Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Surrey Schools system error re waiting lists!

27 replies

bigbrownbearz · 20/04/2011 00:06

I am another very disappointed mummy in Surrey! Didn't get DS into any of our preferred primary Schools..our first choice is our nearest school and as I am expecting third baby in September was looking forward to being able to take DS on his bike for a five minute cycle/walk along the canal with other mums I know in the area. Instead I have been offered School over 2 miles away, which I will have to drive to. Seems crazy that there are 13 other schools nearer to me than the one I have been offered and I will have no real sense of community like I would if I was taking him to our local school.

I understand that my only hope is watching the waiting list....so this morning being the day the WAITING LISTS were released, I rang Surrey Schools and they told me I was number 15 on my first choice (103 on waiting list as very popular school) number 39 on second choice and number 40 on my third choice...

However, I rang them back this afternoon to ask another question and was told that they have experienced a system failure and that the information I was given this morning could be all wrong!! Has anyone else been told this???? Talk about mess with your head....thought I would do a shout out to all those people who rang in the morning and think what they were told was the correct info..not a great confidence builder in the system.

Having read previous threads I am concerned as to why I have also been told on a number of occasions that I am only allowed my DS to be on three waiting lists at a time. I would have to e-mail to change my 2nd and/or third choice to different waiting lists? Is this true or can I insist I can be on as many waiting lists as I choose? ADMISSIONS?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

prh47bridge · 20/04/2011 01:02

You can insist on being on as many waiting lists as you want. They cannot limit you to the schools you named as preferences.

southofthethames · 20/04/2011 01:37

Don't know if there are just a high proportion of Mumsnet users from Surrey :-) or whether the Surrey education services are not terribly good......I can attest that I've been told the same thing too - I can change the names of the schools I want but I can only be on the waiting lists of 3 schools in total. I called later but I certainly hope I've been given the right info .... unless it's better news I should be getting :-)

Maybe us Surrey parents should just set up our own school or schools...no wonder the government is so keen to promote free schools - as the gap to be plugged is massive!

Original poster

bigbrownbearz · 20/04/2011 07:49

They told me they were fixing it yesterday and that I should call again today ...

OP posts:

cece · 20/04/2011 07:56

Surrey is in a right mess, my friend is facing a 6 mile trip both ways for her school run - so 24 miles a day!

mummytime · 20/04/2011 08:01

If you have been allocated schools so far away you should be inundating the school transport office with requests for school transport.

Original poster

bigbrownbearz · 20/04/2011 08:04

Have just called and have been told the system is still down and they are mending it...told to call back this afternoon...

OP posts:

cece · 20/04/2011 08:17

Complete farce. I am so glad I didn't have to apply for a Reception place this year.

LondonSuperTrooper · 20/04/2011 10:40

Oh no! I was told my position on the waiting list first thing yesterday morning..... after reading this post I will definitely give them a call now!

Kaekae · 20/04/2011 11:01

I know how you feel bigbrownbearz we are in the same boat. I called Surrey yesterday, system down and today at almost 11am it is still down! It is really frustrating. I have also had endless discussions about the ?only being allowed to go on three waiting lists? and today they are still adamant this is the case. I have tried writing to them about it and have had no response. I am new to the area so I have only just discovered an infant school that would be closer for us, walking distance as opposed to a drive away to the school we?ve been allocated. They won?t let me go on the waiting list for a place there unless I come off the waiting list for one of my preference schools, but they can?t do any of this until the system is up and running! A case of the computer says no!

ukkittykat · 20/04/2011 11:50

I tried this morning and was told to call back at 4pm if not they are hoping for tomorrow!! Lets hope that all the child data is not lost and we have to go through the whole process again!! can you imagine what chaos that would cause!!

ukkittykat · 20/04/2011 12:54

I just called the Surrey admissions system still down! I asked them whether the information given out yesterday could be wrong, they said they are making ajustments to the waiting list now so possibly! But she said she wouldnt have thought it would be a huge difference!! Well i think that a space of either moving up or down a waiting list is a huge difference!

southofthethames · 20/04/2011 12:57

I guess if people are applying to be added or deleted the system will need updating. Don't think the lists mean anything until you are number 1 or 2, unless you are number 50 or higher for all of them.

southofthethames · 20/04/2011 12:57

I called at about 3 or 4pm and the system was ok then.

ukkittykat · 20/04/2011 13:02

we are number 4 so is that not really a good position then!!

Rosenotinyorkshire · 20/04/2011 13:29

Surry has been appalling this year. I know of so many unhappy people. Thinking of you all who are on the dreaded waiting lists. I really hope you get a school your happy with before September

southofthethames · 20/04/2011 13:33

ukkittykat - four is pretty good, but as you know, until they actually give you the place, it's still just a number, isn't it? They "threaten" that if someone applies late and is a sibling/lives nearer, we get bumped further down the list.
Thanks Rose - moving to a deserted seaside village or migrating to another country is on the list of alternatives if it doesn't work out, lol.........

Rosenotinyorkshire · 20/04/2011 13:40

I dont think 4th on the waiting list is too bad either, although I know it is of no consolation when you are waiting. If the school is a 2 form entry for example, you can be reasonably sure of movement between now and September (going on my experiences) South. Jesting aside. A good friend of mine moved out of the area because of the school situation. This was three years ago. They also looked ahead and decided that the secondary school they would be likely to get would be far from suitable. It is a right mess, still they keep on building these houses round here, no thought as to how this will impact on already busy schools.

admission · 20/04/2011 14:52

Sorry, but the reality is that it needs somebody or everybody who is being messed around by Surrey to go to the Local Government Ombudsman and complain about the waiting list being limited. That is the only way that this will be resolved, one way or the other.
Having thought about it you could also approach the Schools Adjudicator as this is actually an admission criteria issue as much as maladministration by the LA.

southofthethames · 20/04/2011 14:57

Thanks Rose - as you know of course in this area if there is anything very good - glowing Ofsted/glowing word of mouth etc etc - EVERYONE wants it and not just people usually considered "well off" or "privileged"....ie pretty much about 90per cent of our local population, in other words. And there are not enough "outstanding" or "good" places to satisfy the demand - same situation as some parts of London, where parents would pay through the nose, if the place was even available. Am looking tentatively at the idea of driving to places the next borough or over the motorway - but it just seems a bit silly at the age of 4.

Am quite happy to wait till the school year has started though, as DC has an August birthday, so compared to older kids in his class he isn't missing that much as they won't have started school at his age, IYKWIM. We'll definitely be more obsessive about applying early by the time Junior age (7+) comes round, if we haven't gotten one of our choices by then. Even the good nursery near us which is qualified and well rated for Reception to Year 2 provision says they are chock full - their waiting list is closed! - and most mums used to say that wouldn't be their first choice for Reception to Year 2 education (because the number of children in each year there could vary a lot - from 2 to 10!)

Personally (it's just me) I'd prefer to drive than to move house just to be near a school for a few years, but maybe that's me..........(as long as the roads are not dangerous)

southofthethames · 20/04/2011 15:02

Haha - admission, i don't have a problem with the wait list being limited, I have a problem with the fact that our nearest school (which is not far if even a lazy bones like me can easily walk there) is apparently "too far" (by 100m) ....they had to take an extra class in an outbuilding one year (can't remember if it was last year or the year before last) but unfortunately not our year .....sigh...... Granted, I am sure in other parts of Surrey a limited waiting list could be a real problem. I wouldn't really need to be on lots of waiting lists because I can bet that all the places we'd be happy to send our child to would have massively long waiting lists too...........

Kaekae · 20/04/2011 16:32

I contacted the Local Government Ombudsman but they haven't replied.

Dozer · 20/04/2011 19:13

Where in surrey are you talking about please? I hear that the situation varies across the county.

Original poster

bigbrownbearz · 20/04/2011 20:41

Hi Kaekae - what issue exactly did you contact the Ombudsman about?

OP posts:

southofthethames · 21/04/2011 01:49

Dozer - Reigate & Banstead council. Rosenotinyorkshire and I were chatting about it on another thread. I think it's the scenario of people being disappointed that catchment areas are shrinking, or that people have chosen to buy a home near a school they like rather than one further away, only to find out that when their year came round, they were too far by 200m or something like that.

ukkittykat · 21/04/2011 12:52

1PM and still system is down what a joke!!

Flip

1 2