Who would of known the admissions process could be so devastating? Certainly not me! :(

[motherwifenurseslave]

As if the admissions application wasn't stressful enough..Letter recieved..NO OFFERS!

The pain, anxiety, stress, hurt, frustration, anger and shock I have felt this weekend is unbelieveble!

Made 'realistic' and 'reasonable' application to 3 local schools in our area 0.3-0.4 miles away (as advised) and my child has missed out on all places because we miss the proximty requirement by a fraction!

I understand there has to be a line set somewhere, and sadly for us...we missed it by about 5 yards! However, they have offered our child a place and at a CE school 2 miles away! Makes sense right?!!

Needless to say I am heartbroken!

How awful is this feeling? Please tell me it goes away!!

[fidelma]

I feel for you.It doesn't seem right.

[lou031205]

Is the school 2 miles away a good one? Sympathies, but around here that is not too abnormal. Nearest schools are 1.0, 1.7, 2.3 miles away.

[MumNWLondon]

A place might still come up esp if you missed by 5 yards as that means you are top of the list. Someone will pull out - either because:

a) someone goes to a private school
b) some gets offered a place elsewhere in another LEA
c) someone moves out of the area

Hard to wait I know. But call schools/LEA to pursue it... you need to make sure you are on waiting lists of the preferred schools. Still time until reception starts and maybe even if it doesn't come up before sept a place will come up at christmas - eg in my DD's 1 form entry primary school 3 extra places came up in july before reception (children moving out of area) - we got one of these! and 1 place at christmas (child got offered place at another school), another at feb half term (mum decided to move one of the her DT to another school as they were winding each other up all day).

[Clary]

Was one of these yr catchment school? Or do you live somewhere (London?) where such a thing doesn't exist?

If yr catchment school refused you when you applied I think you have good grounds for appeal.

[prh47bridge]

Clary - Being refused by the catchment school is not grounds for an appeal unless a mistake has been made. If the admission number is, say, 45 but there are 50 applications from children in the catchment area, 5 of them aren't going to get in and appealing isn't going to change that.

[Clary]

yes that's true of course.

It's unheard of where I live tho not to get in to yr catchment school if you put it down.

[Sushiqueen]

We had this with dd. We live on an estate with 2 purpose built primaries and we couldn't get into either of them (along with loads of other children) as they were oversubsribed.

We were offered a school 3 miles away which we couldn't do as we both work full-time and of course none of our local childminders covered the schools a few miles away.

We contacted every school we could get to and went on their waiting lists. Mums arranged car shares between them. And the grief the local council got was interesting.

We ended up going private for a couple of years whilst we waited for one of the schools to be expanded as they had had the same problem for several years.

The schools will tell you where you are on the waiting list and if you only just missed oout, you may find that you have a place once all the replies to the offers are returned.

[gingernutlover]

am I right in assuming you missed out on all your 3 choices because you were just a little bit far away for this years catchment?

Were there any schools very close to you that you didnt apply to? Might be worth seeing if they have places (some people turn down places after allocation)?

Which makes me think the school 2 miles away is one that had places left over, would be figuring out why this school had places left over and also make sure you go and visit. It might be ones of those oddities and ends up ebeing an great school for your child, or it might be that noone wants this school ....

def inatly go on the waiting list for all of your closest schools, you would surey be very close to the top ofthe list?

[MammyT]

I really feel for you.. It sounds like you did everything by the book and still lost out. Please go onto the waiting lists as it's pretty certain that a couple of kids will drop out before school starts.

I haven't heard my allocation yet so your story resonates..

[motherwifenurseslave]

Oh wow thank you for all your advice! I'm obviously new to all this and have been in a bit of a daze all week.

The schools are no more than 0.3 3/4 and we missed out by yards from each school. All the children on my road go to both schools, the mums take turns with the school run, both schools have before and after school clubs- a service that I would heavily rely on being a full time working parent and without these services, I'll be buggered!

I have heard this is common living in London, we are over populated so the catchment proximity is reduced every year, which is just shocking.

The school they offered is not very impressive, their ofsted report isn't too great. I understand that this does happen but I don't see why I should have to send my child to a school that I'm not happy with. I picked 3 schools, all schools within reasonable distance. It's basically sods law to me and my child!

Fingers crossed I'm not playing this waiting game for too long....

[nancy75]

once the school take over their lists you can, as far as i know, put your childs name on the waiting list for ever school in the borough if you want. being that close to a school you must be very near the top of the list. i would think about all the schools you would be happy with and put your childs name on every list. good luck.

[CarGirl]

In Claygate Surrey they have this nightmare situation with secondary, one year hardly any of the children in the village/vicinity got offered a place and any school vaguely near them. Similar situation in Kingston at primary level.

Around here I think it's been made worse due to the recession as fewer children going to private school.

[Blu]

Are you in S London, mwns?
Really sorry this is so stressful - but truly, you stand a v good chance of a place. So many pelpe fail to accpet a place - and some who do accept never turn up on the first day of school! Our highly oversbscribed school was offereing places within the first week of term as people didn't show up!
Good luck.

[admission]

To be clear the schools do not hold the waiting lists, it is the local authority who hold the waiting lists and by law they now have to keep the waiting list open till the end of the autumn term in english schools.

You need to ensure that the LA has got you on the waiting lists for these schools, as others have said you should given the relatively small distances be somewhere near the top of the waiting list. Accept the school that you have been offered for the time being as a backup and wait and see how things develop.

[motherwifenurseslave]

Yes we live in South East London/Kent border. The school place they offered is not the school I want my child to go, I spoke to local authority and they said after the 4th of May, if there are still no offers from the schools we want, we can re-apply for alternative schools within the borough. The school they offered has available places because unfortunately, its not a great school. This is deeply upsetting, I'm not a 'snob', I want the best for my child. I am now hoping that we can apply to a school that is still 2 miles away from my address, but only a few minutes from my mothers house so she can do the school run for me. The local authority set these circular borders around the schools so that its fair to everyone applying for their children to get places for schools close by, but if you don't meet the catchment, your given a school miles away, its just double standards. The local authority are now responsible for the whole process, a good move or a bad move I don't know? I would say bad- but obviously I'm biased! Hopefully, I can look back on this one day and think all that worrying I did for nothing. The forthcoming weeks are going to be very hard for me!

[Builde]

motherwifenurseslave

Are you sure the school that you've been offered isn't good? Make sure that it really isn't because school reputations are often gossip.

My dd is at an unpopular school much rejected by the chattering classes. However, our teaching friends always thought is was excellent...and it is.

The teaching is great, she if very happy and - as far as I can tell - is doing very well. Plus, though we are the only graduate parents, there are some bright and motivated children in her class. (They're just not from professional families)

Oh, and because it's not popular her class is lovely and small.

So, great atmosphere, good teachers and small classes all in a much rejected and unpopular school.

It's partly because of these unfounded reputations that people end up in primary schools miles away whilst their local schools get filled up with the younger siblings of ex-local.

[SoupDragon]

Personally, I would imagine you are almost certain to get a place at one of your preferred schools by being on the waiting list.

Thankfully DD got her place as a sibling - we've not moved but I think the catchment has shrunk since DS1 got his place 7 years ago. My neighbour applied actually, I must go and find out if her DD got in...

[djjc]

i know exactly how you feel. i haven't eaten or slept properly now since receiving letter on tuesday to tell me we had receieved none of the school preferences we had asked for. like yourself we missed out on distance by a slight fraction (furthest child away to be given a place was 0.465 of a mile and we are 0.485 of a mile apparently). i am devastated as my daughter is currently in year 6 at this school and their elder brothers have also passed through the school and are now in high school. we are virtually part of the furniture and the school are nearly as upset as we are! they have even rang the council on our behalf but their hands are tied aswell. son has also attended the school nursery since september and is so proud of his little uniform! this is also by far the closest school to our home and we have to physically trek past the school gates to get to the other unwanted school (just to add insult to injury!) do these councils realise the impact and devastation on families by treating everyone like a number on a piece of paper instead of even slightly considering personal circumstances? aren't they supposed to be there to help the people in their boroughs? they have told me i will have to wait until may to find out my position on the waiting list. does anyone have any experience of school waiting lists and what the chances are? both the school and the lady at the council have told me i should be near the top of the list due to the closeness in distance. i have started to look into the possibilty of homeschooling him for a temporary period, in the hope that he may eventually get in. i feel like he's been rejected and it really hurts! any advice greatly appreciated x

[MumNWLondon]

If you just missed out you might be quite high on list. Very good chance someone will pull out before september. We got a call at end of July before reception (ie we didn't get in on 2nd allocation but a family decided to move out of the area at the last minute).

As you missed out by just a few steps likely that you will be right at the top of the list.

And warning for everyone else - best not to have more than a 6-7 year age gap between kids. Need to have your baby before the August after your youngest finishes year 1.

[djjc]

thanks for this. think there's more chance on waiting list than by appeal by the sounds of it. just wish they could tell me sooner than may my position on list! need to de-stress a bit or i might be in a straight jacket by then! this whole process has been devastating!
anyone else have any advice on waiting lists?

[titchy]

Cargirl - the Claygate problem has now been sorted out - phew!