Secondary school waiting list for in year admissions

[divhan]

Hi everyone
I recently moved to Hounslow and have applied for year 8 school admissions for my DD.
Unfortunately LA informed us all the 3 of our preferred schools have no spaces ,so have put her in waiting list. The closest school would be Heathland and waiting list 2 . Bit frustrating as my DD is not part of any school currently..Not sure whether it is worth waiting for this school .Have anyone experienced such situation. Please advice

[Lougle]

You can appeal for any school and it's not incredibly hard to win a secondary school appeal because they have such large numbers that one more child often isn't a huge squeeze. It will depend on whether they are already over number, rather than just 'full'.

[divhan]

Thank you Lougle. This gives me some hope. Still waiting for LA decision to think about appeal

[Malmontar]

Sorry to hear. I'm in N London so not much help for you but your daughter is in an incredibly large birth year. My DD is in the same one and almost all the secondaries here accepted a buldge class and there were still kids with no school. Unless your DD has SEN there is not much point in appealing as Y8 in most schools is overflowing this year. Kids leave a lot in London though and loads of people keep their waiting list spot whilst their kids are perfectly settled in a other school. So don't worry too much about your place on the list, it may come sooner than you think.

[Allington]

I was in the same situation. Got my MP involved, they contacted the LA and a place appeared. If you aren't too worried about which school, but want a place it is worth doing. In our case all the LA schools were acceptable, and DD had a place within a week.

If they cannot offer a school place they must make alternative provision such as a tutor at home.

Ask them for a timeframe by which your DD will either have a place or alternative provision.

[beeniemcbeen]

@divhan if your closest school is Heathland then you must be close to the border with Richmond Borough, so maybe apply to their schools too. Twickenham School in Whitton has places in all year groups and people say it has been rapidly improving from its Requires Improvement grade, so is likely to be rated as Good soon.

[PipaJJ]

Hi @Divhan
Twickenham School is horrendous ! Heathland is far better....hold on!

[cabbageking]

Contact admissions to find out where there are places and research these schools. You can remain in the waiting list even if you get a place elsewhere

[BilberryBaggins]

An in year procedure will usually be;

1. Apply to the school. If they have a place, they must offer it to you. If not, you go on to the waiting list. You can either sit it out on the waiting list (but bear in mind other people may come on to the waiting list ahead of you, if, for example, they live closer and the school uses distance in its admissions criteria) or.....
   
   
2. Appeal - the school will make a case for being full, and you must then make a case that your child’s need for a place outweighs the school’s case. You can only do 1 appeal per year, unless circumstances change significantly. If you win the appeal, the child will have an immediate place. If you lose, you can still stay on the waiting list.
   
   Your LA has a legal duty to provide a school place, but not necessarily at your school of choice.

[beeniemcbeen]

@PipaJJ

Hi *@Divhan*
Twickenham School is horrendous ! Heathland is far better....hold on!

That's harsh PippaJJ. It certainly used to be horrendous under previous leadership. It's now being well led and managed. It just needs people to give it a chance to prove itself and not judge it by its past. It certainly has lots of current parents singing its praises on social media and encouraging other people to go and take a look.

[beeniemcbeen]

"Appeal - the school will make a case for being full, and you must then make a case that your child’s need for a place outweighs the school’s case."

This won't be possible when there's another school with empty places just down the road. To appeal under special circumstances you have to prove that a school is the only one that can meet your needs.

[BilberryBaggins]

That’s not the case. The phrase is ‘causes prejudice’. So the school makes the case that admitting another child would cause damage to the education of the children already with places. You then make the case that your need for a place outweighs that. You don’t need to prove it is the only school, simply that your child needs that place more than the school needs to not take them.

It would be highly unlikely that any school would be the ONLY school that is suitable, and it is usually the case that other schools have some space.

To put it simply, you make the strongest case for your child, the school makes its strongest case and the panel balance them against each other.

[AuditAngel]

In addition to Twickenham school mentioned above, it’s sister school in Hampton, Hampton High May well have places.

Also consider looking at schools in Sunbury-On-Thames (Spelthorne borough), not to hard to access from Hounslow (235 bus). Also there is a fairly new school in Richmond borough, The Richmond upon Thames school (near the Rugby ground) that may have places. I know a (now) year 9 who transferred there last year.

[AuditAngel]

You haven’t indicated which other schools you were interested in. If we knew what you were hoping for, we might be able to suggest alternatives,

[beeniemcbeen]

BilberryBaggins, you're assuming she hasn't been offered a place, but she has (or will be as soon as Hounslow have talked to Richmond). It may not be a place in one of her "top 3 preferences", but that's par for the course in this area. The admissions form has 6 preferences, not 3, and people sometimes don't even get one of the top 6. There's a school with spaces just down the road, so she certainly won't be able to queue-jump the Heathland waiting list by claiming she doesn't have an offer.

[BilberryBaggins]

That’s not what I said.

I said her case for a place has to outweigh the school’s case that they are full. Agreed, you won’t get a place just because there isn’t yet an offer, but you don’t need to prove that ONLY that school will meet the child’s needs. It’s that your need outweighs the school’s fullness. This might be because of a range of reasons, but it’s about your case being balanced against the school’s.

[divhan]

Thank you all for your advice.I am still waiting for the LA to suggest me the list of schools with spaces. Like everyone I too love to stick to the preferred schools I chose....but if LA suggest me some schools which has good reviews then I think I should go for it

[divhan]

@AuditAngel currently I have opted for lampton and St Marks....since am new to this place I don't have much knowledge about other schools around

[averythinline]

All those schools are very popular and heathland and lampton especially usually have long waiting lists.

St Marks is a Catholic school so you would need to meet their criteria as well....

I think they just have to offer a space? Not a space where you want...

[prh47bridge]

@beeniemcbeen

"Appeal - the school will make a case for being full, and you must then make a case that your child’s need for a place outweighs the school’s case."

This won't be possible when there's another school with empty places just down the road. To appeal under special circumstances you have to prove that a school is the only one that can meet your needs.

BilberryBaggins is correct. You do NOT have to show that the appeal school is the only one that can meet your child's needs. You simply have to show that your child will be disadvantaged if they attend the allocated school rather than the appeal school and that this outweighs any problems the school will face through having to cope with an additional pupil. The only schools the appeal panel will look at are the appeal school and the allocated school. The fact that there may be other schools that are just as good for the child won't enter into it as those schools are not part of the appeal.

[AuditAngel]

St Marks is usually very oversubscribed, you haven’t said you wanted a Catholic school, but I believe St Paul’s in Sunbury wasn’t oversubscribed that year, they were not requiring a certificate of Catholic practice for that year group (iirc)

Sunbury also has Bishop Wand and Sunbury Manor schools, all within walking distance of Sunbury Cross buses.

There is also Bolder Academy in Isleworth which is new and may not be full. I think your daughters cohort may be the first

[divhan]

LA suggested me 3 options
Kingsley,Bolder and Brentford School for Girls

Any advice or feedback?

[averythinline]

Bolder is new and has been set up by a group of heads. Sounds good but hard to tell yet...

Brentford school for girls has mixed reviews one friends dd thrived and loved it....another not so keen... there are 2 other girls schools in the Borough which is why there is often space.

Kingsley used to have a poor reputation but has new building and a lot of resources been put in...

I would probably go for Brentford as I think there is quite a lot of evidence that girls do better in STEM type subjects in girls schools...but not everyone likes all girls....

[divhan]

Thank you @averythinline for your feedback

[divhan]

Will there be possibility of movement among year 8 in Hounslow area?Is it worth staying in waiting list and expecting a space someday?

[Meredusoleil]

@divhan

Will there be possibility of movement among year 8 in Hounslow area?Is it worth staying in waiting list and expecting a space someday?

I know 3 girls who currently attend Brentford and are happy there. You should accept one of the schools offered and ask to stay on the waiting list for any others that you would prefer.