Mumsnet Talk

Why didn't you put B lower down your list then? Unless it would genuinely be your top preference?

I've been on to the LA this morning and they simply do not understand how it has happened. Though they can see Versions 1 & 2, I was absolutely correct in thinking that Version 3 is the only one the LA can work from - on which School A is not named in any of the six slots.

All anyone can think is that it came from the fact I requested a prospectus for School A back in September via email so the school had my name and address and put two and two together without seeing the application forms.

Unfortunately in London and south east, lljkk, 6 may seem like choice but the reality is there is only one school we would definitely get, B, which is why I had changed my choices in the first place.

Did you at any time complete and return a supplementary form for school A, to the school or the LA?

You can look at your submission online and check it is as you intended.

Amen to that lljkk!

Well done if you can follow what OP did or didn't do. Sometimes it's nice to live in a place with little choice & therefore simple application procedures.

Disagree with lljkk. It is far too early for the LA to start allocating schools that you didn't apply for.

You need to ring the LA to find out what is going on.

Is it a banding test for all the schools in the borough though?

If you live in Wandsworth, for example, you need to sit an exam on the 19th November, called the Wandsworth test, if you live outside the borough but have applied for any schools in the borough, you sit it on the 1st of December. Do you think that your LEA could operate something like this? That you need to sit a banding test that is for ALL the schools regardless of which one you have applied to?

IIjkk, that just can't be right. For a start I have the confirmation that 3 is our final application in my inbox also they won't have rejected yet and also we have to put 6 schools in our borough and you have to sit whatever the schools require - we have another local academy that requires everyone to do a music aptitude test even if it's not your first choice/you are applying on the basis of musical talent.

School B won't have rejected us because we are in a feeder school and in catchment (last year catchment ran to 2.4 miles, we live 200yds away) and everyone who applied to school A first got given school B. School A isn't even in our borough and we live at least 3 miles out of catchment (one reason why on final application we had deleted it).

Oh well, will ring the council Monday morning to see what on earth has happened.

ps: I would probably phone my LEA to clarify.

Sounds like you have been rejected from School B & the council has chosen School A for you; but then they need to put you thru their selection procedure.

Else, Sorry, but I really can't understand what you did.

In your online application system you can save versions of the application until final submission.
In final submission, You applied online with School B as first choice.

Now School A is getting in touch about their admissions procedure, is that right?

did you give a 2nd or 3rd preference?

We sent off ds's application via the council's online service well in time. There were 3 versions, with a change of school in the top slot on the third and final revision. We took School A out altogether, not naming it at all on the final version, leaving School B, which had been nominal second choice, as our first choice. I have all three confirmations of receipt of application from the borough and as I understand it each version should wipe out the one before so Version 3 of the online application should be the only one extant.

I have just had a letter from School A, an academy which has a banding system, calling ds to sit the banding exam but School A should not be on the list at all - and we're away so he can't sit the exam anyway as it happens.

Has our council made a monumental mistake and sent out the wrong application form to schools? I really don't want ds to be offered School A over School B. What should I do? Call the council? Call School A (well obviously he can't sit the banding exam as we're away but if the council has cocked up he's going to have to sit it)? Any advice to set mild panic at bay?