CHILDREN trying for a place at Ermysted’s Grammar School in Skipton will now have to sit the selection test at the school itself.

Following a three-month consultation, North Yorkshire County Council has approved changes to the selection system, which will also see the scrapping of the familiarisation test and the removal of selection reviews.

The changes, which will also affect Ripon Grammar School, will start in the autumn for children entering secondary education in September, 2016, and are expected to save the council up to £100,000.

Instead of sitting the test in their primary school, children will instead sit two separate sets of tests at Ermysted’s on two Saturdays in the autumn.

In their response to the proposals, the school governors said while they acknowledged savings needed to be made, any review should improve aspects of fairness, equality and reliability.

They had no objections to the discontinuation of selection reviews and familiarisation tests and were happy for the school to be used as a venue for testing.

But they were against one day testing, which they thought would do little to engender confidence in the selection process and would not be sufficiently reliable.

“The two tests provide a much greater degree of reliability and will reinforce perception of the tests as fair,” they argued.

“The governors object to the proposed reduction to one attempt at the test, believing it will do little to engender confidence in the selection process and will not be sufficiently reliable.”

Following the objections of both Ermysted’s and Ripon, the council agreed to two days of testing – which will mean two separate sets of tests in both Non-Verbal Reasoning (NVR) and Verbal Reasoning (VR).

The governors also called on the council to make readily available test questions, including putting it on the school websites.

In addition, the governors said it was prepared to take on some administrative tasks, including contacting parents within catchment to inform them of testing and to process applications.

They were also willing to carry out the practical arrangements for testing, although marking would still have to be the responsibility of the council.

The governing body was also keen that the current system of children within catchment being automatically entered into the test remained.

“Parents of in-catchment area pupils should have to opt out of the tests, and not opt in, those living out of area will need to opt in.”

Skipton Girls’ High School, as an academy, carries out its own selection system, with one test taking place at the school in the autumn.

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