Parents of approx 6000 Sheffield students will be counting down to the deadline for making a secondary school application for the academic year starting September 2015, where the deadline for online applications is 22nd October 2014 and 31st October for paper applications with supporting information to be supplied by no later than 26th November. Whilst students who fail to make an application will be allocated a school place by the Admissions team which will NOT necessarily be at the students catchment area school.

Whilst most parents / students look at the most recent Sheffield school league table in selecting their best schools of choice, however these can from time to time prove highly misleading as many of Sheffield's 26 Secondary schools for whatever reason can exhibit volatility in performance from year to year therefore a currently high ranking school may not mean that the same level of performance will continue in subsequent years as it may have been subject to special intervention and circumstances, therefore a much better methodology in the rating of schools would be evaluate schools in terms of trend in performance.

The following graph represents Sheffield's Top 14 Secondary schools out of a total of 26 rated in terms of consistency in attaining high rankings in the school league tables from 2001 to 2014.

As expected the the top two rates schools are Independent schools, whilst Silverdale ranks as Sheffield's best Secondary school in terms of consistency, closely followed by Tapton Academy in 4th place.

How to Get a Place at Silverdale School

1. The honest way is to own / rent or buy a house in time for the deadline for submitting supporting information.

2. Make the application for a school place on time, you can hand deliver, by post or do it online.

3. Send proof of the new address i.e. a solicitors letter before the deadline.

Fraudulent School Applications On the Rise

An increasing number of parents are choosing to pursue a dishonest approach by lying about where the student normally resides which results in the defrauding a student who is entitled to that place at Silverdale School or any other 'good' school.

Serious flaws in the management of the school applications process means that many fraudulent applications do succeed each year as representing a failure of the schools admissions team to do their job properly in identifying fraudsters. That and there being little consequences for having committed fraud as if the fraud is not identified before the start of the academic year then the parent / student has effectively succeeded in stealing a school place from those that are entitled to a place at schools such as Silverdale where the situation is even worse for primary schools where far fewer places coupled with high demand such as for Dobcroft Infants School results in much disruption for Sheffield's honest families as siblings FAIL to get places at catchment schools.

By Adnaan Walayat

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk

Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any trading losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors before engaging in any trading activities.

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