Senior Schools in Dulwich area

[adg974]

Initially a bit of a general type query however I was wondering if anyone would care to advise on the general situation with applying to schools in the Dulwich area.

My daughter is a national level athlete who will be applying for senior school places this year. Although we live in the Bromley borough most of her training takes place around Palace and Dulwich and we would like to see if we can apply for schools in that area.

With this in mind I know we would be excluded from successfully applying to schools that have a catchment and as such we are looking at the alternatives. Apart from the likes of independent schools such as Allyens and JAGS are there any state/free based schools in the area that are worth looking at?

A few people have mentioned Kingsdale to me before so would like to get a view on that before we attend the open days. From what I understand they don't have a catchment area, so does anyone know more about the selection process?

Any help/advice much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[Renata Hamvas]

Kingsdale selects 10% of its intake on sporting ability. You would need to submit a supplementary form and your daughter would be required to sit a sporting ability assessment at the school (prior to CAF form deadline). There are various grades of being successful in this assessment from full scholarship level to half and then gifted and talented. I think how the system works is that more children typically reach full scholarship level than there are places and these children are ranked by random allocation (lottery) with essentially those selected out of the virtual hat up to the 10% being offered places. If pupils in this initial 10% go to other schools, more children are taken from this list.

The implication of this that while reaching scholarship level in the Kingsdale sports assessment increases your chance of being offered a place (over other non-scholarship applicants), it does not guarantee it. If a child gets a place who has been assessed as having sporting ability, this equates to extra sports tuition.

Location currently has no bearing on your probability to secure a place at Kingsdale, so living in Bromley wouldn't be a problem except perhaps with travel to the school.

Renata

[adg974]

Thanks for the advise Renata, very much appreciated.

Given the above how does Kingsdale select the other 70%, assuming the another 20% allocated to the other 'scholarship' categories.

Also, and as a local councillor, would you be able to give your take on the school? There is a lot of noise on the net about intakes/good and bad cohorts etc

Thanks in advance

[Renata Hamvas]

Hi adg974, the bulk of the places at Kingsdale are allocated by random allocation (lottery). In relation to the school itself, I would suggest you go along to an open day and see for yourself. Every child is different and different schools suit different children.

Renata

[adg974]

Thanks again Renata

We do plan to visit next week to get a feel for the school. Although open days don't always give you the most realistic impression so its always good to get some local intelligence to try and gain a balanced view.

[laurlaur]

My sister is the head of an Academy in Hackney and is therefore always looking at the results of other academys in London. On Sunday she remarked on how brilliantly Crystal Palace Academy has done this year. Obviously worth a look.