Help! None of secondary schools have offered a place.

[yummyeclair]

Hello, none of the 3 schools we chose have offered a place- all oversubscribed. We have been offered one in a different town about an hour away. Feeling shell shocked. We can put DC on waiting list but we literally live 15 or 2o minutes walk away from all 3. Any advice?

Were any of the three options your catchment school?
And have you enquired about where you are in the waiting list for the 3 schools you applied for?

Fingers crossed you get into a more local school though the waiting lists.

Yes we are in catchment area of all 3. I can only assume less pupils applied for the grammar school hence the comprehensives are over subscribed. I didnt realise you could ask where you are in waiting list, thank you. Just worried he will have no friends he knows already if he ends up in the allocated school which has a poor reputation.

Your area must work differently, we're only given one catchment school. If you put it down and don't get it there is funding available for travel.

I'm assuming you didn't apply to your nearest school? It may be worth asking to go on the waiting list for that school as you'll likely be much higher up the list.

Hi zzebra, yes all 3 are the closest but the admissions all have lots of criteria before the distance is considered. Lots of other pupils only got their 3rd choice!

I wouldn't worry too much about the friends issue. Even when a child does go to the same secondary school as their friends they often get into new friendship groups pretty quickly.

In terms of what you should do, the first thing is to accept the place that has been offered. Rejecting it will not help you. The LA doesn't have to come up with another offer and, if you appeal, the panel may think you are trying to blackmail them. Accepting the offer won't damage your position and means you definitely have a place somewhere for your son.

Check to see if there is any indication that a mistake has been made. Have they put your son in the correct category? If you missed out on distance, does the distance used by the LA seem right?

You can appeal for all three of the schools you named as preferences. If there has been a mistake that would give you a strong case for appeal. Even without a mistake, you can still win by showing that the disadvantage to your son through not being admitted outweighs the disadvantage to the school through having to cope with an additional pupil. Look for things the appeal school offers that are particularly relevant to your son and are missing from the allocated school.

Being in a grammar area is a good thing as there is likely to be some churn between grammar and private, and possibly some appeals/ waiting list spaces. We are similar to you with no named catchment school, just as the crow flies distance. Are you sort of in the middle of the triangle of schools? I would accept the school offered, go on waiting lists for all three, appeal for all three and if you are allowed to be on more than three waiting lists see whether there is a different school which you might get into which is an easier journey.

Lots of people sign up for private assuming they might not get the grammar. When they do, they accept the grammar and exit the private lists. So the churn goes the other way here.

This decision by the LA is difficult to comprehend. They must be bussing lots of DC miles and miles. Why not expand one school to actually take catchment DC? Seems all wrong to me.

@PresentingPercy

Lots of people sign up for private assuming they might not get the grammar. When they do, they accept the grammar and exit the private lists. So the churn goes the other way here.

This decision by the LA is difficult to comprehend. They must be bussing lots of DC miles and miles. Why not expand one school to actually take catchment DC? Seems all wrong to me.

That isn't in the LA's gift. Even for LA-controlled schools, the governors have a say. For academies and VA schools the LA can ask but the school has the final say. And, of course, if a school is operating at or close to its physical capacity, expanding is not easy.

Is there another school you didn't put down that is closer, and you might accept over this offered school? Make sure you go on their waiting list too.
Ask the schools what position you are, but remember that can alter down as well as up according to their criteria.
Accept the place you've been offered, even if there's no way he's going there. If you reject that, the LA is under no obligation to assist as they've done their bit.

Excellent advice already from prh47bridge.

Check where you are in waiting lists, check that there hasn’t been an error (such as considering your application under the wrong oversubscription category) and think about appealing. But be aware that wanting to stay with primary school friends will not on its own be enough to win an appeal.

Accept the place. Go on waiting list for all local schools. Good luck!

In our area around 10% get into private selective schools. But they apply for state too. So about that number of places are offered off wait list