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Original poster

no offer for state school wimbledon, what should i do??

47 replies

lilasimpson · 28/03/2010 11:15

hi, i just got a letter from council saying that ds has no place for dundonald, wimbledon chase or pelham....i am lost, don't know whether i should apply privately ie willington, rowans..on top of it, dont know if ds needs a test prior to entrance.....can someone help me??? don't know if it's worth it..i am also looking at other schools like holy trinity, the priory, joseph hood...what do u think???

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Original poster

lilasimpson · 31/03/2010 09:20

1120m walking distance to holy trinity

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prh47bridge · 31/03/2010 10:48

It is disappointing that the council don't want to tell you where you are on the waiting list. Many councils do. However, you can go down the list as well as up - if another child goes on the list who is higher up the admission criteria than you, they will go ahead of you on the waiting list.

By law, the admission authority must maintain a waiting list until the end of the autumn term. As a CoE school is its own admission authority, that means it is the school's job not the council's, whatever the lady at All Saints thinks.

ivy30 · 31/03/2010 14:11

I completely understand your frustration as I was calling the council last year with exactly the same questions.
The council will know the position on the waiting lists after they receive all acceptance slips. Before that the neither the schools nor the council know exactly what is going on, unfortunately. They were able to tell me our places on waiting lists for different schools later after they processed the replies. There was also a little confusion on who is maintaining the waiting lists (in our case it turned out to be the council but our CoE school was able to tell us our place on the list after they received it from the council).

Original poster

lilasimpson · 31/03/2010 17:18

phoned up holy trinity and we are 5th according to distance for the moment...hopefully there are chances....went to visit joseph hood and unfortunately was not that impressed although kids seemed happy....any other thoughts?

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doozle · 31/03/2010 21:08

I do think you're in with a chance at HT, Lila. They just need to see what comes back on the acceptance slips.

Did you try Garfield or the Priory? I visited both and although I didn't like as much as HT, I would have been ok with those.

doozle · 31/03/2010 21:15

Ps. The headteacher at Priory came from Dundonald 2 years ago and has an excellent reputation.

Garfield has a really nice building, I thought and the reception teachers and classrooms were lovely.

VictoriaSG · 01/04/2010 16:28

We also haven't received a place at any of the 3 schools of our choice. Spoken to Merton council a few days ago and we are 20something on the waiting list to Wimbledon chase school and around 10th to Hollymount at the moment. I didn't expect we would be so far!

I also went to Joseph hood and also wasn't impressed... And this is the only school near us that still has places available.

Original poster

lilasimpson · 02/04/2010 14:23

this is just incredible that there are so many problems just to get into a good school....what if we rent near a school, how long do we have to be there for? is it cheating?? i am so hopeless though, just the thought of having to pay 9000 for private saddens me...

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Dukey66 · 02/04/2010 18:13

We had same problem around four years ago. We were 11th on waiting list for Dundonald. We could have gone to Joseph hood and would have but meant coming off waiting list for Dundonald. At that time only way to stay on waiting list was to go private - we ended up going to willington and were offered a place at Dundonald 2 terms in, we took up place there. The head from Dundonald now at priory she is amazing

Original poster

lilasimpson · 02/04/2010 20:37

thanks dukey, do you think it was the best decision to go to willington? was your little one able to catch up after the transfer? do you think it is worth moving closer to school to secure a place??

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PardonMyClench · 07/04/2010 20:59

Dukey66 - can I hijack and ask how you found Willington?

AngryPixie · 07/04/2010 21:07

I'm amazed you think the Head at The Priory is amazing, she is very poorly thought of there and extremely unpopular with parents. I wonder if the school is too big for her as she was quite well regarded at Dundonald.

Dukey66 · 07/04/2010 23:05

just to answer various questions. Not sure re moving to be nearer, dundonald for example has only one form entry and huge number of sibling place - so not sure would guarantee a place. My son was young enough for the transfer to be fairly insignificant. I know some people really rate Willington, I am slight ambivalent towards it, it was simply a means to an end. Some really nice teachers though.

interesting comment re head at Priory. The feeling is she ran the school like a business, and this was a good thing as all the good teachers stayed and school was classed as outstanding - although not so popular with kids. New head knows all kids by name, v approachable but possibly not so professional and less popular with teachers and staff.

CarGirl · 07/04/2010 23:09

I'm sure you can go on as many waiting lists as you like and stay on them even if you accept a place at one school you can stay on the waiting list on the others and then see where you end up in September/December?

doozle · 08/04/2010 14:43

Angrypixie, gosh am surprised to hear that, I've not heard anything negative about her.

How are things generally then at Priory, apart from the head? We spoke last year about schools, I think.

AngryPixie · 08/04/2010 15:54

Doozie, I have withdrawn my children from The Priory this year long story.

I probably shouldn't do the whole story in a public forum but if you want to contact me by e-mail I'll be happy to fill you in. It's not a complete bitch fest about The Priory either, there is some good stuff going on there, and I have many friends still there, but there are a few disaster areas too.

[email protected]

doozle · 08/04/2010 18:06

Have emailed you AP.

AngryPixie · 08/04/2010 20:49

mad rambling reply sent

Sophia95 · 16/04/2010 21:02

The lists do tend to move pretty quickly. My kids are in a sought-after Merton school and there have been those 12th on the waiting list that have got in. Selfish as it is, parents tend to keep their options open till the last minute, which impacts on other families desperate for places.

Another option....West Wimbledon is often undersubscribed because of location, but has had an excellent Ofsted report. We recently attended a fete there and it seemed to be a really vibrant and friendly place. My kids don't go there though so I can't offer any more praise!

Best of luck. I really feel for your dilemma. It'd be such a shame to have to go down the private route though. Hope it all comes good.

cuppycakesong · 18/04/2010 19:04

angrypixie, I don't mean to be nosy but I would like all info I can gather on The Priory as I'm considering transferring my ds from HT to The Priory. Is there any information you wouldn't mind sharing here? Thanks so much.

cuppycakesong · 21/04/2010 18:49

I'm panicking now

Original poster

lilasimpson · 22/04/2010 14:46

cuppy, why do u want to transfer fro ht? what is wrong with them??

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