INFORMATION TO PARENTS ABOUT YEAR 7 ADMISSIONS
Details about the admissions arrangements can be obtained from the Admissions Office at Pate’s. Information regarding admissions arrangements are also provided to our main feeder primary schools for distribution to prospective parents.
Parents and children are warmly welcomed to one of our Open Evenings in September each year. Both evenings begin at 7.00pm, and there will be the chance to meet the Head, staff and pupils.
HOW THE ADMISSION ARRANGEMENTS OPERATE
Whereas in the past Pate’s operated its own admissions arrangements, under new government regulations Pate’s is required to operate in line with the Local Education Authority’s co-ordinated scheme for school admissions.
Pate’s is a selective school, and has only 120 places available in Year 7. To be considered for admission into Year 7 at Pate’s pupils must achieve the qualifying score in the Admissions Test organised by the school. To sit the Test parents must register their child with Pate’s – using the online registration form. Parents must also make a separate application to the Local Education Authority, using the LEA’s normal Preference Form – failure to apply through the LEA, or failure to include Pate’s as one of the ranked choices on the LEA form, will mean that a child cannot be considered for entry to Pate’s in the normal admissions round.
QUALIFYING FOR ADMISSION TO PATE’S
Pate’s is a selective school. Admission to the school has always been by competitive test. Places have always been offered to the children achieving the highest rank order scores in the Admissions Test.
Pate’s has been a free grammar school for the children of Cheltenham and surrounding area for over 400 years. We are very proud of that record. We want to continue to offer a particular type of academic education to very able children, whatever their background or their circumstances.
Each year places have been offered to children who score the highest marks in the Admissions Test: this means children either ranked in the top 120 places, or those from the next qualifying group who have been placed on the reserve list. We believe that this is the fairest way of allocating the limited number of places at the school.
Because we believe that our Admissions Test rank order is the only fair way of allocating places at Pate’s, under the new scheme only the highest scoring children will be eligible to be considered for a place at Pate’s. Under the new scheme we believe that this is the best way to continue how admissions to Pate’s have operated in the past.
Under the new scheme all school places will be offered initially by the LEA. Places at Pate’s will be offered first, at the beginning of March, to those children amongst the top qualifying group who have put Pate’s as their first preference school on the LEA form (or to children for whom Pate’s is the highest preference school for which they qualified) .
If there are places unfilled on March 1, those unfilled places will be offered to children:
Offers to fill any unfilled places from the waiting list will be made by the school as soon as possible after April 1. Offers will be made strictly according to each child’s ranking in the Admissions Test.
MORE ABOUT THE ADMISSIONS TEST
The Admission Test involves two verbal reasoning papers, which are set by GL Assessment, formerly National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). The answers are completed on separate sheets which can be marked by computer. On the day of the test all children have some practice questions first, under the guidance of experienced Pate’s staff. There is a break between the two tests.
We have 5 sets of verbal reasoning questions, which can be downloaded, to give children an idea of the type of questions they will be faced with. These have been specially designed for us; they are not copies of commercially available assessment test practice materials. Our sets of questions are available on this website all year round. Obviously we do not want to disadvantage any child whose family does not have ready computer access. It this is the case for yourselves, please contact our Admissions Officer who will try and arrange for you to receive a copy.
These practice tests are designed to help Y6 pupils become familiar with the type of questions that appear in the November test. Whilst that test is timed, you may find pupils derive most benefit by doing these practice papers in their own time, perhaps not even a whole paper at a time, rather than being constrained to complete them in a fixed time.
Additionally you can still obtain from most bookshops as well as on-line the GL Assessment Practice packs published by Letts Educational and costing in the region of £10 per pack.
If you would like to get some practice of the type of questions that are included in the admissions tests, we have 5 sets of verbal reasoning questions which can be downloaded from this website:
The rank order list of all the applicants’ test scores is compiled by GL Assessment. GL Assessment make a small score adjustment to take account of each child’s age, so that younger children are not disadvantaged. It is the rank order of Admissions Test scores that is used to determine the 150 children who are eligible to be considered for a place at Pate’s.
THE APPEALS PROCESSES
Parents whose child has not been offered a place at Pate’s have the statutory right to use the independent appeals process – details from the Admissions Office at the school.
CHILDREN UNABLE TO SIT THE NORMAL TEST IN OCTOBER
Due to absence abroad: for families living abroad it is possible to arrange for the Test to be taken at the child’s current school. Parents in these circumstances must make an application in the normal way (by registering at Pate’s and applying also to the LEA), and must also contact the Admissions Officer at the school to discuss their particular circumstances.
Due to illness, accident, or sudden bereavement: where exceptional circumstances mean a child cannot take the Test on the day the school will organise a similar replacement test (a “late Test”) later, but normally no later than the end of October. In such cases parents must contact the Admissions Officer to discuss the situation prior to the main Test taking place.
AGE QUALIFICATION
A child may take the Pate’s Admissions Test on one occasion only. Normally the Test is sat when a child is in Year 6 of primary education. For entry into Pate’s for September of year 7 the normal age range includes children born between 1 Sept and 31 August for the appropriate peer group. They should be genuine year 6 students when they take the test. If a child is outside this normal age range parents must please contact the Admissions Officer at Pate’s to discuss the circumstances. The school retains the right not to accept registration for Year 7 admission where the governors judge that the circumstances are not in the child’s best interests.
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