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ePetition details
Changes to CAF for Secondary School Admissions in September, 2021
Children take the 11+ grammar school test which is generally conducted in September with results available before the deadline for CAF application which is the 31st of October. However, this year due to COVID-19 most of the test dates have been moved to mid or end of October with results being announced towards the end of November.
A child will be considered for a place at a selective grammar
school not only by achieving the qualifying standard score but also
to include the school as a preferred choice on the CAF through the
local authority. Therefore, without the 11+ selective grammar
school test results available, it will be difficult to include the
choices in the CAF before the deadline of 31st October. Some
councils have either increased the number of choices to 5 "or" gave
an opportunity to amend the school choices in December, 2020 after
the selective school test results have been declared.
Therefore, we kindly request Bristol City Council to either
increase the number of school choices on CAF from 3 to 5 "or" give
an opportunity to amend the school choices in December.
Started by: Ramesh Pitla
This ePetition ran from 19/10/2020 to 15/12/2020 and has now finished.
83 people signed this ePetition.
Council response
Thank you for presenting your petition at Full Council on
Tuesday 8 December.
I appreciate the disruption to the administration and assessment of
11+ examinations that Covid-19 has created this year.
The closing date for applications through the Common Application
Form (CAF) of 31st October 2020 is a statutory closing date set by
the Department for Education (DfE) and cannot be amended by Bristol
City Council. Covid-19 regulations recommended that parents include
a preference for a local non-selective school in case selection
results were not available until after the statutory closing date
of 31st October 2020.
The timetable for administering a coordinated admissions process
for all Bristol children is very challenging, incorporating
hundreds of communications between local authorities and schools
regarding applications and their outcomes. Due to the complexities
and timeframes involved to enable all Bristol children to be
offered a school place on statutory national offer day of 1st March
2021, we cannot unfortunately facilitate the request to amend
school preferences in December 2020 and for those changes to be
included in the initial round of allocations.
I appreciate this response will be disappointing. However, whatever the outcomes of the 11+ exams, I hope that your child will thrive in whichever school your family chooses.
Kind regards
Marvin Rees
Mayor of Bristol