Waiting for that secondary school letter (1st march?)

I've decided I'll be happy with any of the top three schools I've put down.

But because Ds took the 11+ there is no knowing which school it will be.

It's the not knowing which is killing me. i'm so impatient.

OneMoreMum loads of tales flying around here too!

The rumour here goes that if you apply for a place at the faith school, you should not put a non-faith school down as second or third choice because then you won't get into the faith school There is a slight flaw in that theory though as there is only the one faith secondary in the area so that would mean putting down just one school...

Even so, I did take the Headteacher of the faith school to one side on the open evening and ask him whether or not my second and third choices of school would affect my son's application to his school and he said no. In fact he went on to say that it would be 'most foolish' not to put a second or third choice down.

Still fretting about it though

I think the equal preference thing is supposed to be the same accross the country now, after some LEAs had their knuckles rapped for some rather dodgy admissions criteria which amounted to selection by the back door.

Old wives tales still abound, such as in our area the rumours are that if you apply to the out-of-area grammar schools the LEA will assign you an in-area school even if you have it third on your list to avoid the 'brain drain' to the neighbouring authority. The result of this is lots of people using all 3 choices for grammar schools before they even know if they've passed the 11+.

The local authority, however, denies this completely and I really can't imagine they could get away with it, but most of the parents seem to believe it's true!

that is the same as our lea you could put 3 choices ( i think you could tecnically put more it said something about continue on a seperate sheet but we were hard pushed to put 2 never mind 3)it did not matter in which order you put the schools down on the form the school had to consider each application on an equal preference basis regardless of which position they were put on the form. I think personally this is a good idea as at least you know if you dont get your first choice hopefully you will get your second or third so at least you know your child will be going somewhere of your choice while you make an appeal (unless thats me being a bit naive as some of the more cynical parents in our school seem to think that equal preference is what is supposed to happen but does it?) at this point I tend to put my hands over my ears and try not to listen as they could drive you mad with doubts over whether you have done the right thing etc

We're supposed to be able to get the allocation online on March 1st - which is just as well as that is also the deadline for accepting places at private schools. DH is on tenterhooks; I'm not really because there's nowt more we can do about it. Whether DD gets a place at the grammar is entirely out of our hands - she's passed the 11+, and she's high on the reserve list for an out-of-catchment place. We don't hear from her preferred backup (selective private) till the very end of this month either, but she's been offered a scholarship at another private school - not so academic but a lot closer, and mixed rather than all girls, so I'd actually not be too sorry if she ended up there.

I know, its easy to be philosophical when none of the options is bad - I do hope things work out for all of you.

One thing which is good in our LEA is that they no longer weight an application by the position in the form. You don't have to hedge your bets and not risk putting your favourite school first because its oversubscribed - if you don't get your first preference then you're considered for the second etc with no penalty for not having put them first.

gingertoo - it depends which education authority you are in. In Essex we could log on to their website from just after midnight on allocation day and find out which school dd had been allocated but I think other authorities do it differently. This was a couple of years ago and the system crashed a few times leaving some people knowing and others not! I think they managed it better last year!

Blackrock - I went to visit an outstanding school for DS. I was a vocatianal college, specialising in teaching DCs a vocation such as plumbing, plastering, electrics. I thourght it would be perfect as DS is not good at acedemic subjects and thorght if he could leave school with a trade it would stand him in good stead for the future.

I hated it.

The SENCO classroom was shoved in a corner out the way with tatty mis-matched furniture (while the school has had a multi million pounds makeover.) It literally had failure kids written all over it. Then when we went to see the teacher about vocational courses. He basically said its only the thick kids who choose my subject. DS was standing right next to us who he didnt know from Adam. Then I was told that they would drop DS from spanish. DS has done spanish in primary school since nursery, they were not concerned that they would be excluding him from a lesson he is actually good at.

My whole approach of looking for a school for DS has been on how they help those children who are not expected to gain 10 GCSEs and move them up the leauge tables. I just want a school who will get the best out of my son without making him feel that he is thick or stupid and wont ammount to much. I dont care if he leaves school and works in a shop as long as he has the right attitude to work and feels good about himself.

As I've been whittling on about elsewhere (am really boring myself now), DS has been offered a private place but also sat an aptitutde test for a good out of catchment state school.

Am driving myself crazy wondering if he's got the state place, if we should take it if he does, if we can afford to keep paying private, what it will mean for DS2 who is only 1 school year behind etc. etc.......

Aaargh am about to lose my mind!!!!!

newpup - us too - DS got offered a scholarship at one - now waiting to see if we get a bursary (no scholarships available) offer from the other and then we need to decide by 8 March. DH keeps telling me there is no wrong decision as both are good schools - I am not so sure and am thoroughly .

DS is on the list for the local school which is in special measures...so no need to worry about getting in....what would you do? There are no other close choices where we are.

Horrible time.

DD1 took the entrance exam for an academic private school at the end of January and we had to wait 2 weeks to find out if she had got in. Found out last Friday.She got in!

The relief was enormous so I can imagine having to wait months must be agony!

We also applied for a space at the local High school which is much fought after. We will definately get a space as we live very close to it. I have friends who have no idea whether they will get a space as the boundary changes every year depending on numbers they are living on tenterhooks!

However, I will be turning my place down and I know of one other doing the same. Hope this gives hope to some of you that even if you do not get a space at first they do come up. Definately worth going on a waiting list.

Good Luck to all!

Very best of luck to ALL of our DCS!

Would it not be nice if all the schools were of the same good standard and we did not need to worry about it one bit?!

Ok, to step up the next level in the obsessive worrying....

... those who have found out by email on offer day - what time did the email arrive??

Did it pop into your inbox at 12:01 on offer day or did it arrive sometime after 9am when a clerk got round to pressing the [send] button??

The very best of luck to her. Roll on March first!

brigitBigKnickers the one DD1 sat the exam for works with the catchment area (we are definitely not in it) but I still hope... the letter that told us she had passed said the score she did, not the ranking, did yours say the ranking?)

When I was applying for a place in primary school for her, absolutely everyone told me she would not get our first choice because we were not in the catchment (just borderline though) she still got it so I am a firm believer in trying anyway. Even if it does not work, it still worth having a go.

gorionine the grammar school DD wants to go to accepts pupils on a ranking basis.

The top 120 scores get in although if you are ranked somewhere in the top 150 you might still have a chance. i heard of one girl who reached the top of the waiting list in the summer holidays- she had left junior school when she heard!
There isn't really a pass mark. Scores that are high enough one year might not be good enough the next.

our la would not tell you if you ring up i only know this as i tried many years ago to find out if we had been successful with our first choice of nursery as we were leaving for holiday the actual day the letter came out. i was told in no uncertain terms that there was no way they would be able to confirm where a place had been allocated and did i have any idea exactly how long it would take given how busy they were? if i could have held on for the post i would have the only thing i was concerned about was i knew that you had to confirm acceptance by a certain date and was worried that i would lose the place. now being through the system several times i know that you have at least a month happy days!

We applied by post!

Doobydoo - here in Essex if you apply online you can find out your child's allocated school online on 1st March. Don't know if they do that where you are but at least you may not have to wait till you get back from your shortbreak!

We are away when letter arrives!I stupidly booked short break we won't be back until 5th[eek]
We put 2 schools down,both Grammars.We all like the 1st choice the most but it is further away and super selective.
Do you reckon if I 'phone school admissions on the 2nd they will tell me on phone or will we have to wait[probably]Can't believe that some schools get the list at half term.
Good luck to all

Very anxious too. DD1 is (obviously [smile0 first of my children to go to high school and I very much feel very out of depth!

We only get 3 choices here though.

Our first choice is quite far from where we live (selective school)and we have very little chance that she will get it. DD hopes she will get our second choice (local high school that we really liked when we visited) because she is now getting a bit scared of :

• going to a school 11 miles away
• going to a school where she knows no one

BrigitBignickers, DD1 took hers in September, we know she passed it but we still have to wait until March 1st to know if she has got a place there or not as it is very oversubscibed and not all the children who were successfull will actually be accepted.

DD2 took the 11+ in November so it's been a very long wait to 1st March.

Her first choice was a really super selective grammar where 900 pupils are going for 120 places. We put another grammar (much further away) second which I think she might have a stab at getting into but not sure how she would cope with the very very long days.

The third choice is the local fairly well thought of comprehensive but she really really doesn't want to go there.

Fortunately we heard this week she has been accepted at a nearby selective independent which she absolutely loved when we visited. (Just rather not have to pay for school fees if we don't have to.)

I'm not worried about my choices for DS1.

Firstly, I think he'll get a place at the private schools he sat exams/interviewed for (and may even get a scholarship) and secondly, the state school we applied for "historically" offers places to our address in the first round.

Of course, that' doesn't stop me feeling faintly nervous but I'm not really worried. It could all go wrong I guess!

I must admit, I played it 'safe' with our form. The school I really want for ds is 3 miles away and always oversubscribed. It would however have been the perfect school for ds.
Alas, I put our nearest school as my first choice. There is nothing wrong with it, and ds will do perfectly fine there, but it is not really the best for him (specialist sports school whereas ds is into drama/performing arts and detests sport)
My second school is the second nearest. It seems like a good school. My third choice is the one 3 miles away. The one I really want. But had I put it first - and undoubtly be rejected as we are too far away - then we may not have got our nearest school as that too is always oversubscribed.

Im dreading the 1st March.I think Ive made a big mistake on DSs form.

Our first choice is the feeder school for his primary school but as we no longer live in the catchment, we have been serverly pushed down the list.

Our second choice is a school that I wouldnt send a scabby dog to, but the only school we are in the catchment for. We only put it down because our HT said if we put it second, it would go better for us if it goes to appeal. I cant help thinking now that it wont.

Third choice school, I havent even visited and only put it down because other choices were so dire in respect of what is suitable for DS.

If he gets offered his second choice and fails the appeal, I can see us having big problems both with his learning and attitude in general. There really is a lot at stake beyond being a pushy parent wanting to get into the best school.