No school place AT ALL in my county. I have to apply to neighboring county

No my dds went to the girls' school. Just noticed that Hockerill has feeder schools instead of distance as well. They admit 10% on aptitude which is 12 children each year. BUT this is just one area where they are very canny, 68 day pupils and 52 boarders make 120 intake, but it should be 10% of 68 applicants not 10% of 120. Boarders are admitted under a different admission system. So you are right that they do select more than they should but it's not 30%. And the ratios have changed as well. It used to be 77 day pupils and 25 boarders. You can see why they get good results while maintaining their 'comprehensive' status!

I don't think there are ANY trolls on this thread. All the people posting are MNers with a longstanding history in the education sections. They are doing their best to help you. You haven't helped yourself by using emotive language and being a bit, you know, over excitable. I understand why you feel over excitable but at the end of the day, no rich kids from London are travelling to any school in BS. They just aren't.

Sorry, tiggy - admissions lingo failure. I meant 'oversubscription criteria by which a waiting list is prioritised' - ie where is the OP on the waiting list, and what criteria are used put her in that position, since 'feeder school' clearly isn't eaningful after the beginning of Year 7?

(I mean, it is clearly frustrating for anyone who moves because they have to, that places are not immediately available in the schools that they would have liked their children to attend... but since there is no fair way to 'make places appear' at those schools, the push has to go into making the LA do their job of finding you a place somewhere, not railing against the unavailability of your preferred schools)

X posted with Fanny, who knows these things. As I have said, this is a frustrating - but not uncommon - scenario with in-year school moves. What other options are available to you within a 30 minutes to 1 hour travelling time that you could apply / appeal to, wither in Herts or Essex?

So in one school, because of the boarding issue, money can sometimes buy you a place (ie if you are prepared to pay for boarding, you may get a place that was not available to someone applyign as a day pupil).

As you stated that 3 of the schools "didn't have to take the riff-raff", could you explain the 'socially selective' criteria that you see operating at the other 2? As 1 is for boys and 1 for girls, it can't be that they can't accommodate children of the gender that you have (which is a problem that can arise with single sex schools). Is it just that your children didn't go to the feeder schools so a problem arises - but surely they must have different criteria for in-year admissions, as feeder school becomes irrelevant after Year 7? What are their in-year admissions criteria?

Seriously gaba, the single sex schools operate a fair admissions system for all children who attend the BS primary schools and those in the neighbouring villages. If there is proof that Hockerill is actually admitting day pupils not in accordance with its published rules then they need reporting!

Why is it that the use of the words "riff-raff" turns off my sympathy switch,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I can see that's an awkward mix of admissions criteria to negotiate, though, especially as a late/ in year applicant, because of the addition of feeder schools to the mix for some schools and the use of distance for others. In many areas it's easier because it is e.g. all distance, or 1 faith and the others all distance. Thanks for the local insight, Fanny.

Oh I suppose it could be a Harlow school, I didn't think of that.

If not Helena Romanes then SWHS or Newport? Neither are awful.

There are 5 state schools in BS. There is one school, one of the top comprehensives in the country, whose admission rules are suspect because the division of places available between boarding and day entrants is fuzzy. Day entrants criteria is siblings then distance so shouldn't be a problem, boarding is based on whether they like your face or not. The faith school is faith then siblings then distance. The single sex schools are siblings then feeder schools. The mixed school is siblings then distance. All have 10% of places reserved for aptitude in given disciplines. Honestly op, they don't discriminate against the riff-raff! Two of my dds would not have got in otherwise!

None of the state schools in Bishop's Stortford are selective but they are very popular with lots of people moving into the town in year 5 to get places in the schools. I would be surprised if there were places in any of the schools because there isn't much movement once pupils have got a place. The Essex situation has arisen because Bishop's Stortford is right on the Herts/Essex border. I can't think which school you've been allocated that is terrible that is 9 miles away if its Helena Romanes I thought that was quite a nice school.

I'm with meditrina on this one. In many places with good schools, whether or not they were selective (I am unsure how to interpret "but some how they don't have to take the riff raff and all of their pupils are from privileged backgrounds" - are they academically selective, which I agree is indirect social discimination in general but allowable under current rules, or directly socially selective, which isn't?), finding in-year places is HARD, although the appeals process is a little more flexible at secondary age because you are not dealing with infant class sizes and the rest.

I understand that you are angry because there are no places. However, in many ways the selectiveness of the schools (academic or social) is not the nub of the problem - any school full in the relevant years would be the same, regardless of how it came to be full. The nub of the problem is a) you are a late applicant and b) the LEA is not working as hard as it should to find you a school place within 1 hour's travelling time, or invoking the FAP if they can't do so.

How they came to be full isn't going to help you find the two places you need in time.

Have you actually been offered a place at the 9miles away school?

""Sorry teacher with kids, the school i believe they want to send DC to is about 9 miles. So right in between."

So that is a school in Essex?