Haven't got preferred school. What to do now?

[ShadowStone]

We have just found out that DS1 has not been allocated a place at our preferred school.

He has been offered a place at our 2nd preference, but we're not happy for a few reasons.

First preference school is the only school in walking distance. Second preference (our 2nd closest school) is about 2 miles away, and we can't walk there without walking across a dangerous (for pedestrians) motorway junction roundabout.

There's a good chance that most of DS1's friends from nursery will be going to our preferred school. Preferred school is also the best around here.

Question is, what do we do now? Just liking school A better than school B isn't going to get us anywhere at appeal.

Obviously we want to get onto the waiting list for our preferred school, but what else?

DH is suggesting that accepting the place offered would knock us off the waiting list for preferred school - is he right or wrong? We aren't keen on the offered school but there are worse ones he could be allocated if we reject the offer and second preference fills up (although it has been oversubscribed for the last few years).

I assume that we have missed out on a place at preferred school on distance grounds - our council measure this as closest walking distance. Can we ask for the distance they've used for us so we can check they've actually measured from the right house? Or is this information only given out if we appeal?

Last year, the school admitted an extra 7 pupils above the PAN - does this set some sort of precedent for admitting extra this year? 7 doesn't really seem big enough to be a bulge class?

They're also increasing admission sizes next year by about 15 - again, would this work in our favour?

The PAN isn't a multiple of 30 but some classes are mixed age groups.

I can't really help but our situation sounds the same as yours. We are appealing. I can't believe DS didn't get his first choice. We're in a small village. I don't believe that there are 30 other children who live nearer than we do. Siblings aren't ranked above proximity either. I'm gutted. How do I tell him that he isn't going to the school he's so looking forward to going to? I've been in tears for the last hour.
I feel your pain OP

Hi! Sorry you didn't get your first choice, I'm still waiting to hear for DS. When we applied 3 years ago for DD we got offered our 6th choice. We accepted it and stayed on the waiting list for all the other 5 schools. I think when the council send the offer letter there's a box to tick to say that you want to stay on the waiting lists. In August we then received a letter offering our 4th choice which we accepted. In April for our 4th choice we were number 12 on the waiting list, by August we had gone all the way up to number 1. Where I live (SW London) waiting lists move hugely, people often apply to state schools when they have no intention of sending their children there. The waiting list positions will change a lot after April 30th when private school parents reject places. Some private school parents accept the places anyway and then turn them down in September so there's a lot of movement in the first term of reception. What I'm trying to say is don't despair, accept your 2nd choice and find out where you are on the waiting list for your 1st.

Accepting a place does not mean you are taken off the waiting list for your preferred school if you ask to go on it, nor does it look like you're happy to settle. this is a myth.
the sensible thing is to accept what you've been given, and then appeal the decision. if you lose appeal, ask to remain on the waiting list for first choice school. worst comes to worst, your DC may start at 2nd choice, but you'll still be on the list for first if anything changes there and a place comes up...
it's better than not having a school place in september, or declining 2nd choice, not getting into first, and then ending up god knows where...

You must accept your allocated school even if you are appealing. If you turn it down the lea will just tell you they fulfiled their obligation to offer you a place and you may end up with no place at all

I'm in the same boat as you OP. I feel so gutted and completely clueless about how DS is going to get to this school he's been allocated rather than the one 10 minutes walk away!

Can we also ask how many children applied, and where the distance cut-off currently is?

The council do publish this information as part of the application booklet, but I guess that'll be using distances for last admitted child worked out after all places have been accepted and I'd like to know now so I have a better idea of our chances on a waiting list.

Still gutted this morning. None of my friends can believe he didn't get a place. It's an oversubscribed school but this is the first time that a child living in the village hasn't got a place.

Same boat. ds got choice four. It's my closest,in special measures and just appalling. Graded inadequate in aLl area
Eldest ds went there for a few years and it was hideous.

MiddleMoodle - sounds like an error in your case. I would start your own thread about appealing. You'll get good advice on this board.

ACCEPT the offered school - it has no effect on waiting lists. If you reject it the LA has fulfilled its responsibility and doesn't have to offer you another school (you would have to reapply, although you still might get one from the waiting list). You don't know what schools people have got yet.
Do check you are on the waiting list (even if LA implies it will be automatic - as my LA did this but because a school was an academy it handled its waiting list differently).

Is there much movement where you live? If not then try to make the best of the school you have been offered - why did you put it second?

At infant ages, it is unlikely an appeal will succeed unless you can prove the admissions criteria were not adhered to properly.
But if there is a lot of pressure on places the LA may have to expand schools/create bulge classes.

What Tiggy said. Get on wait lists for any school you would consider. There is often a lot of movement between now and October

I don't think think there's likely to be much movement.

We didn't really like any of the nearest schools except our preferred choice. Our 2nd and 3rd choices were based on us wanting to avoid DS1 being allocated a place in our 3rd nearest school (has a very bad reputation and a string of poor ofsted reports), rather than any desire for DS1 to go to them.

Still, provided we accept this offer on time, at least there's no chance now that he's going to the really bad school.

You must accept. You can later decide to home school of go private if you want. At our school at least 18 / 90 of the initial allocations were reallocated by the first 1/2 term. That's high I know, but people go private or move etc

People do also move during the first term. I know one boy who started with one of my DDs and his Mum moved him within the first week - so someone else who was desperate could take up the place. I also know someone be offered a place at the end of the summer holiday and give up a private school place (and a terms fees) for it.

And at least he hasn't got the school you really didn't want. Sometimes the most crucial factor can be the other children and families, and can change a school for the better.

We had people joining still after Xmas. In our school people pull DC out of private schools to take places that they have been on the wait list for etc. Others get a place now but decide to go private not state etc This also happens at other local schools so there is loads of shuffling about

In same position OP. Dd allocated second choice, 2.9 miles away, in special measures and no breakfast or after school provision. First choice was village school, half a mile away. Last years furthest dustance for this was 2.1 miles so don't know what has happened this year. Will be appealing.

Have you all had emails already? I haven't
Anyone know any links to check online?

Op - appeal, and good luck

AJNH - I got an e-mail shortly after midnight, but other people near me said offers could be seen on-line since midnight.

What are the rules for free transport? OP says the school is approx 2 miles across a motorway junction, so it sounds like it might be more than two miles via the shortest safe walking route? In which case he should get free transport provided, no?

That is correct. If the shortest safe walking route is more than 2 miles the child is automatically entitled to free transport to and from school unless the parents chose this school over other, nearer schools (which is not the case here). Note that the free transport is only for the child, not the parents. It is up to the LA what they provide. It may, for example, be a taxi to pick the pupil up in the morning and drop them off again in the evening.

So.

Went online, ticked the boxes and accepted the place we've been offered and said i want to be on waiting list for preferred school.

I also rang the schools admissions line. I asked the man who answered to confirm I'd been put on the waiting list. He said that they can't confirm I'm on the waiting list until I've sent a written form in the post (which makes me wonder what the point of the online system is). So it will be a week or two before they can advise on waiting list numbers and our ranking on it.

He also told me how many children had applied to preferred school, both total and first preference, and how many of those had been siblings. He told me what the distance cut off was, and what our distance had been measured as.

Just looking at children who had it down as first preference, there were 20% more applications than spaces (e.g. 6 applications for every 5 spaces).

The distance cut off is about 100 metres from our house, but the man wouldn't say how many children had been ranked as closer than us as he would have had to "open the whole file". He also said he wouldn't send us a copy of the map with the walking route shown because it would crash the system if they sent everyone a copy. He did say we'd get to see the map if we appealed. Looking at the distance they've used, I think they've not used a footpath that would cut something like 200m off our route.

He also confirmed that accepting the place offered will not affect our position on the waiting list or chances at appeal for our preferred school.

He recommended that we go on the waiting list, and also that we appeal.
T
he interesting thing that he said about appealing, was that once they have the number of appeals in for each school, they talk to the head teachers and ask if they want to and are able to take in the children who've appealed. Sometimes the head teacher says yes, and the children who've appealed get offers straight away without having to present their case to the appeal panel. But he said this is more likely if only a few children appeal for places. Obviously this would be the ideal scenario as far as we're concerned. Admissions experts - does this sort of thing happen a lot?

Shadow stone- honestly- at secondary it happens. At primary unlikely due to infant class size unless the pan is less than 30 or multiples of and then it may happen.