National Offer Day - anyone nervous?

[Queuing4Fergs]

DS11 didn't do as well as we had hoped or expected in the 11+ (thanks Covid) so we are desperately hoping for our first preference of local school. Not our catchment school but is the closest to us and we really liked it. A strong academic focus which will suit our son and also high expectations on behaviour which we liked.

Am getting nervous though as the other options are just not as good for DS, though are good schools. If the email doesn't come through early Monday morning, I'm not sure how I'm going to concentrate at work

Yep Herts is always just before the afternoon school run!

Congratulations to those who got what they wanted (even if bankruptcy is now on the cards)

@PusheenLove. Extra congratulations! I hope it works out well for your DD. Did you friend not put her third choice? It's daft not to.

Fingers crossed for those still waiting!

Hurrah - first choice! We're all happy 😊

First and only choice - and the only high school in our area. But it's an excellent one, so we're delighted anyway!

@AmelieTaylor

Congratulations to those who got what they wanted (even if bankruptcy is now on the cards)

@PusheenLove. Extra congratulations! I hope it works out well for your DD. Did you friend not put her third choice? It's daft not to.

Fingers crossed for those still waiting!

Thanks for the congrats. It's a relief to know my daughter will have access to a specialist Autism unit within a mainstream.

Re: my friend, I told her to put a third choice (a catholic school). Because she's not Catholic, she didn't put it. Now she is on the waiting list for her two choices and has no school for her children (twins). What will happen for this family?

WalkingOverRainbows If she had put a hopeless third choice (faith school), would this have changed things?

I believe the LA are obliged to find her a place for her twins but not necessarily in their local area so her twins may well end up at an unpopular school with places a distance from their house. I guess distance will vary by area ie city/ rural.

We had 6 spaces to fill on our form (Birmingham). Is this not the case nationwide?

However here at least, waiting lists appear to move quickly so things may be different by September. She's just got an anxious few months ahead.

Only 3 spaces in the North East

@PusheenLove

WalkingOverRainbows If she had put a hopeless third choice (faith school), would this have changed things?

So all the ones are filled then all the twos then all the threes etc. If you dont get the first, you move to the second and so on. As she had no third option she effectively "fell off" the allocations. The schools are filled per the options (and criteria obvs) until they are full. So yes, possibly if she put the third one in she would have met criteria and been in that batch. If you run out of options, and all the places are filled, younare then allocated a school that does have places. Wherever that is.

DS got his first choice. However when I told him, he burst into tears and said he didn't want to go there... despite HIM CHOOSING IT last year! Kids!