Primary school allocation countdown- Thursday 16th April...

[MTWTFSS]

Is anyone else dying to find out which school they have been allocated?

This is for my PFB which makes it extra difficult for me :(

I can't talk about it in real life as it starts off as a nice casual conversation ending with some delusions of grandeur PFB nonsense

Oh it must be a day for sufferering fools today. I've had my sister in law shoving her opinions down my throat about schools (again). She keeps telling me over and over how much easier it would be to send my kids to the local school (that's in special measures) than to the one in the next town. I feel like I constantly have to justify myself and when I tell her the reason I chose this school is because it's the best possible school for my kids and its Catholic she just thinks I'm being snotty, and I'm not! Argh!!!!!!

yy.

I too ended up on this situation trying to avoid a SM. not one that stood a hope of being turned around but one that's consistently been a bad school fir many many years. threatened with closure at one point.

11 days :( I'm not doing well :(

OMG I forgot to mention...

aw beautiful picture

Hello! Can I join? Waiting to see if dd has a place at our nearest school. It's currently ofsted outstanding but has just been inspected so also awaiting its updated report. We are in London and catchment are tiny. We are 0.2 miles away but most years this wouldn't be close enough. Just hoping for a lucky year! We are in an ok place though as we should get a place at our second choice good rated school where she us currently at nursery if not. That would be fine though the head is a bit eccentric which put us off. If we are really unlucky we might not get a place at either (catchment last year was 0.5 and we are 0.4 away but the catchments are shrinking every year) in which case I don't know what we will do except sit on the waiting lists and hope. Good luck everyone!

Hello and welcome. yes feel free to moan panic or rant here

longest All are welcome here :)

Hope everyone is having a stress-free Easter :) We had lamb for lunch, with roast potato/veg :)

Thanks for the welcome. Technically I put other schools above my first choice and between my first and second choice but only to fill the form up. The whole borough is oversubscribed and we are out of catchment for all other schools. So worst case scenario is no place at all. Eventually they would have to put a bulge class on somewhere but sometimes they wait until after term starts and I think the most likely candidate is a religious school in the wrong direction for work. Hopefully we are not in that position as second choice school should be ok but 60 peoples were this year.

giles worst case scenario could you share drop offs with someone in a similar boat? Obviously hoping it doesn't come to that though.

Also hoping I have actually done right in putting nearer school top. It is a bit religious too (though no religious priority in the admission criteria) and dd will be cross at leaving her nursery friends but results were twice as good and head seems better. The rest of the staff seem to get on ok by sidelining the head at second choice school but I suspect it would be a problem if you ever had an issue that needed resolving. Will be interested to see what ofsted say as current outstanding report is ancient.

Dd would have to attend the school in order for me to get to know anyone else who could take her.

everyone I knew with kids there removed them.

There's no one really near me either who goes to dd1s school. or that I know of.

Everything crossed for you giles. How does sibling priority work at your dd's school? Here it is 2nd after looked after children/sen and most places go to siblings - hence the tiny distance catchments.

Just reading back re nursery q. Dd's preschool takes her for 2.5 school days and then she can also attend the school wrap around care and holiday club. I could also pay for extra school days if there were spare spaces. It is great but it is one of the only schools round here that offer that (which is why she is not at nearest first choice school nursery). Most are half days only and no holiday or after school provision although over the border in Islington they are much more flexible but they prioritise their own residents even over distance (they can't do that with schools any more so I have applied for one Islington school but tthere is no chance really)

If I remember correctly it's LAC, SN, catchment, siblings, anyone else

Ah right. They don't technically have catchment here. They just use closest distance as a tie break criterion for the other categories - eg lac/sen, siblings, church attendance (if applicable) and other. So when I say catchment I am really referring to the furthest cut off distance for non siblings in recent years. Everything crossed for you.

Easter has been good so far but sadly lacking in chocolate as I am pregnant with gestational diabetes. Having a roast later though.

Thank you

and for you

I just really hope we all get the schools we are hoping for. I don't think some people understand how important it is to get the right school.

I wish I could be like that tbh. not giving a shit where my kids go and being happy with whatever.

sadly though I live somewhere where the good schools are good and the bad schools are really bad. consistently so. For a long time.

backed up by people who's kids go there and have removed them or made several complaints or complain on face book all the time about stuff that's happening.

I know a few people who have gone to alot of trouble to get their kids to and from. The schools they are at now. because the alternative didn't bare thinking about.

I long for even a RI that's good enough.

Am also slightly worried about dd's nursery' s reaction if she gets a place at first choice school, especially as I will need to use the nursery for soon to be dd2. We had a bit of a bumpy start due to dd having ticketing issues and the council getting involved but it's smoothed over now. Worried they will feel betrayed and get snotty again and dd will miss out on the transition stuff they will do. So in many ways it would be easier for her to stay where she is but it feels a bit short-termist to hope for that. Actually I think most likely scenario is we get second choice offer but are quite high up waiting list for first choice school. Then more waiting and potential difficult decision to move her (and awkward pick ups and drop offs at nursery for dd2). Do teachers care about this stuff or am I overthinking?

Re getting the right school... If you live in the catchment over from me you have three 'right' schools to choose from, where I am they are all a bit 'wrong' at least in many people's eyes. People have suggested I try the Catholic school but I am not Catholic and not religious so it's never been an option. I just hope I get a school that turns out to be ok, and if not then I will try to change but the choice in the first place is not generally thought of as good.

Toileting issues, not ticketing. Here the concept of choice doesn't really exist. There are lots of excellent schools within walking distance but no one is in catchment for more than one and lots of people aren't within catchment for any. Even the least popular schools are full on offer day so there's no point putting one down if you live far away. Only way anyone gets choice is if they fulfill religious criteria. I actually really object to that. No other council services are allowed to discriminate on the grounds of religion. Not that I object to anyone applying to a religious school of course since they do exist, I just think they are a weird concept in state education terms.

10 days.

almost In single figures.....

I was just about to post the same thing lol, not long to go now.

that's spooky

how's it going.

This is the worst feeling ever!!! Labour was a breeze compared to this!!!

I've got my driving test soon so double worry.

You can do it guys. We can hang in there.I hope

yes I'd rather be having surgery than this