New in Tonbridge. Please help with in-year school application and choices!

[Magsisgoinghome]

We are moving to Tonbridge in the next couple of weeks. We managed to secure a rental in the Slade area from end of May. However, they are so oversubscribed that I don't think there is a chance of my Year4 DD being offered a place there. I need to choose which schools to put on my in-year application form. Of course Slade will be 1st choice and then Sussex Road, those 2 are the closest. But then I'm left to choose between Cage Green and St Stephens.
I know Cage Green is under special measures, but I have also heard good things about the school. I honestly don't know what to do. A friendly caring school is more important to me than an academic one - she is currently in a huge, academically brilliant, but very impersonal London school.
How about St Stephens? I have heard that there are issues with behaviour.
I would be so grateful to get some input from someone who knows either of the schools!

Hi, I am in a similar situation. My daughter is due to start school in Sept 2014 and has been allocated a place in Deal, Kent, where we currently live. We have now decided to move to Tonbridge but my daughter does not have a school place in Tonbridge. My question is, after all the school places have been allocated and the school is at capacity, is there a waiting list and how do they prioritise that waiting list if and when a place emerges? Is it distance to school? So for example, if there are 5 people above me on the list but I join it last but live closest to the school will I be the first one to be offered a place?

Regarding the schools in Tonbridge, I think you will get a good insight if you go and have a look at them all. I am hoping that this far out of London, they will all be pretty good.

Can't believe the hassle we have to go through in this country trying to get our kids an education.

I've just opened a new thread in Primary Education shine, but from what I can gather they will apply the same criteria to the waiting lists than what they do to reception applications. So in theory the closer to the school you are, the better your chances should be of moving up on the waiting list.