Is it too soon to start a 1st March (secondary school allocation day) support thread?

@tiggytape I read all that and didn't have the energy to correct it so glad you did!

Admissions work differently in Scotland (more simply I think!)

@teddygirlonce Scotland! It is a long wait and also doesn't give much time for transition events but such is life, will feel a lot better once I hear though!

We put 5 choices for DS but should get 1st or 2nd choice as we are within the distance criteria.

Fingers crossed for everyone on 1st March.

And the reason they send them to further away town is because closer town also doesn't have enough spaces for their locals.

Closer town school is actually closer than any local schools.

If that all makes sense!

Tiggytape if all the local kids put down local schools , whatever preference, then there is not enough places. Every year the council send people to the next towns. We are hoping to get the closer town rather than the further away town. We are also on the other side of town to all the local schools. So we would be the ones sent to far away town rather than local or closer town.

Thistly if you were referring to a LA in England, that is WRONG. The Equal Preference system is LAW.

If the LA is in England can you ask MN to remove the post? People who don't RTFT could end up continuing to propagate these myths.

BarFly where do you live?

Haven't read the whole thread but marking place to read later. Ds got turned down on a rule 2 out of catchment school. First and second choices also out of catchment and local schools won't have places for third and fourth local choices. We will probably be sent to the town where there are no good schools if we don't get any of our choices. Desperately waiting now since the rejection letter.

Thanks Teen I have offered other documents with proof of address, such as tax credit letters, phone bills, bank statements and payslips, but none of these are acceptable, sadly. It can only be something from the list they gave me. Seems ridiculous to me, but those are the rules apparently!

... maybe bank/credit card is too personal, but you must have other official post coming to your house, so maybe try that?

mum
How about sending copy of bank or credit card statement with a covering letter ad interim? I doubt they could legally withdraw a place under the circumstances you described. You could always offer for them to come to visit you!

I'm a bit concerned. I put 6 choices, would be reasonably happy with any but really want 1st or 2nd choice. 1st choice sent me a letter last week saying they need further proof of address. This must be either a council tax bill, Gas and electricity bills or driving licence. I don't drive and gas and electricity are both on metres so no bills. Typically, I can't find my council tax bill (can find the previous 4 years worth of bills though 🙄.) Have phoned council to ask for a copy of the bill, but no idea how long that will take to arrive. I phoned the school to explain and was told that if DD is offered a place, it could be withdrawn if they haven't received this.

No other school have asked for it, they were all happy with the documents I submitted with my original application.

Lots of houses going up here too Mrgrumpy, it does make me wonder how the local schools are going to cope in future.

My Dd is in a very small year. Historically the years have been 2 classes of around 21/22. Her year is currently 35. There has been a lot of movement in and out but never really increased. I don't know if this is a town wide blip or just a lower birth rate in the immediate area. The year below is bigger but I think my youngest who is in yrR is the first year to be at PAN which is 52. Other years are slightly under.

My youngest is the reason I want to move actually within the catchment area especially as they are building hundreds of houses between us and our first choice. Obviously banking of course we get our 1st choice.

Interesting point thistly, my 11 year olds year group is only thirty strong and I get the impression this is well spread out over 3 local secondary schools but my youngest who is currently year 3 is in a year group of 60 so when the time comes there will be a lot more competition for places as it doesn't seem like the local secondary schools are expanding as quickly as the primary schools.

What is the general consensus about how big this year's cohort is? Do other people have the idea that it is much bigger than current year 7?

I have this idea from primary entries in my area.

Teen and tween is describing the equal preference system, which we have in our local authority. However our neiboiring authority has a 1st/2nd/3rd choice system, where each school receives all its first choice applications, ranks them, and then ranks the 2 nd choices applications if there are any spaces left over. This means that even if you rank high, if you don't put the school first choice and it is oversubscribed, you have no chance of getting in. I think the equal preference system is fairer, but parents should be aware that not every authority uses it.

The trouble with a lot of this misinformation is that sometimes they do end up with a place anyway so continue to spread the rumours.

When we were doing applications a 'friend of a friend' on FB stated that she had only put school x on her form and got a place and was advising people to do the same because then they would have to offer you a place there. She couldn't see that he only got a place because he was high enough up the list to secure a place. It was an absolute gamble as the school is an over arching one and allocates on a random selection. (Rather than having distances within a catchments area)

So they are depending on there being an undersubscription outside of a 20 mile radius.

Good luck with THAT!

Yes, they follow the LA criteria to the letter so it'll only go well if they are undersubscribed.