Feel miserable and need a good moan! DS having induction at the school we got - really don't like it.

Good luck, OP. I know of two people who were quite far down on oversubscribed London school waiting lists and had lost all hope. The both got a call on the second day of term to offer them a place. It was stressful (having bought uniform for the school they didn't want, having to buy uniform for the new school, paperwork, etc) but the kids settled happily and quickly in their preferred schools after that. I hope things move in the right direction for you.

Even if it doesn't work out this year, there may be movement later. Make sure you stay on the waiting lists or, if they don't have one, ask how you can register your interest (and remind them of it regularly).

@Mishmashs Could you possibly share the brand and model of your son's blockable watch?

Did you apply as a first choice a school you knew you were outside the catchment for? Is that why you also never received a place in the other three schools, that is, you were in the catchment but you didn't put any of them as your first choice.
My friend did this. She thought DS would automatically get a place in the schools they were in the catchment for, and saw no harm in putting the oversubscribed outstanding school outside of catchment as first choice. Her DS now has to take three buses to get to school. If this is the case, did no one warn you this could happen?

You’ve not failed him. This isn’t your fault. I’d feel the same.

I’d go all out John LeCarré on the phone & cash, get a cheap one and wrap it with a tenner in a false bottom of the bag, there for emergencies, as he can have his zip card with him.

I hope a place comes up soon x

I feel your pain.

My ds was allocated a place at a school that even Ofsted said wasn't safe.

Keep trying for something closer.

The waiting list might not be as bad as you think. The London population is very very fluid, and you're presumably on four waiting lists right now. Even being at 11 on your favourite school could very easily result in an offer because not everybody who was offered a place in that school will take it up.

Some will have moved elsewhere in the city and want to switch to their new catchment.

Some will have left London or even the UK!

Some will have put your favourite school down as their second choice and are currently waiting to get into their top choice, which will release their current place.

Some will have put your favourite school down, got it but are actually going to private school and it takes a couple of weeks for the system to process that you are not taking the state place and re-release it. (State school applications happen before private school places are offered in lots of areas, so you wouldn't want to assume you got into the private school and not apply for state.)

Keep at the other four on your list. A place will come up.

We have other several school closer but they are awful

This jumped out to me and made me wonder - what are you basing this on? Because I'm struggling to think of a part of London that has several awful schools. Some will have reputations and all will have a mix of kids, but for a whole area to have awful schools except for one or two that you're too far from sounds like you might be judging those awful schools too harshly. Is it worth visiting some and reconsidering? Some near us that had bad reps turned out to be good or at least decent, while others with illustrious reps weren't all that. In your situation, I'd at least be open to the closer possibilities that may not be all that awful on closer consideration and it's worth being on their lists rather than schlepping to the allocated school.

Our London school bans smartphones but allows brick phones (switched off and in bags during the day).

I don't live in London and secondary school children het a free bus pass if their allocated school is over three miles away.

I'd get a cheap phone (with a payg sim with a rollover) and I'd create a false bottom or hidden pocket in his bag. And/or put it in a Faraday pouch.

In the meantime make sure you stay on every waiting list because some schools clear them after a certain length of time and move him if a place comes up.

Buy the cheapest phone you can find and get him to put it at the bottom of his bag.

Many schools with a zero phone policy don't do bag searches.

If he has a blazer then you can also unsew a pocket and put cash money in the lining.

Genuinely it’s not as big a deal as you think it is.
Having a phone doesn’t actually make them any safer, in fact I’d argue walking along with a phone out makes them more vulnerable to accidents as the aren’t concentrating.
I would also argue it puts them at risk of mugging as they make themselves an easy target.
like I said mine took theirs but I was under no illusion it was for safety. Even these tracking apps are no use if the phone has been stolen.

I think for his sake and yours, you need to pull yourself together and stop catastrophizing. He didn't get any of your other schools because other people had a better claim to them. Maybe a place will come up in one, but for now, this is where he is going and you absolutely need to make the best of it.

It might be fine... he might meet some lovely friends, be inspired by committed teachers and be very happy there. You need to think like that, because otherwise it's going to be a very long and depressing five years, always fearing the worst. You've not even got there yet, you need to give it a chance.

FWIW, i know a good few children who have been failed by the "best" schools in the area, where their parents have had to move house to be sure of a place. And I know several others who've done really well at the comp with the worst reputation.

@localnotail I am so sorry that I sidetracked on the transport thing. Of course it wouldn't apply in London-I have no excuse for being dim. Except that I'm dim. I do hope things resolve for you.

He'll get a place fairly quick. 11th isn't terrible and it won't be too disruptive, id feel equally fed up in your shoes though. But please please please try and be upbeat and positive for your DCs benefit. It won't help him to witness you constantly complaining and wringing your hands. Try and be excited for him and point out all the great new experiences he's going to have, friends he will make etc. It might even rub off on you a bit if you try hard enough

Also OP, if you are really annoyed about the phone thing (which you have a right to be) then you should raise it as a safeguarding issue with the head.

They are making your son walk home alone through unsafe areas without a mobile phone. That is a safeguarding risk.

The majority of schools allow phones switched off in bags, or have a place for kids to hand them in at the beginning of the day and then collect.

Particularly in the area of London that it sounds like they're in, they really should review this policy from a safeguarding perspective as they are putting their pupils at risk.

You could probably get a group of parents together that would support this view and lobby the head about it.

Maybe tell us the school he’s got - chances are some of us will know it and can offer reassurance.

Secondary aged children in London get free travel on buses with a zip card, so boroughs don't have to do anything about travel.

They can confiscate, but I think it has to be 'reasonable.' A whole term seems a bit ott, but it will be a strong deterrent from getting an iphone14 out in class!

London buses are free for under 16s and the bus route is fairly extensive, so they won't really offer anything else unless it's for a child with special needs travelling a long way to a specialist school.

They can take it off him temporarily during the school day, but if you go in and demand it, they can't keep it! It's not their property.

You should be on 4 waiting lists if you got into your fifth choice. Is it worth checking where you are on all lists. Regarding the 12 banding school, that's tricky as it depends what band a place comes up in. Where do most people on your new street/area send their kids at secondary? Is it worth applying there as well? You can add in more schools that you didn't originally apply to at this stage.