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Original poster

National Offer Day - 1st March. Anybody else anxious?

286 replies

ToxicGirl · 23/02/2022 15:22

I feel like a woman on the edge. Am unbelievably anxious about 1st March. Made my peace a long time ago with the fact DD won't get a place at our nearest secondary (within easy walking distance) because it's so oversubscribed. All her friends and most other children from her school will go there. We live a tiny bit further away and just won't get in, particularly as I understand it's a big birth year.

Would be happy with either our 2nd or 3rd choice schools. They're further away and not as popular but we'd have got a place at them in previous years as we're in catchment and just within the distance they usually offer.

However our LA has warned of unprecedented pressure on school places this year and said that the schools are likely to be significantly oversubscribed. I'm worried that we now won't get a place at the schools that would previously have been 'bankers'. Our other preferences are too far away. We won't get a place at them. Just put them down because there was nowhere else.

There are a couple of hugely undersubscribed and really poorly performing schools in neighbouring towns within the borough. From everything I've read and from looking at Y6 leavers destination info from previous years, I'm absolutely convinced we'll be allocated one of them. They're the schools people get allocated when they only put one choice down and don't get it.

I'm so anxious about it. Can't think about anything else and am driving DH mad. Am managing to hide it from DD but know she'll fall apart on Tuesday. She's prepared to go to school without her friends but not to a completely unknown school in another area.

It's going to be a long few days...

OP posts:
PatriciaHolm · 25/02/2022 19:31

@madnessitellyou

So pleased to have found this thread - I thought offer day was in April!!!! Dd2 should get into our first choice (the nearest school to us - 600m - and well within previous years' distances) but I guess you never know! Dd1 goes to a different school for various reasons - nothing to do with the school - so no sibling priority here.
For primary, it is! April 22. For Secondary, its March 1.
madnessitellyou · 25/02/2022 19:07

So pleased to have found this thread - I thought offer day was in April!!!! Dd2 should get into our first choice (the nearest school to us - 600m - and well within previous years' distances) but I guess you never know! Dd1 goes to a different school for various reasons - nothing to do with the school - so no sibling priority here.

boyblue · 25/02/2022 16:17

@resipsa I'd defo recommend that people ask for very honest options from Yr8/9 parents and even better Y10/11 about local schools. Some are better for the less academic child. Grades can be inflated by dictating what options DC take. Some schools are super super strict which means some DC are miserable. The ability to walk to high school is a huge bonus too. Socially is really good and if doing afterschool clubs etc

Original poster
ToxicGirl · 25/02/2022 14:52

@greyinganddecaying

We've applied to all non-religious schools in Sale/Altrincham, but I have a feeling we may end up at Stretford High or Lostock, where he will know no-one - and reports I've heard on Lostock aren't great.
Lostock is my fear too. We live nowhere near it but it looks to be where they sent anybody without a place last year. Fingers crossed for good news for on Tuesday 🤞
OP posts:
resipsa · 25/02/2022 13:56

Thanks @boyblue
Yes, the feeling of missing out on CHHS's brilliance by dint of a few metres is palpable round here but not sure if it's justified.

boyblue · 25/02/2022 13:48

@resipsa

Any feedback on BHS in Stockport? Last head was great by all accounts but left after poor Ofsted...
I think Bramhall took a popularity hit when it got a poor ofsted & the Laurus schools are promising exceptional excellence. Not sure if makes BHS actually poor and many there would say Laurus isn't all amazing.
greyinganddecaying · 25/02/2022 13:08

We've applied to all non-religious schools in Sale/Altrincham, but I have a feeling we may end up at Stretford High or Lostock, where he will know no-one - and reports I've heard on Lostock aren't great.

Original poster
ToxicGirl · 25/02/2022 12:18

Thanks. Don't worry, will definitely not be refusing what we get. Home ed or private aren't an option!

OP posts:
ufucoffee · 25/02/2022 12:12

OP. This is what you should do. On offer day if you don't get your preference school get a appeal in asap. Accept the school you are offered. Even if you hate it. If you refuse it and don't get a place elsewhere your daughter won't have a school to go to in September. Make an appt to visit the school you have been offered with your daughter. Speak to staff about your concerns. It may not be as bad as you think. You can also put a late application in for other schools. Being refused will mean you can go on the waiting list.

resipsa · 25/02/2022 12:09

Any feedback on BHS in Stockport? Last head was great by all accounts but left after poor Ofsted...

boyblue · 25/02/2022 12:06

@ToxicGirl I guess that leaves SH & SH. I know one family at one of those who is happy

Original poster
ToxicGirl · 25/02/2022 11:54

@troppibambini6

I've got quite a few children so have friends with kids at Wellington Loreto Aggs Alti boys Bth AcA Sale grammar North ces St ambrose

If I can help op?

Thanks @toppibambini6 and @blueboy

See, I'd be happy with any of those schools. Just worried we won't get any of them!

OP posts:
boyblue · 25/02/2022 11:51

@ToxicGirl some are Trafford, some Manchester & some Stockport. Common theme is that the DC are now happy & settled in Y7/8 and none have been a total disaster. Others put themselves under huge financial strain going private post allocations.

HelenaJustina · 25/02/2022 11:47

DC3 has two siblings at our preferred school. It’s a Catholic school and we are baptised/practising Catholic. We are 11 miles away though (rural) and I can’t help thinking ‘what if - there are 180 Catholic siblings who live closer than we do!’

troppibambini6 · 25/02/2022 11:47

Feel free to pm if you'd rather.

troppibambini6 · 25/02/2022 11:46

I've got quite a few children so have friends with kids at
Wellington
Loreto
Aggs
Alti boys
Bth
AcA
Sale grammar
North ces
St ambrose

If I can help op?

Lindy2 · 25/02/2022 11:37

@Drywhitefruitycidergin

Info doesn't get released til 5pm here. I think they press the button and run away from the office 🤣😂 With primary it was quicker to log back on to the admissions portal at 5 than wait for the email which arrived around 6:30.
I'm sure they absolutely press send and then run as fast as they can out the door.

They probably draw lots as to who goes back into the office first the next morning and starts answering the phone. 😂

Lindy2 · 25/02/2022 11:34

DD already has a sibling at our chosen school which should help her get a place. I find myself slightly stressed anyway just incase something went wrong with the application. It's a long old wait isn't it.

Hopefully everyone will be ok and as others have already said the school you get allocated on 1st March doesn't necessarily have to be the school your DC ends up going to. There's always a lot of movement which gives other options between March and September.

Original poster
ToxicGirl · 25/02/2022 11:27

@blueboy are you able to say which school your friends have kids at? Understand if it's too outing and you'd rather not

OP posts:
Original poster
ToxicGirl · 25/02/2022 11:26

Thanks all. Honestly, at this point I just want to get one of the schools we put down. Don't care which one. Am so anxious that we might not get any of them.

OP posts:
boyblue · 25/02/2022 10:42

Generally you automatically get put in wait list for schools you put higher up than the one you get allocated.
There's quite a bit of movement. Some that don't like what they get will go private. They'll wait and see first. Some families will have moved etc
They'll be shuffling well into Sept / oct

greyinganddecaying · 25/02/2022 10:37

I've just looked at the schools comparison for Trafford. I have a horrible feeling that we're not going to get any of the schools we've applied for.

Does anyone know how the waiting list system works? As I understand it, we can put our name down on the waiting list for whichever schools, but I'm not clear on the timescales and when they may start to offer places to those on the waiting list.

troppibambini6 · 25/02/2022 10:32

Op I'm Trafford too. Everything crossed you get where you want...
I'm also waiting for dd.

RoseWindow · 25/02/2022 10:20

It’s giving me grey hairs all this!

BooksAndHooks · 25/02/2022 10:05

Very anxious. Despite sibling priority it doesn’t count for much as it only gives you priority for the exam band your fall in. There are only 16 places in the band dd falls in. We also filled in medical need form but these seem to never be granted unless it is a physical need. I’m not hopeful and there is no other choice suitable.

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