Anxious wait for parents after shrinking school offers

Many boys in Beaconsfield who expected to be offered a place at RGS last week were not after the distance of places offered shrank from 10.6 miles to 5.5 miles.
At Dr Challoner's Grammar the distance of places offered shrank from 6.7 miles last year to 5.8 miles this year, and at Dr Challoner's High School, where all in-catchment pupils were offered places last year, this year places offered shrank to 7.2 miles, according to the website www.elevenplusexams.co.uk.
At Butlers Court Primary School in Beaconsfield 11 of the 20 boys who put RGS as first choice did not get a place, whereas last year all boys did.
A parent from Gerrards Cross, whose son is at school at Davenies in Beaconsfield, said: "My son didn't get his first second or third choice and my understanding is that nobody at Gerrards Cross has got into their RGS or Dr Challoner's. But we've heard of a lot of people who didn't pass the 11 plus and got in on appeal. I've spoken to people at other schools and seems to have been a failure of planning."
Janet Sparrow, divisional manager for access and inclusion at BCC, said: "This year there has been an increase in the number of qualified boys living in the Chiltern and South Bucks and Wycombe areas whose parents have expressed a preference for RGS or Dr Challoner's. This increase is not something that could have been anticipated."
Peter Roberts, Bucks County Councillor for Gerrards Cross and Denham, said: "I will be giving my full support to all the parents affected by this and will be meeting with as many of them as possible.
"They have been badly let down by this and so I will do whatever I can to help them."