from all over the country applying, but there should have been a better system introduced.