Its 2018....countdown to 1st March secondary school allocations!

How do you put your child on the waiting list? Do you do that through the school you want?

@tiggytape -could I ask a query about waiting lists? Once the appeals panels have started for a particular school in May/June is the waiting list for that specific school suspended or does it remain active during the process?

Can I join in please?

DD2 moves up to secondary this year, and following a few interesting months in our towns secondary schools, I’m now actually hoping she gets her second choice rather than first. We’re so nervous!

That's interesting! What sort of time did the cut-off scores come out, do you remember? DD has also sat the SW Herts consortium (a school there is our second choice) and she's totally borderline for her score. It's actually slightly closer but the bus takes longer.

Now I'm going to be hitting refresh on that site too

With DS1, I somehow saw the cutoff scores, before I received the email (SW Herts consortium). It was a bit weird - the cut-off scores and distances were on the school websites before the emails came out, and before we could access the online site.

We get an email from "the afternoon onwards". They do have it online too, but they say the online information won't be there until the emails have been sent out.

That's the other thing about letters - what if they get lost in the post? I couldn't cope! Nor the waiting for the post delivery.

DD sat the 11+ and that result was postal only. I wasn't looking for any words on that letter, just a number! Thankfully the post worked fine that day, but I drove myself mad wondering all day at work.

I agree with you Shattered. With DD1 the whole process was done by paper. Paper application forms sent through the post and offer letters. I remember coming home from work at lunchtime and finding the offer letter on the doormat. I opened it, read it and sat sobbing (with relief) on the stairs. This is my third time - I was naive with DD1, a little more comfortable with DD2 as we had a sibling link but with DS we have nothing and I'm anxious.

Shattered, they doing an email for you. We are getting online posting from midnight if you log in to your application page.
I was born in the sixties so I'm more used to opening letters. Thank god this isn't the way it's done here, though.

I'm glad it's an email, not a letter in an envelope. I hate opening letters like this. It's such a physical thing - your DC's future for the next 5-7 years. Something many of us have been worried about for up to a decade in some cases!

You can't help yourself staring through the folded paper, making out a few letters and wondering if you've misread or not. Then when you open it, let's face it, who is going to look at the preamble? You're looking for just one word and you have to find it quickly.

Whereas with an email there's not the same physical ritual of having to open an envelope. You just click on it, and scroll down. No half-seen glimpses, it'll just be there.

Yes, I'm totally overthinking this!

Already got my schtick planned but thanks for the reminder. I will pay for Interhigh as last resort if she is unable to avoid this particular school.

Had a chat with DD. She'd be pretty happy with any of the ones we put down. Her main fear is going to a school where there have recently been a police verified: stabbing, two beatings and a pitch battle. Sadly this local school is down as a "good" school. Nice. I haven't filled her head with this stuff. She heard on the grapevine and I had already seen news of it.
We are at a feeder school for this one.
It's not on our list and, in the unlikely event she is put there, I will appeal it.
Fingers crossed. And I hope the kids that do go there get noticed for a change. No one deserves that.

Just want to fast forward to Thursday now. Good luck to everyone, hope it's good news all round. Am dreading DT2 being disappointed and really, really hoping he gets his first choice (local grammar school). He has his heart set on it but his 11+ score wasn't great...

Oh god counting in hours now

So nervous..

Not long now....62 hours and counting till the midnight reveal - fingers crossed for you all

@GrockleBocs Parent power! My DS's Senco said "don't worry, we'll sort it" , when i said i was very worried he wouldn't get in to 1st choice.

Dd is aware that we are incredibly unlikely to have 'won' at this stage so I've prepped her for that. We're ready for the worst :(
I'm gratified that she and our Senco know I don't go down without a fight

I didn't think about a meal out, DD will probably want that!

Someone on the thread (I won't say who just in case they don't want to reveal themselves) has helpfully pointed me towards the fact that a grammar school in my area looks like it might be running a bit of a recruitment campaign when the results come out. The school my DD put first has a 'preferred catchment area' which tbh, we're not in despite it being our second nearest school by less than a mile. We may stand more of a chance with our second place school which is in the same borough and 10 minutes by bus. The council boundaries are a wonder to behold in our area

I'm very at all these midnight results.

I have to wait til 2pm. I'm going to he going nuts

Our system let you log in at midnight but email didn’t ping through until just after 8am. Glad that I could log in as I was ridiculously worried.