Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar School: Information for parents

Home > Parental Information > Admissions
Information for parents

ADMISSION OF PUPILS TO THE SCHOOL

Year 7 Admissions: September 2013

Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar School complies with the Co-ordinated Admission Scheme which is administered by Kent Local Authority. Detailed information about the school is available in the prospectus which can be found on the school website www.twggs.kent.sch.uk. Girls are normally admitted at age 11, when all pupils be assessed suitable for admission to grammar school through the Kent's assessment process PESE and have placed Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar School on their Kent Secondary Common Application Form, in order to be eligible for admission. Details of the Kent PESE are available from the Kent County Council booklet “Admission to Secondary School in Kent 2013”. If the school receives more applications than places available, there is no guarantee of a place to all eligible applicants.

The Published Admissions Number is 140; 14 of these are Governors’ Places, which will be allocated according to criterion 5. The school is usually over-subscribed. Before the application of oversubscription criteria children with a statement of special educational need, who name the school, will be admitted. As a result of this, the Published Admissions Number will be reduced accordingly. If the number of preferences is greater than the number of places available, the following criteria for over-subscription will be applied in priority order:

1. Eligible girls in Local Authority Care – A child under the age of 18 years for whom the Local Authority provides accommodation by agreement with their parents/carers (Section 22 of the Children Act 1989) or who is subject of a care order under Part IV of the Act. This applies equally to children who immediately after being looked after by the local authority become the subject to an adoption, residence or special guardianship order. (As defined by Section 46 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 or Section 8 or 14A of the Children Act 1989).
2a. Eligible girls living within parishes as defined in criterion 3 who have a sister who will still be attending the school when the applicant joins.
2b. However, applicants with a sister who both attended TWGGS and lived outside of these parishes (criterion 3) on 31st March 2010, and who have a sister who will still be attending the school when the applicant joins, will also be eligible for this sibling priority.
In the contexts of 2a and 2b, sister means girls who live as sisters in the same house, including natural sisters, adopted siblings, stepsisters and foster sisters.
3. Eligible girls living within the following areas/parishes – Bidborough, Brasted, Chevening, Chiddingstone, Cowden, Dunton Green, Edenbridge, Hadlow, Halsted, Hever, Hildenborough, Ightham, Kemsing, Knockholt, Leigh, Otford, Pembury, Penshurst, Plaxtol, Riverhead, Seal, Sevenoaks town, Sevenoaks Weald, Shipbourne, Shoreham, Southborough, Speldhurst, Sundridge, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells, Westerham.
4. Distance from home to school, determined by straight line using Ordnance Survey address point data, with those eligible girls living nearest being accorded highest priority. The school uses measurements provided by the LA and further information on how distances are calculated (including for flats) is available in the Admissions to Secondary School Booklet provided by the LA.
If, in the event, more than one applicant has the same distance from home to school (as measured by the local authority), then a random selection will be applied. In the event that the final place offered from the ranked list falls to a pupil of a multiple birth, the school will offer a place to each of these children who have met the over-subscription criteria.
5. Governors’ Places (14) to be offered to those girls living in the parishes as defined in criterion 3 who would not otherwise be offered a place, who scored highest in the age 11 Kent test, places determined by combined rank order. In the case of a tie for Governors’ places, criterion 4 would be applied.

With reference to oversubscription criteria 2 – 5, please refer to Appendix 1 regarding residency.
After a place has been offered, the school reserves the right to withdraw the place in the following circumstances:

When a parent has failed to respond to an offer within a reasonable time; or
When a parent has failed to notify the school of important changes to the application information; or
if the Admission Authority had offered the place on the basis of a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application from a parent.

Mid-School Entry: 2013-2014

Applicants at a time later than the normal admissions age should apply direct to the school using the In-Year Common APllication Form (IYCAF). Parents will be able to obtain information packs and IYCAFs from the LA's Admissions and Transport Office. Applications will be processed in accordance with the Co-ordinated Scheme for Secondary In-Year Admissions; detaisl available from Kent County Council's website www.kent.gov.uk.
All applicants will be tested by the school to obtain evidence of ability to keep pace with the work of this selective school. Details of the testing process can be found in Appendix 2.
The Published Admissions Number and over-subscription criteria apply as above. In the event of the year group being over-subscribed, a waiting list will be held, ranked according to the over-subscription criteria.
Parents have a statutory right to an independent appeal, should an application be refused, and they can make an appeal by writing to The Clerk to the Governors, Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar School, Southfield Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 9UJ (01892 520902).

Sixth Form Admissions for Entry in September 2013
A. Priority will be given to existing pupils transferring from Year 11 who meet the entrance criteria. The PAN for external candidates will be 20 but this figure may be exceeded in the event that this and the number of internal pupils transferring into Year 12 is less than the overall total figure for the year group, which is 160.

B. Open Evening
Pupils will be invited to a Sixth Form Open Evening before the October holiday 2012.

C. Applications
Pupils wishing to apply for entry to the Sixth Form must complete an application form that should be returned to the school by Thursday 18th October 2012. The application form, available form the Schools Admission's Office, will allow applicants to express the AS subjects they wish to take at AS Level. Predicted GCSE grades will be sought from the current schools of all external applicants and all applicants will be invited into TWGGS for an informal tour of the school, where there will be an opportunity to discuss their course choices.

D. Entrance Criteria
Pupils entering the Sixth Form will be expected to have attained an average GCSE point score of at least 276 from their top 6 GCSE subjects (please see Appendix 3 for GCSE point scores), including a minimum of a C grade in English and Mathematics. All pupils are routinely expected to achieve at least an A grade in the subjects they wish to pursue at AS Level (or related subjects, as agreed by the school). In addition, pupils wishing to take Art or Design Technology will be expected to submit a portfolio of artwork and pupils wishing to take Music will be expected to have reached at least Grade 5 in their instrument or voice.
Offers will be made on the basis of predicted performance at GCSE, with the requirement that the above grades are achieved in the final examinations prior to entry to the Sixth Form and the pupil’s 4 chosen subjects being accommodated on the timetable, with no group size exceeding its maximum number of pupils
All offers made during Year 11 are conditional on pupils meeting the grade criteria specified and will only become firm offers upon confirmation of actual GCSE results.

E. Over-subscription Criteria
Internal Candidates
All pupils who are currently at TWGGS in Year 11 will have priority, providing they have met the minimum grades required.
External Candidates
In the event of over-subscription, priority will be given to those who fulfil the entrance criteria, in the following order:

Eligible girls in Local Authority Care – a child under the age of 18 years for whom the Local Authority provides accommodation by agreement with their parents/carers (Section 22 of the Children Act 1989) or who is subject of a care order under Part IV of the Act.
External applicants who are likely to achieve the highest academic grades based on GCSE predictions from their current school

F. Offers and Appeals
Offer letters will be made before the end of May 2013. Offers will be confirmed once the school has been notified of GCSE results in August 2013.
Parents have a statutory right to an independent appeal, should an application be refused, and they can make an appeal by writing to The Clerk to the Governors, Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar School, Southfield Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 9UJ (01892 520902).

G. Late Applications and Waiting List
Late applications will be considered if places in appropriate subjects are still available after all other applicants have been considered.
A waiting list will be held, ranked according to the over-subscription criteria.

Click for Appendices

Also see related pages: Letters home