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Original poster

how to find a place in oversubscribed school mid year

135 replies

Spanielmad · 09/08/2017 15:48

Hello, we might be moving house in the coming year - to south Buckinghamshire. My kids are about to start Y6 and Y8. If we move in the middle of the school year how are we supposed to find school places? Pretty much ALL 'good/outstanding' secondary schools and grammar schools are oversubscribed. So even if we find a house near a good school how do I get my kids in??
thanks !!

OP posts:
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LowlandsUni · 14/08/2017 18:16

Please don't think Oxon schools don't have VI forms. For example, Thame and Wheatley both come under South Oxfordshire District Council and both have VI forms.

Middleoftheroad · 14/08/2017 17:41

Another who would recommend visiting the eleven plus forum. you can search on there too - ie grammara in xyz and usually somebody has posted on it.

The advice on here and there has helped me so much, especially recently during a hideous appeal.

I never thought my twin boys would be attending different schools in September, but I am adapting. It might be worth entertaining that notion. Besides, if you get one into a preferred comp and it operates the sibling rule, then presumably the other will follow.

ShaneBitchy · 14/08/2017 17:34

Yes Ollycat is right there, they don't teach it in Primary only at Private schools. Nearly everyone in YR5 tutors or at least buys the books to practise at home.

Ollycat · 14/08/2017 17:23

Ktown I disagree- Bucks primaries are not allowed to prep for the 11+ - of course the prep schools can and do - several having this as their main USP. Bucks has no comps - they are all Grammars and Uppers.

Ktown · 14/08/2017 17:20

I'd forget about grammars unless your kids have been in a system geared towards the tests.
It isn't that they are hard or that your kids won't be able to do the work, but there is a knack to them and teaching methods in south bucks are all geared to that.
I think many comps in bucks are fine though.
Where I live there are lots and lots of prep schools too so kids are set up from very early.

Ollycat · 14/08/2017 17:16

Oh late entry tests vary from school to school - I think for yr 8 SWBGS is curriculum based.

This is the last year of Bucks using CEM for 11+ - it is v pressurised and brutal. You need to be quick and have wide vocabulary. The excessive tutoring is more of an exception then the norm.

Ollycat · 14/08/2017 17:12

Bourne End isn't catchment for GMS though I don't think - I assume it's catchment for Bourne End Academy.

ShaneBitchy · 14/08/2017 17:11

Some of Burnham is lovely but PP is right, Burnham Academy is awful so it's a gamble to move there if your DC don't get into grammar school. Not sure about other Burnham comps.

Also my DD is bright, in the top 5 in her year and higher level for English and above average for Maths but she still didn't pass the 11+. They've made it much harder.

Berks grammar schools (Langley, Upton Court, Herschel, St Bernard's- Catholic) aren't single sex like the Bucks ones mostly are.

LIZS · 14/08/2017 17:02

There are less pricey parts of Marlow, Bourne End etc, but you may struggle to get more than a modest plot.

Original poster
Spanielmad · 14/08/2017 16:56

thanks for the pm - much appreciated! :)
Yes, DH's work is moving. We either move along or he lives in a hotel/rented-room during the week.... Not moving is still an option as we are fairly happy where we are and the comprehensive is ok and not oversubscribed. But a weekend-marriage ain't everything...

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Ollycat · 14/08/2017 16:42

Have sent you pm with some info. Only asked re house budget as it has some baring on catchment areas not being nosey about your £££'s.

TBH I don't think anywhere will give you the guarantee of places you need - is your reason for moving work? I would maybe look at some compromise where you are Smile

Lowdoorinthewal1 · 14/08/2017 16:34

Burnham is not a bad area to live in, however if you don't make the Grammar, Burnham Park is dire- in special measures I believe.

Original poster
Spanielmad · 14/08/2017 16:24

what’s Lower Shiplake like? near Henley...

The grammars on my list are Borlase, Burnham (not sure about living in that area though) and Chesham.
No idea if we’d get in though as we’re not prepped and tutored. My DS2 is super bright so I’d say he’s perfect for it, DS2 top 35% I’d say, so perhaps.

Happy with a good non selective that offers the same opportunities.

We’re not used to travel for school, my DS1’s secondary is a 20 mins walk.

I totally do not want to move them too much so wherever my DS1 ends up, is where he will stay. So it has to be a school I am happy with.

I suppose all I can do is call a school like Borlase, GMS or Gillots, ask if they have spaces in Y8 and if not, how soon they envisage a place becoming available (assuming we live in the catchment). If it is soonish, then we go house hunting and visiting schools, try to move before March, and get my DS2 into the application process for Y7. fff...would that work?

rather not discuss my budget Ollycat, schools are my problem...not the houses (although you wouldn’t believe what you can get for your money where i am currently living, LOL, we might well be downsizing)

OP posts:
Ollycat · 14/08/2017 16:13

Your looking at £700k min really for Marlow but that won't get you a big garden unfortunately.

LIZS · 14/08/2017 16:13

Also bear in mind that for ds1 , wherever he is by beginning of y9 you are likely to stay with for gcse rather than move again after his options have been chosen.

Phineyj · 14/08/2017 16:11

If you don't want single sex, that probably rules out grammars anyway, as most of them aren't mixed (that would at least simplify things for you).

LIZS · 14/08/2017 16:10

Sil dc both went to Henley College for 6th form from HW. It is fairly normal to travel a distance to secondary school especially in a grammar area.

Original poster
Spanielmad · 14/08/2017 16:03

I would never base my decision on Ofsted alone. It is just a start. I will visit areas and schools once I figured where we are going...

Oh, Ollycat, thanks - I didn’t know that all schools in Oxforshire have no 6th form! good know.

yeah, I was getting the feeling that Marlow was on the ahem, pricey side. But its not all millionaires houses there, it seems. But I would like a nice town with a few shops, cafes, galleries, low crime rate etc. DH wants a huge garden and we need good schools - yeah, the moon on a stick!!

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Ollycat · 14/08/2017 15:53

Henley is larger then Marlow and slightly cheaper to buy in. South Oxon comps don't have 6th forms. Probably the majority of Gillotts children go to Henley College but also to an increasingly wide variety of other places.

The other place to consider of course is UTC in Reading which admits from year 10.

As a very rough guide house prices go roughly Marlow, Henley, Maidenhead, Stokenchurch

Bombardier25966 · 14/08/2017 15:52

Don't base your decision solely on Ofsted. A good or outstanding school can go to the other end of the scale from one inspection to the next, and vice versa. Get a feel for the school yourself and base your decision on that, not some report based on the briefest of observations.

Original poster
Spanielmad · 14/08/2017 15:43

I’d never chose a school by ofsted only, but its a start.

I noticed Gillots doesn’t have a sixth form but there is a college in the town. Wondering if that’s considered good or just normal. I’d hate to have to put my kids on the train to just go to school! They’re too young. I can live without grammars (no grammars where I currently live) but want a school that caters well for clever kids.

If Gillots is full the next one would be Piggot and Waingels (over 5 miles away). Not great.

Is Henley smaller than Marlow?

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PrawnTempura · 14/08/2017 15:35

Well Henley is considered lovely by many people - small, a bit twee (IMHO) but easy to get to other places and set in nice countryside.

Gillots is the local comp and is supposed to be very good and desirable. Henley would still put you in catchment for the Reading grammars (and plenty of Henley kids do take the train into Reading for these 2 schools, so it's considered a doable journey for many).

Downside - it's pricey, but you may have a massive budget!

ShaneBitchy · 14/08/2017 15:28

The trouble is that without personally knowing anyone with children in the schools, it's hard to say what is good just by going by Ofsted.
My friend has DC in a 'good' school in Beaconsfield and she says the school hits their targets academically but the staff aren't very caring, they're just results driven.

Original poster
Spanielmad · 14/08/2017 15:18

I don’t like single sex and will avoid it if I can.

Even if I move soon, get my DS2 into a primary Y6 and then get a Y7 place for next year - my DS1 still needs a place in Y8 somewhere.... I am not putting him through 3 secondary schools (current one, Claires Court and SWBGS).

We can’t afford private anyway.

If there is no area anywhere that will offer us great schools with places available, I am left to either accept less-than-great schools or not move at all.

(I wish the schools were open now so I could call...)

OP posts:
LIZS · 14/08/2017 14:58

Judging by threads on here Herts is no easier. You will find the same issue wherever you go. If you move now at least you give your younger child an equal chance of a catchment school through the normal application process. He'd spend less than a year in wherever for primary. Some of the selectives are single sex, which may or may not be to your taste.

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