The school scale are those criteria that determine the admission of a student to a school when there are not enough places. They can range from the number of siblings enrolled in the center to the proximity of the address... Thus, these criteria are applied to the applications submitted by families so that they are more easily admitted to the relevant schools where the demand for places is greater than the supply.
Most parents are aware that their child's chances of being admitted to their chosen school may vary when choosing a school: they may increase or decrease depending on whether or not they have points in competition with other applicants to the school.
And the fact is that only half a point can make the difference and be the turning point by which a student can be admitted or not, despite the fact that, as announced by the educational portals:
The Organic Law of Education establishes that «the Educational Administrations will regulate the admission of students in public and subsidized private centers, in such a way that it guarantees the right to education, access under equal conditions and the freedom of choice of center by parents or guardians».
However, this freedom of choice cannot be put into practice in those centers that do not have the necessary places to satisfy a high demand of students. This is the reason why the criteria for the ranking of schools were created.
Criteria that give rise to a list
The list of students resulting from the analysis of the ranking criteria must be made public once the admission process has been completed, thus showing the points awarded to each student. This list will help parents to know if their son or daughter will be admitted to the center or if he or she will be left out.
Criteria, one by one
Let's look at the list of criteria to find out whether or not we have a chance that our sons or daughters will be admitted to the institution we like the most. We will formulate them in the form of a question, so that it will be easier for you to answer them honestly.
1) Does your son or daughter have siblings enrolled in the center? This criteria aims to favor family grouping and is, in fact, the factor that provides the highest number of points in almost all the autonomous communities.
2) Do their parents or legal guardians work at the school? As in the previous case, this criterion also aims to favor family grouping.
3) Is your home near the school in question? The proximity of the home is obviously an important criterion, both for the comfort of the children and for the management of schedules and displacements.
4)What income level are we talking about? The financial year of the two years prior to the submission of the application will be taken into account and each of the autonomous communities establishes its own thresholds to determine if and how many points are awarded for this criterion.
5) Does your child have any type of disability or chronic illness? The disability of an applicant student, parents or siblings is considered as a criteria in all the autonomous communities. On the other hand, chronic illnesses are a complementary criterion that is not applied equally in all communities.
6) Are you a large or single-parent family? In some communities, the number of points awarded varies if the family belongs to the general or special category.
We hope this review of criteria has helped you get an overall idea of your son or daughter's chances of getting into that educational institution you've had your eye on!