Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Late applications/appeal/11+ bucks

51 replies

beanhunter · 21/01/2023 07:59

Hi. We have just moved to Buckinghamshire from a non 11+ area 100 miles away. Eldest due to go into year 7 in selt 2023 but will be assessed for round 1 on our old address. She has the option to sit a late 11+ but has had no prep and I have no idea whether she would even get a space if she passed as a late applicant.

we put the local comp as choice 1 but historically it’s always oversubscribed so I can’t see she will get a round 1 place based on our home address at the time of application and will therefore be offered a school 100 miles away. (I now see that prior council advised me wrongly to only put one bucks school and 3 for prior home local authority)

how do I best approach this after offers day? Do I appeal based on distance (but can I only do this in round 2 due to our address move timing?) - the local comp is 1.2 miles away and we are well within catchment. Next nearest state is 5 miles I think . Or do I just wait and hope she gets in off the waiting list? What about the 11+? If she gets over the magic mark can I appeal for a grammar on the same grounds? The system seems not very transparent and the council haven’t been the most helpful in telling me how to approach. Clearly she can’t go to a school 100 miles away.

OP posts:
prh47bridge · 21/01/2023 10:31

I disagree that the advice from your prior council was wrong. Even if you had used all your preferences for Buckinghamshire schools, you still wouldn't have got a place (unless one of them was undersubscribed) and would have been allocated a school 100 miles away.

When you move you can apply through Buckinghamshire. You may not get a place at your preferred schools, but they will find a place for you somewhere.

Distance is irrelevant for appeals unless you can show that the distance has been measured incorrectly and you would have been offered a place if they'd got it right - clearly not the case here. If you want to appeal, you need to show that the disadvantage to your daughter from not being admitted outweighs any issues the school would face from having to cope with an additional pupil.

You can appeal as soon as offers are made. There is no point in waiting.

Regarding the 11+, if you want your daughter to get a place at a grammar school, she will need to take it.