Having nightmares over secondary school selection...

You need to look at previous years allocation distances to make a judgment combined with the schools admissions policies. Irrespective of whatever the man at the council says these are the things to check.

So is George Abbot your nearest school?

If it is, then at 2 miles, you should get in.

If it isn't, you almost certainly won't get a place looking at the previous years allocation.

You express a preference; you do not have a choice, calling it a choice only causes problems!

"School places in this area are pretty much allocated based on whichever is your closest - end of!"

Did you think it was different? Surely you would have gathered that from the admissions criteria?

Are the schools five and eight miles away undersubscribed? Their admissions will also be on distance...
Also, if you are allocated a school eight miles away, is it doable by public transport? Because my friend has MS, and when she's well, all is fine, but when she's ill, she cannot do anything, let alone an eight mile school run four times a day.

even my bottom two are only in towns either side of us so no more than between 5 and 8 miles away

Again, that's not how it works. What was the furthest admitted distance last year for these schools? If it is e.g. 3.5 miles, you won't get into either, however willing you are to drive.

The only point i was trying to make earlier about distance was that, locally, people were caught out when the local 'never been full' school was full (it's now well oversubscribed every year).

Those who thought 'No need to put X, I'll get t anyway' came face to face with the council allocating them, instead, to the nearest school with places, 45 minutes' journey away and far, far worse than the one they didn't put on their list.

So what matters about distance is not 'there are some nice schools in the next town which we will not get a place in because i live 4 miles outside their last admitted distance for the past 3 years' BUT 'is there a single school, however awful, however obscure, within an hour's travelling time that I would like LESS than the ones I would prefer to avoid but are local?' If the answer to the question is 'yes, there's a truly terrible one 15 miles away', then you NEED to put the local school on your form, in last place.

Before you make a final decision, have a look carefully at the allocations for both this year and 2016. Lots of schools were full and that includes Christ’s College, some have permanently increased their PAN but others will drop back, so if you prefer Christ’s to Kings if it is not in your 6 choices then you may not be allocated it especially if you are in a high birth year. It looks like there is a shortage of secondary places across Surrey so you need to be realistic - very few schools admitted 5 to 8 miles away.

Heidi - the others are speaking lots of sense - have you had a look at based on the last few years of admissions whether you'd get a place at your 5th and 6th schools? I know that admissions are not always predictable but you need a "banker" in your six - otherwise your allocation may be completely left field to you - a school you don't like and one that is a long way away...

the LA would just say... 'well at least you got one of your preferences... it was your sixth choice...'

I cannot reiterate strongly enough that IT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT.

The LA - or whoever hears your appeal - accepts that everyone would prefer their first choice to their last choice. They know - and in fact advise - that sensible people put fallback 'least worst' options on their form. So there is no prejudice whatever if you appeal for your first choice having been given your sixth choice - in fact, they will hear people appeal for their first choice having been given their second choice all the time.

What putting a 'definite', l;east worst school down as a final choice does is give you power and more control - it says 'if I cannot have my genuinely preferred schools, of the ones that I can be given a place at according to the rigorously applied selection criteria, then this is the one I would least dislike'.

If you don't do this, you lost all control - you will find yourself allocated a place in whatever school can accommodate you after everyone else has been given their best, intermediate, or least worst choices. And that might well be at an even worse school than you currently think is the worst case scenario,

Heidi,

Just be careful.

There has been a school that 'everyone gets into because no-one chooses it' school locally for years.

Several people did exactly as you are planning to - didn't put it down on their lists because 'we'll be given it anyway, it's not worth wasting a preference.' Except that it has been quietly improving, and canny people HAD been putting it on their lists - maybe not first, but as third, fourth, fifth - the 'better than the alternatives' insurance option.

So instead of getting the school they thought they would get, they were allocated a school not only much worse, but also 45 minutes' travel away.

Unless you can think of no school within an hour's travel that would be worse than either of the schools you would prefer to avoid, put the one you dislike least (after a visit) as your last option.

You do realise it's done by computer don't you? There's no team of people weighing up forms and saying well this person is obviously really keen so we'll allocate x rather than y....

Seriously though visit the two over-my-dead-body schools. Home schooling up to GCSE is going to be no fun for your dd, neither is going to a school a long way away and not being able to see friends outside school.

At least one of those schools will be fine I promise.

If you don't put a local school that you've got a chance of getting into on your list somewhere, then you must be 100% ready to home educate, as otherwise you may find the only school you're offered is just as bad as the local one but miles away.

The LA will not somehow work harder to get you your best school if you haven't got any on your list, than if you've got one low down on your list. This is because the system is deliberately blind to where you put schools on your list.

Also, you won't have a stronger case at appeal if you've not got any of your preferences, than if you've got your fifth or sixth choice, either.

Whether the school you get offered first was on your list or not is entirely irrelevant to whether or not you later get a place somewhere else via a waiting list or appeal. No one is going to be saying "but hang on, you can't complain if you've got one of your preferences", as you seem to think. It doesn't work like that.

You'll only get preference six if there is no space at any preferred school. Just if you don't put any local school down, you risk being sent to a poor school miles away. I'd rather have the local poor one tbh.

Op I know you said you are done here but I want to be clear you understand...even if you put six schools down, the LA might offer you a place somewhere else.

They are not obliged to offer you any of your choices. If there is no space at them, you will be offered a school no one else wants.

If I were you I would go and look round the local schools (=most likely to get) and see if there is one that's not so bad. Put that one sixth - you will only get that if there is no space at your top five. At least then it will be local with local friends! :)

I went to Wallington Girls and we used to pop over to each others' houses or meet for shopping/cinema etc. We walked or got public transport. Didn't have our mum trailing after us as teenagers. Might be worth checking the public transport situation for your dd to have a friend over, or go to theirs

If your house is paid off remortgage and put her in private school. Problem solved.

Hi,

I live in old woking and have also done a lot of supply teaching in Guildford. GA has been having some problems lately. I haven't been there in ages but a friend of mine who was a permanent member of staff has handed her notice in as she says behaviour especially is really going down hill. Hoe Valley is looking like a good school but now they are more established they are heavily over subscribed and people in old woking didn't get in this year. Kings is probably the one I would be most reluctant to send my children too, but by all accounts it is really turning itself around and Ofsted are very pleased with the progress it is making. It was by no means the worst school i've ever gone into on supply.

Christ College is where most of the older children I know from Old Woking go as it was our nearest school before Hoe Valley was built. I would have no problem sending my children there, academically they are pretty good, but what they are very good at is pastoral care and nurturing children. Bellfields as an estate (where I lived before I got married) is really much better and a lot of people who live there now are young professionals who can't afford to buy in Guildford centre but want to have easy access to the station. I had no problems supply teaching at Christ's the few times I have, and the parents I know who have children there have no real complaints about it.

My advice would be to visit all the schools with no preconceptions, see what you think of how the school feels to you, talk to pupils and staff and don't just go on Ofsted. As a teacher I can tell Ofsted never gives you a complete picture.

As an aside I grew up in Cheam and about half my friends went to Nonsuch. They all had a horrible time there, it's very cliquey with a real emphasis on results at the expense of the child's wellbeing. I would be very reluctant to send any child of mine there.

Obviously these are only my experience and opinions, at the end of the day you have to do what you think will be best for you dd. Am happy you to pm me if you want k is more about the local schools.

There are middle schools in Guildford? New one on me. As Surrey schools go, Guildford’s aren’t that bad.