The 2015 Primary School Allocations Thread

[LocalEditorWandsworth]

There's always one and with places being announced this Thursday 16th April we thought we'd set the ball rolling.

Letters will be sent out on the 16th but if you applied online you can also log in to see the outcome of your application online after about 5pm.

Good luck everyone, and let us know how you get on!

Does anyone know what I do if I've changed my top preference (not sure if I have but no longer sure if you see what I mean)?

I put Rutherford House down as top and have heard the head is leaving along with both reception teachers which has made me a bit worried. We're close to the cut off for being close enough to get a place so I might be worrying about nothing but... if we do get it is there any way to turn the place down and go with our second choice instead?

Good luck everyone. What are others hoping for ? Am crossing all fingers for honeywell but realise it is practically impossible to get into!

Good luck everyone.

If you don't get a school you want try not to panic - this is just the first round and you could still get one of your preferred ones as the lists move. Just remember you must accept the school you have been allocated in order to remain on the council's waiting list. If you reject it they have no more responsibility towards you.

Results are on e-admissions now

What a joke. We got none of our six choices!

We're two streets away from both Belleville and Honeywell but because everyone wants them it's not close enough. Instead we've been given a Balham school we didn't pick (Ravenstone - not that it really matters) which OFSTED says 'requires improvement'

What a ridiculous system that we would have to drive miles to drop him off a bad school rather than walk moments to a good one!!

We thought this would happen so had a private place secured - I don't know what we'd do if that wasn't a financial option for us.

Ludicrous.

I think I must have said this on here a hundred times now, but (as none of you seem to listen ) here goes again:

Belleville and Honeywell are outstanding schools but they are not the only ones in the borough.

Ravenstone, which you don't seem to have researched at all before rejecting, was the school everyone wanted to get a place at in Balham with people renting nearby to get in, until OFSTED visited last year and downgraded its report from outstanding.

Honeywell infants last report was 2010 and Belleville's was 2012. You never know what might happen.

Out of interest were there any other primaries you'd have accepted goingprivatethen (Falconbrook must be closer to you) or was it BV or HW or private?

PS How did you get on Paloma12 and don't take my previous post as a criticism of Honeywell. It's just the attitude that HV and BV are the only acceptable schools that gets my goat.

Hi captain, we got Honeywell. I totally see your point. We were new to the area not so long ago, so our preference was based on the fact that we managed to get a surprise place at HW nursery, late in the day, and our child really settled there. But before that we almost moved to High View catchment, which looks very good as well. Would have been happy with High View, despite others seeming sniffy!!

Congratulations - the waiting is the worst part so knowing you've got a school you like is a huge relief!

Just out of noseyness how close to Honeywell are you - I wonder whether the catchment is still shrinking?

Thanks! We are 135m

Woohoo

We got Honeywell too. 190m away so really weren't expecting it as cut off last year was 182m.

We got our first choice - Rutherford House - and despite my earlier wobbles are thrilled. I think I was just panicking generally with the anxiety of waiting.

For those interested in catchments we are about 450m away.

Interesting about Ravenstone - it's catchment used to be about 500m. I guess the combination of OFSTED and Rutherford opening so near by has really affected the school.

Hey all, just thought I'd respond to the poster above who was unsure about rutherford house. My child is in reception this year and my second child is due to attend next year. I can honestly say that it is a fantastic school.

I understand the head and teacher leaving may be unsettling, however the new head of early years (for this year and next) who is also one of the reception class teachers is so enthusiastic, knowledgable and caring. I'm thrilled my child has her as a teacher. It's still early days for the school but the sense of community and the way the children are enjoying their learning has made me very happy I accepted the risk of a new school.

It's a really difficult decision to make for your own child, but I just thought I'd share an existing parents view. Good luck all

Tired .... What funny timing! Congratulations, I look forward to meeting you at the school gates :)

goingprivatethen just FYI Ravenstone is just over a mile away if you live between Honeywell and Belleville. A brisk 25 min walk to a lovely school. Not miles in the car ;-) Sounds OK to me...

According to the council all children were offered a primary place this year and 77% were offered their first choice (which is slightly up on last year).

Cut off distance for Honeywell was 189m (docmcmuffins sounds like that might have been you!) and for Belleville it was 476m. I've asked for distances for all the other schools too.

Any theories for why Belleville has increased so much?

Re Belleville, there were fewer siblings this year than last. Rumour has it than some applications were rejected based on temporary addresses too - not sure how reliable that is though.

And there are loads of other good local schools, as you say. Hopefully some people in the area are becoming more realistic in their school choices.

Here are the furthest distances for places offered under the proximity criterion for September 2015 from the Council (with last year's data for comparison)

Albermarle: 2015 - 910m 2014 - all
Alderbrook: 2015 - 718m 2014 - 1,113m
All Saints: 2015 - 718m
Allfarthing: 2015 - 556m 2014 - 255m
Beatrix Potter^: 2015 - 1m 2014 - 334m
Belleville: 2015 - 474m 2014 -238m
Brandlehow: 2015 - 556m 2014 - 520m
Chesterton: 2015 - 546m 2014 - 402m
Earlsfield: 2015 - 281m 2014 - 306m
Furzedown^: 2015 - 729m 2014 - 405m Gatton: 2015 - 1,500m 2014 - all
Holy Ghost*: 2015 - 927m
Honeywell: 2015 - 189m 2014 - 182m
Hotham: 2015 - 391m (bilingual) & 592m 2014 - 566m (b) & 875m
John Burns: 2015 - 483m 2014 - 435m
Our Lady of Victories*: 2015- 643m
Penwortham: 2015 - 839m 2014 - 474m
Ronald Ross: 2015 - 387m 2014 - 1,274m
Rutherford House: 2015 - 830m 2014: 877m
Sacred Heart*: 2015 - 0m
St Anne's*: 2015 - 1,658m
St Anselm's*: 2015 - 1,167m
St Boniface*: 2015 - 0m
St Faith's*: 2015 - 159m
St Joseph's*: 2015 - 341m
St Mary's Putney*: 2015 - 139m
St Michael's*: 2015 - 262m
Sheringdale: 2015 - 438m 2014 - 435m
Swaffield: 2015 - 817m 2014 - 795m
Tooting Primary: 2015 - 579m 2014: 543m
Wix: 2015 - 154m (bilingual) & 591m (English) 2014: 0m (b) & 515m

• faith schools operating additional religious criteria on top of distance ^ operates priority area system

Schools where all applicants were offered a place:

Broadwater (561m in 2014)
Christchurch
Eardley
Falconbrook
Fircroft (1,212 in 2014)
Floreat
Franciscan (1,269m in 2014)
Granard
Griffin
Heathmere
High View
Hillbrook
Mosaic
Ravenstone (742m in 2014)
Roehampton
St George's
St Mary's (Battersea)
Sellincourt (406m in 2014)
Shaftesbury Park (1,468m in 2015)
Smallwood
Southmead
The Alton
Trinity St Mary's
West Hill
Westbridge

17 of these still have vacancies.

So it looks like there were fewer applications altogether this year as distances have extended slightly almost everywhere.

Belleville's distance almost doubled which may well be because it had fewer siblings applying this year -53 out of 120 places compared to Honeywell's 44 out of 90 places. The Council also changed the way it assesses what address is used for applications to try and stop people renting short term to play the system which may have had an effect too.

Allfarthing and Penwortham's distances also increased drastically thanks to the addition of an extra reception class (permanently at Penwortham and temporarily at Allfarthing).

Ravenstone's reputation seems to have really suffered since it's OFSTED report was downgraded having previously been Balham's most over-subscribed school.

Any idea how I can tell how far away my home is from these schools, so I can see how far out of the catchment we are? Will Pupil Services tell me this? I can't seem to find a mapping website that has radial distances, only distances by car or on foot. I was offered by 4th choice which was only a filler and is a drive away.

And how do I find out how many sibling places were offered at my preferred schools - do the council publish these figures?

Hi kellois.

The Dept of Education has a tool that allows you to calculate a straight line distance between two postcodes here which should give you a fairly accurate idea but for a completely precise figure you'll need to call the Council to ask.

As for number of places that went to siblings here are the figures from the Council:

Albermarle: 15 of 60 places
Alderbrook: 14 of 60 places
All Saints: 13 of 30 places
Allfarthing: 23 of 90 places
Beatrix Potter^: 35 of 60 places
Belleville: 53 of 120 places
Brandlehow: 23 of 60 places
Chesterton: 26 of 60 places
Earlsfield: 34 of 60 places
Furzedown^: 21 of 60 places
Gatton: 8 of 90 places
Holy Ghost*: 11 of 30 places
Honeywell: 44 of 90 places
Hotham: 15 of 30 (bilingual) 11 of 30 (English)
John Burns: 9 of 30 places
Our Lady of Victories*: 15 of 30 places
Our Lady Queen of Heaven: 8 of 30 places
Riversdale: 26 of 60 places
Ronald Ross: 12 of 30 places
Rutherford House: 14 of 60 places
St Anne's*: 6 of 30 places
St Anselm's*: 11 of 30 places
St Faith's*: 10 of 30 places
St Joseph's*: 8 of 30 places
St Mary's Putney*: 14 of 30 places
St Michael's*: 31 of 60 places
Sheringdale: 12 of 60 places
Swaffield: 40 of 90 places
Tooting Primary: 16 of 60 places
Wix: 7 of 14 places (bilingual), 14 of 30 places (English)

I know the area around Belleville and Honeywell very well, I can't understand how someone who lives only two streets away from Belleville didn't manage to gain a place when the cut-off distance was 475m . I know people that have their children at Ravenstone who continue to be very happy with the school despite a slightly dodgy Ofsted report. (By the way, Belleville doesn't appear to have been inspected since 2007 so who knows what Ofsted might say think in the meantime.)

Just a reminder that if you want to accept the primary place you have offered the deadline for doing so is this Thursday 30th April. You need to accept formally in writing (via the form you'll have been sent).

As someone has said upthread, you should accept even if you are hoping to get a place at one of your more preferred schools via a waiting list as if you reject that ends the Council's responsibility to find you a place.