My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Secondary education

decision on 1st March? Anyone want to sit and sweat it out with me?

417 replies

MsIngaFewmarbles · 17/02/2013 17:27

Urgh I am starting to feel queasy. I just want to know now. PFB (dd1) doesn't care which school she gets into and dh is being irritatingly pragmatic.

Is anyone else twitching nervously?

OP posts:
Report
ByTheWay1 · 17/02/2013 18:20

Nope - there is a massive chance chez ByTheWay1 that the first choice will be given.... her sister goes there, it is in catchment and her birth year locally is soooooo low that her current class has 20 in - and it is the same at the 6 other feeder schools.... will be a BIG shock if she doesn't get in.....

so not twitching, but available to hand hold and soothe worried brows..... can supply (virtual) lemon drizzle cake too!

Report
gazzalw · 17/02/2013 18:26

I don't envy you at all. We were at this stage last year and will be again in a four more years for DD. Just hang on in there and don't panic. I know it's easy to say, but it's worth remembering that even if you don't get your first choice school, there's an awful lot of movement in the first month and if you hang on in there you will probably get the outcome you are hoping for! Wink.

Report
MsIngaFewmarbles · 17/02/2013 18:53

To be fair we are lucky in thay we have 2 great schools and a good one as our 3 nearest schools. Our first choice is an academy though so it is a lottery and distance doesn't matter within our LEA. Second choice we are borderline for getting in based on the last 2 years furthest distance. Third one is farthest away and all 3 are massively oversubscribed :( I keep worrying that we will get offered one of the 2 next nearest which are both AWFUL :(

OP posts:
Report
SoImpatient80 · 17/02/2013 19:36

I'm counting down the days! DD is quite cool and calm about it and DH is so laid back about it all he's almost horizontal lol. Just so nervous she won't get her first choice and its where she really wants to go! Next 13 days are really going to dddddrrrrrraaaaaagggggg!

Report
tiggytape · 17/02/2013 19:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mankyscotslass · 17/02/2013 20:59

I'm a nervous wreck waiting, but Mankyboy1 couldn't care less, and isn't bothered which school he is going to.

Report
SoImpatient80 · 17/02/2013 21:21

My DD1 passed the Kent Test and the GS that is our first choice own test but it'll come down to distance for us so its 50/50 for us. DD1 is quite cool about it and is very much 'I'm happy with getting any of the choices' but she also said she didn't mind either way about the Kent Test and danced all round the kitchen when we got the result that she had passed!! Think shes being brave for me lol

Report
sausagesandwich34 · 17/02/2013 21:31

we have a low birth year so pretty likely to get our first choice, our second choice isn't bad and I'm still waiting on a bursary appeal from a v selective indie

doesn't stop me fretting though

dd is more concerned because a large chunk of her friendship group live further away than our first choice state

she's accepted that if she goes to the indie she wont go with her friends, but if she stays local and they end up at different schools she will be upset

Report
ThreeBeeOneGee · 17/02/2013 21:35

I went through this two years ago. I managed to hold it together till half term, but then I was pretty much beside myself until we got the email.

This time is not nearly so bad as DS2 will definitely get a place at our first choice school on at least two admissions criteria, possibly three (and we only need one).

Report
MsIngaFewmarbles · 17/02/2013 21:49

Three did you get the email at midnight or later in the day?

We also have 2 dds in year 4 so this will also determine their education too. I really want them to be at the girls academy.

OP posts:
Report
xyx · 17/02/2013 21:52

Hi MsInga, Im fretting a bit now, but nothing we can do. Touch wood (touches head) for you!

Tiggytape, I'm expecting to be in a similar position to you on March 1. Choice 1 is a superselective, 2 is DC1 school; we're going on catchment as there's no sibling policy but we're twice as far away as last year's cut off, so unlikely; DC1 got in on med grounds. Choice 3 is an oversubscribed Church school; we don't fit all the criteria. Choice 4 is our nearest school but so oversubscribed that even 10-15 minutes walk is possibly too far out of catchment. Choice 5 is very nice but too far so I'm not keen even if we did get in and Choice 6 is just ok, better than the others round here so we put it down to avoid them.

What do we do if we get, for example, Choice 5? Do we have to turn it down and go on the other 4 waiting lists? Or can we accept the place, go on the waiting lists and ...wait? Do the schools deal with all this or is it back to the council?

Thanks!

Report
BoringSchoolChoiceNickname · 17/02/2013 22:02

Accept your offer xyx. If I've learnt anything from MN education threads it is Always Accept Your Offer. Nothing good will come of rejecting it.

Then go on every waiting list you fancy, even if you didn't apply there in the first place. Then wait and pray.

Report
xyx · 17/02/2013 22:09

Yes better to accept than not. Good advice, thanks

Report
tiggytape · 17/02/2013 22:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ThreeBeeOneGee · 17/02/2013 22:26

We got the email at about 5pm ish on March 1st (Hertfordshire).

Report
tiggytape · 17/02/2013 22:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Bati · 18/02/2013 00:13

Massively nervous, thinking about it continuously
Dd sat 2 different 11+ exams and passed them both. 1 of them covered 2 schools so it has given us 3 grammars to choose from.
Our 1st choice allocates on distance and last yr they went to 7.9 miles. We live 7.1 miles away. This yr more children sat the 11+, no idea how many passed so really worried over the distance.
2nd choice is a catholic grammar which allocate to catholic children 1st. We are catholic so pretty sure if we dont get 1st choice she will get this school. 3rd choice was the remaining grammar.
My main worry is my dd fell in love with the 1st choice school and I know she will be heart broken if she doesnt get it
I phoned our school allocations to find out what time I can log on for results and was told half past midnight (12.30am) so will be sitting up to find out.
Hope everyone gets the results they want

Report
thininside · 18/02/2013 09:14

5pm!!! I was to log on at one minute past midnight!!

Report
tiggytape · 18/02/2013 09:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

thininside · 18/02/2013 09:27

Haha !!

Yes, can imagine it!

Think I might still try at 00:01 though, they might be nice in our area.

Report
SoImpatient80 · 18/02/2013 09:41

In Kent apparently we get an email at 4pm bu this has been know to take a few hours to get to some!! A couple of years back a friend of mine logged on to the admissions website on the Sunday when the allocations were due out on the Monday and the allocations were there! Don't think I'll be able to resist checking the admissions website during the day Wink despite being at work all day arrrggghhh

Report
gazzalw · 18/02/2013 10:01

Gosh Tiggytape, I just remember you being so helpful last year at around this time! I can't believe you had major probs getting a school for your DS - thank goodness it all worked out in the end...

Yes, I remember having 'clocked' the logging on in the dead of night on the off-chance that the offers would be 'up' but it didn't happen in our London Borough. I suspect that for whatever reason (possibly it's related to the number of disgruntled parents there are going to be!), the London Boroughs run a very tight ship on Offers Day.

A tip though....if you are on a waiting list for your DC's preferred choice school keep up the contact with them. DS got his 3rd choice grammar school but really wanted the second choice one and we discovered that he was 9th on the waiting list, having got the cut-off score but living further away than a lot of the other boys. Well, within a month he had his place - the irony was that the school sent us the offer directly and then we confirmed with them and our local Borough too - the latter was not happy that they'd been circumvented in the offers process! I think we'd possibly have waited another two weeks if it had gone thro' official channels first. If you build up a good rapport with a school's admissions department it really helps as they will give it to you 'straight'

Good luck everyone! We have friends with DCs in Year 6 this year so it's stressful again. Curiously though a lot have gone down the private school back-up option route, just in case.

I am dreading this whole thing with DD as she, as with your second DC, Tiggytape, will be part of the baby-boom cohort. I cannot help but think that the Boroughs/Education Authorities have not really acted to increase the number of secondary school places in anticipation of the upturn in demand which is just around the corner. Hmm.

Report

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

MsIngaFewmarbles · 18/02/2013 11:35

This is the thing. DDs friends are apparently all going to our 3rd choice and she wants either that one or the all girls academy. I am fairly confident that her 2 bffs are going to a local independent which isn't an option for us. We wanted her to choose a school assuming that she would be going to school with no friends from primary. That's the all girls one. She will know someone whichever school she goes to hopefully.

Would I be really pushy if I called the LEA to ask when we can access the decisions?

OP posts:
Report
xyx · 18/02/2013 12:13

gazzalw, thanks for tip about phoning schools (til they get completely fed up with me!) when we go on their waiting lists. May have to do that. Re: your dd, the grammar school competition will only get worse, may have to start prep earlier or try a prep school for y3-6 as some include vr and nvr in their curriculum. It's not for us, can see dc2 following dc1 into a school where they'll be less stressed trying to keep up. Doesn't quite stop the guilt of not doing enough for grammar entry though! Good luck!!

Report
tiggytape · 18/02/2013 12:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.