Have you applied for your year 6's secondary school?

[sarah8484]

Just that really, have you applied for you dc's secondary school places? This is literally the most daunting thing I think I have to do. My ds knows which school he wants to go to but a lady over the road from me said she applied for the same school my ds wants to go to and her ds never got a place and wasn't even offered any of his choices, apparently there was a baby boom in 2008 where I live. Id be devastated if my ds didn't get his choice of school. Theres only 2 schools I want to put, but its recommended I put 5! Any one only applied for 1/2 schools?

Be realistic about choices. If your not in catchment your unlikely to get the school you want but contact council allocations to find out how many kids got in from Your area.

You need to check the over subscription criteria for each school as they can differ vastly.

Use all your choices and include the most likely even if it is your least worst of what would be left.

I was in application round last year, which indeed was a boom year. In my area 120 children did not initially get a place, of the ones I know none of them included their admission zone school, instead just presuming they would get the school they wanted.

I made a very calculated and educated decision to only put two schools down, but I would never advise anyone else to do so.

Some good advice here.

Its not a game to win. Theres no strategy.

Just put them in the order you want them. Make sure you put down.your catchment even if you dont want it. You might not automatically get it and you could end up in a worse school miles away .

Remember that everything that happens after, any appeals, going on waiting lists etc, well that can all be done and is unaffected by accepting your place.

They are under no obligation to find you another placement should you reject the one you are given.

This is also the point where you close your ears. Anyone who says they only put one down and it made them.get it. Anyone who says we did X and they have to do it etc is lying. Theres no way to game the system. And ask yourself who benefits from you messing up the application on the say so of "friends" .

You either qualify or you dont. They have no idea who you are and they dont care . It's not personal.

Oh and please please please look at transport option .alot of people round here were told last minute that they disnt have places on a bus

Those reliant on public buses need to check there are no plans to change the time table. What seems doable now may well result on being there 5 mins.late or 45 minutes early should they scrap a bus

I strongly advise that even if a route has been running decades that you call up.and check.because alot of routes have been sold off to different bus companies and your current tickets May not be accepted etc

To find out whether you would have got in in previous years, find the previous admissions data on your council (or the schools') website.
For example this is the Hants info www.hants.gov.uk/educationandlearning/admissions/data

Put some reminders in your phone / calendar for towards end October to make sure you have actually applied and pressed the submit button. The last thing you want is to forget to actually submit.

Go and see the schools
Look at their ofsted / performance data
Think what is important to you

Use up all the form
Put them in your true order of preference
Put a banker school (that you should definitely get into) on the form somewhere.

@Somebodystired where we live (London) every year they publish data on the furthest allocated first round place. This is consistently about 2100m, so even with the higher priority criteria (which also published annually) they get to 2km away. The higher priority criteria fill nothing like the % of places you suggest in the school we want so I am not worried (those take about 35%). I really don't think the catchment is going to more than halve in some kind of freak year just when we want to go!

Depends where you live, here you select 3, everyone gets their catchment school. If you are applying for a school that is further from your house/out of area you may find you are unlikely to get a place

Theres no way to game the system.

Ahem ! Not for church schools . People lied their pants off to a new vicar and got places at an over subscribed and ofsted outstanding school . Disgusting

Not yet because we’ve only seen one school. The deadline for us is 31 October, I’m pretty daunted myself as our most local school is utter shit.

I think we have to put down three schools.

@sarah8484 if you ask for this to be moved over to Secondary in the Education section you’ll get more advice. There are experts over there who are great at offering advice.

We get to put down three but I’m stumped on a third they are all two busses away after 1st and 2nd choice. Bonkers to ask for so many options when there is not actually that many within walking distance. We go from 9 primary schools to 2 secondary’s within a 45 minute walk. Combined they only take just over 400 pupils per year in yet each primary takes 60 per year. Madness.

I've set the application up but haven't listed schools yet - still waiting to see the outcome of 2 separate 11+ exams, so I won't be able to complete it til mid-October. Over the last 2 years I have attended all the open evenings/mornings, so depending on exam outcomes, I have various permutations of preference rankings. DS has also been around all the schools bar 2, which he will look at in the coming weeks.

Please ensure you use all the choices you have on the application.

We have 3 open evenings to go to. One is at a school a bus ride away & we went to last year’s open evening just out of interest. One is my old school & the third is where I think a lot of DD’s friends will be going. She wavers between that one & the furthest away school, which is beautiful & could offer her a lot. Can’t believe she’s year 6!

I've just come on to dispel some myths that do the rounds every year.

1.Only putting one or two schools on your form gives you more chance of getting them
No. Allocating is done by computer according to a strict set of criteria. If you are not eligible (eg becuase you live so far away) for a school, you will not get a place even if it is the only schoolon your list.

1. If I don't get into my prefered school, I will just be given a palce in my local school.

No, the LA will give you a place in the nearest school with spaces available which may be way over on the other side of town. 3.I'll write special pleading in the bitwhere you can put a comment and they will give me a place No. The allocation is done by computer and they only use that box at appeal.

1. Because of my special circumstances, eg I have to drive dc2 to special school, so I need a school within wakling distance for dc1, I will get a place.

No, even though it at times is drastically unfair for families in difficult circumstances, the allocation is done by computer and that will not be taken into account.

Do go and look at schools.
Do look on their website and ask how far away the furthest pupil was last year (if it was 1 mile away, and you live 2 miles away, you are not likely to get in.)
Do put the schools down strictly in the order you WANT them, not the order you think you will get. If you are not eligible for school 1 on yoru list, then school 2 is considered as if it was school 1. (alongside kids who put it as 1)

No, even though it at times is drastically unfair for families in difficult circumstances, the allocation is done by computer and that will not be taken into account

I hope somebody will come and correct the exact figures but this reminded me that in secondary school the distance and travelling time the LA deem acceptable is surprisingly long. An hour. Maybe even an hour and a half. ( I am.more than prepared to be corrected) . So if even the local school is oversubscribed that's how long they will think is reasonable for your child to travel to school . It's just something else to bear in mind when listing (or in many cases not listing) selections to avoid the local crap hole.

We were in this situation.. still are. The local schools are all rubbish. But a 30 min walk is far easier than an hour or so on buses/trains or taxis. Traffic adds alot of extra time and it makes the day very long for the children.

Also think about revision classes and detentions. Could your child get there early for the revision classes .

yes, it is something like 90 minutes travel time! I am not certain, but it is definitely at least an hour.
That also includes year 7's doing 3 bus changes in some cases.

And, unless you have a ECHP which states otherwise, any SEN which might make that impossible is not taken into account (eg ASD child in mainstream school would be expected to do that trip)

And help with travel will be for the child. It will not cover the cost if parents felt they need to do the trip with them. Due to length or safety. That travel.expense will be on the parents .

Don’t apply too soon. You have time. Applying sooner won’t make any difference and you need chance to have a proper look/ think. Use all your choices. It limits the risk of getting allocated a school that is rubbish and a long way away.

Does anyone have any advice about what we should be looking for or asking at the open evenings?
I've had a good look at the schools websites already so think it's maybe more about 'feeling' whether a particular school will suit my child but maybe that's naive!

31st October here.

I’ve only applied for one but I’m 100 percent sure he will get it. It’s a great school too.

Waiting for 11+ results first. 2008 is a boom year here too and the grammar schools have had 50% more applicants for the exam than normal.

I will struggle to put 6.
My first choice is our nearest school, Catholic, and we are in the primary feeder, with a sibling already there, so I'm hopeful. My 2nd choice is my 2nd closest school which is also excellent.

I will put 2 more, in the next town down.

I might struggle to put a 5th and 6th.

@LampLass

• are results for your type of child OK
• how much homework
• feel of school eg pushy academic, relaxed and arty, caring, strict etc
• behaviour & uniform policy
• who gets to do triple science (if you care)
• do they offer 2 MFL to GCSE
• options at KS4 for the less academic
• extra curricular activities you care about - sport, music, drama etc
• do you want your child to turn out like the current y11s
• if you ask a pupil what they like/dislike about the school what do they say
• if you ask school about bullying what do they say
• what is their pastoral support like

@TeenPlusTwenties
Very helpful, thank you!