WTF is happening in Wimbledon - no school allocated???

[ISimplyDontBelieveIT]

Right, first choice was Priory, second Holy Trinity, third Pelham, fourth Bishop Gilpin, fifth Dundonald. So which one has my DD been allocated.... NONE!!! And no options, alternatives offered either. I live 5 minutes walk away from P and HT, about 7 to Pelham, further from the other 2... Worst thing is that I know of other children from nursery who live even closer than us to P and HT and also haven't got a place in either so what chance do we stand!!! What do I do now?? (private not at all an option)

[Snowballed]

Phone the schools & find out where you are on waiting lists for each then take it from there. Kingston added lots of bulge classes this year because of demand, have Wimbledon done this yet?

[thecatatemygymsuit]

Simply, we are in Southwark but in exactly the same situation - applied for 4, no place given and no alternatives offered. Am baffled and furiously phoning around councils, advice lines etc.
It's madness...
Snowballed can you explain what bulge classes are please, I am v clueless re all of this!

[Snowballed]

Where the council thinks there are too few places for the no of reception children, they will add extra classes at some schools. So a school which is normally 3 form entry will be 4 next year. Kingston was hit badly a few years ago by lack of places & now plans them in advance but am not sure if other boroughs do or add them later? I think Kingston has about 8 bulge classes at various primaries for Sept intake.

[ISimplyDontBelieveIT]

Yes, bulge classes already set up but clearly not enough. I cannot get any information on waiting lists, have to wait 3 weeks. This is a nightmare.

[thecatatemygymsuit]

thanks for the advice snowballed, will ask.
It's crazy not knowing where your child is on waiting lists, we have to, in theory, accept a school by 19th April, but have yet to be actually offered one!
Phoning schools...

[Snowballed]

There will be alot of movement in 2/3 wks time when parents who have an offer have to accept it by. At that stage the waiting lists will move lots, and I don't think there's much you can do until then other than trying to find out where you are on waiting list If you know someone who has got an offer, ask to see their letter as some councils will put things like distances of last child offered place etc.

[prh47bridge]

The council has to find you a place somewhere. Chase them and find out what is happening. As Snowballed says, if they need to add classes to some schools it may take a while to sort out.

[thecatatemygymsuit]

Thanks people. we now have a letter, dd has been allocated some random school I have never even heard of, in the borough but miles away... I have no idea what to do now as it seems we have no reasonable grounds for appeal (other than distance) - no special needs, single parents, siblings etc. What on earth to do?

[grafenstolz]

Find out who your local ward councillors are through the Merton website, then contact one or all of them by email if you can, or by phone. If one of them is on the Education Committee or has obvious involvement in Education, pick that one; but you can also just copy all three of them in to your email.

[prh47bridge]

You can contact your councillors if it makes you feel better but it won't help you get a place. They cannot get you in to a school which is full. The only people with the authority to do that are appeal panels.

Make sure you are on the waiting list for all your preferred schools and any other school you find acceptable. You can appeal for all of them if you want. You might strike it lucky. But even if you don't you won't be in a worse position than you are now.

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

As prh47bridge says, councillors cannot help anyone queue-jump or get a place in a school which is full to capacity. Where councillors can, though, help is in applying pressure to the LEA to sort out bulge classes if the borough has a large number of children with no school place.

[grafenstolz]

I thought the OP might need help understanding the system, which a councillor would take the time to explain intelligibly. But if she doesn't, fair dos.

[YvieE]

Hi thecatatemygymsuit
I'm in Merton also, i am in Mitcham and was awarded my third preference school, which school were you allocated?
I spoke to Merton admissions, spoke to a really nice lady, had been working there 17 years and said she has never seen it this bad. The waiting lists will be available on the 19th April, but she did say to call next week when its quieter and they maybe able to tell you why your child didn't get in etc. She did say they are advising all parents to accept their allocated school, as you may not end up with any. But if everyone accepts there allocated school then the waiting lists aren't going to move much, are they?

[wheelsonthebus]

I was almost in the position a couple of years ago. Looking back, I would definitely have thought more seriously about home educating and biding my time. There is a lot of movement in these schools (but we are talking 4/5 places not 15 and often in the middle of the second term). Clearly, if you work however, it is not an option. I feel your pain. Some neighbours just went private. That is not an option for the vast majority.

[omnishambles]

I would home ed or pay for private for a year and sit on a nearer school waiting list - was there any reason that there wasnt a banker like garfield as one of your choices? I know its unfancied but better that than one over the other side of the borough surely?

[prh47bridge]

grafenstolz - Good thought but a councillor is actually the last person I would go to for information about how the system works. In my experience most of them are pretty clueless about how admissions work, even if they sit on the education committee. There are, of course, exceptions.

YvieE - Waiting lists will move because some will choose to go private and others will move away after accepting a place. Schools generally don't know for sure who they will have until a week or two into the autumn term. It is surprisingly common for parents to go private or move away and not bother to tell the school where they have already accepted a place.

[thecatatemygymsuit]

Yvie, thanks so much for advice, i feel a fraud as have hijacked Op's thread and am actually in Southwark, but I guess same applies...

[wobblypig]

I think we need to send a letter to all the councillors in the borough asking what they intend to do about this horrendous problem in Merton. It's Ok to talk about new schools but clearly they are relying on many people in the Battles, Ministers and South Park areas who don't get a place - going private - in the interim.
Waiting lists are something to fall back on but in the mean time you and your child are living in limbo.

[grafenstolz]

They certainly need to be held to account for the fact that in 1998 they had a campaign of closing primary schools in the borough, saying the places weren't needed. Some people had to fight very hard to keep much-loved local schools open. Taxpayers are now having to pay for massive extension work to those schools which escaped closure. The leadership of the council then was the same as it is now.

You won't catch them taking responsibility for it, though.

[MoreFruitLoopthanFruitShoot]

Plus they closed all the middle schools as well in the turn of the millennium which created a problem from the other end.

Demographics. I just don't believe that a country as 'sophisticated' as the UK can't figure out school places.

[grafenstolz]

It's just rank incompetence. Most boroughs aren't as bad, particularly where education is concerned.

[mookey5]

We applied for the same schools and like you 5 minutes from Priory, HT and Pelham. Daughter goes to Nursery at Priory, but git no school! There seem to be many of us in the same boat and really don't know how they will find places for all of our children!

[mookey5]

Maybe all of us parents in the wimbledon area who got no school need to get together as it looks like there needs to be extra classes set-up in our area. Maybe if we fight together we will have a better chance!

[Snowballed]

If any of them are faith schools they won't do bulge classes. 5 years on and Kingston have yet to get any faith school to take one. If there genuinely aren't enough places in borough, the council will add them to community schools but it will be where there is space to get an oversize portacabin classroom in the playground not where there are unallocated children.

As a guide, some schools in Kingston allocated places to pupils over 4km away on basis of distance. Sorry not much help, but trying provide a bit of info on how it works :)

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

I don't know anything about Kingston, but the problem often is that faith schools are in Victorian buildings (often listed) on comparatively small plots of land and so can't make structural alterations to the existing building and can't add a new building either.