Is there a nervously awaiting primary admissions thread?

[drspouse]

Or have I just started the first one?

[drspouse]

I could do what an acquaintance did and put down one oversubscribed school and flirt with the head. I'll let you know how badly that plan unfolded on the 18th

I'm looking forward to that drama, sounds fun!

[ShowOfHands]

"I'll just refuse any other school offered. They'll have to let us in"

Again, I'll let you know how she gets on come the 18th

[Jenijena]

Joining the party a bit late here. In Hampshire, and listed three local schools in order of distance. Not to get first preference would be a logistical pain, but all three have decent reputations and I know people who are happy there. School 2 is outstanding and very glossy/showy, it has a very small catchment area but often recruits out of catchment, particularly in the direction of our village. The village school (first choice) is usually two form entry but for 2015 was three form entry and they're proposing three form entry from 2017 onwards. With the carefully worded 'there will be enough places across the area for all children' it seems likely that the village school will not have enough spaces for all children in the village. So, will they cut off by area, with those in the village closest to Next School sent there, or will they try and take the various people who, despite living close to school 1, have speculatively applied a first preference to the 'better' school 2...

[Witchend]

On the sibling knowing thing..
Dh used to be a governor at a local infant school. And back then the school was told (at least a couple of times) what categories children had got in from. Eg. 1x special circumstance, 24xsiblings, 35xdistance.
If the school was told that, although they didn't know exactly who has got in, they could know from that information that any siblings who put down that school as first place had got in.

I don't know if that is still done, but it was a good couple of weeks or more before the actual letters went out.

[FamilyC]

We live close to the school we have applied to, 0.2 miles. However it is VA Christian school and we are not religious. My daughter does attend the preschool at the church.
Another thing I am waiting on is a year 2 place at the same school. On the waiting list, amongst 3. I have heard two year two pupils just left before Easter. Fingers crossed I find out both my children have spaces in the next two weeks.
Home schooling my eldest currently and will homeschool my second until they get spaces there. Only put one choice down.

[tethersend]

"just refuse any other school offered. They'll have to let us in"

Interestingly, this actually happened in tower hamlets last year (and previous years AFAIK)- they closed the waiting lists in October and gave places to those with no school place, even if they had turned a place down. They then made everyone else apply again to go on the in year list from November. Hopefully they won't be doing it again as they were challenged on it.

[tethersend]

"They do not hand out places to those who didn't like what they were offered in April at the expense of those who made the best of it and are patiently waiting."

Unfortunately tiggytape, that is exactly what they did. They even emailed my friend to explain that that is what they did and why

Whilst the head of admissions did not accept that closing the waiting list in October contravened the code (I believe it does), he did concede that places should not have been allocated to those without school places who had turned down their offered place whilst no waiting list was held, allowing them to leapfrog those who had followed TH guidelines and accepted their allocated place, believing that it would not disadvantage them.

Challenging this decision produced a place for my friend's child, as TH had made a mistake and not adhered to their own rules. Thankfully they did not have to appeal.

I'll be very interested to see how TH manage the waiting lists this year.

[Chilver]

Thanks meditrina and tiggytape, good advice.

[Crasterwaves]

Marking place - nervous!!

[drspouse]

Paper I'm not going to get the uniform till the last minute but I am slightly concerned about being invited to induction events at the "wrong" school. Not sure whether we should send DS on the grounds that he might have to go there or not, so as not to confuse him.

I think we would go for school 2 or 3 if we didn't have a place by Autumn half term at school 1 but we are prepared for another half term at nursery if need be.

Met a neighbour dad at the playground yesterday whose DC is in our second choice school. Obviously they want to think it's a good school, and it is, but he seemed to assume that we'd be happy whatever school we got and would just go for it anyway and seemed slightly surprised when I said we'd be going on the waiting list for Lovely School. I do suspect like most parents he thinks we're just being "fussy" when we say one school has more of a clue about adoption than another, most parents haven't got the imagination to see what children might have to deal with through their childhoods and how school might need to support them in that.

[Tarahbab84]

Does anyone know what time on the 18th we receive our emails in Birmingham? Is it worth staying up past midnight.
I'm feeling very nervous about my choices although they are all my closest schools.
My first choice is my second closest school but is heavily oversubscribed as its outstanding on Ofsted and has a great reputation, it's got a huge 4 form entry school and last year it had 330 applications for 120 places. They do metres here from the centre of the playground to the front door on oversubscribed schools and the council told me they've only gone 1,000m at most for the last 4 years and I'm 1,200m (the woman over the road was 20th on the waiting list last year)
The school has already told me that people rent bedsits close to the school or put relatives and friends addresses to get their kids into the school and the deputy told me they have so many "change of address forms" a few weeks after term starts that they lose count of them. This saddened me as it seems so dishonest so I phoned the council only to be told that they only investigate in Birmingham if somebody whistle blows and they don't really check addresses like in London so I guess the dishonest people win here
Anyway my second choice is my 3rd closest school and the council said I would have got a place 3 out of the last 4 years. It's a nice little one form with a good Ofsted (with elements of outstanding) so I'm hopeful I could get this.
My 3rd choice is my closest school (100m away) is in special measures with Ofsted and has been for the last year and a half. They recruited a hot shot head teacher who started in September and she seems to be working wonders so if I get that I guess it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world as its so close and on a lovely road. It's a two form entry and historically has always had a good reputation.
My husband is so logical it's untrue and refuses to get involved in the school stress saga. He says just send DD to the school round the corner for goodness sake as it's practical (I'm not a morning person) and he feels it's only primary school and as long as she can read and write she'll be fine. I thought it might have been just him that was so straight down the line but it seems all my friends husbands feel the same!!! They are all telling their wives to just send the kids to the nearest school and be done with it, ha ha. It appears moms stress about schools way more than dads on the whole. Unless it's just mine and my friends hubbys who couldn't give a jot about primary schools?

[drspouse]

My DH having looked round the schools with me feels like I do but I think my neighbour (see above) feels like your/friend's DHs!

It was really really striking how different the knowledge and attitudes were between the two schools we went round with an individual guide (it's harder to tell when you're in a group which the other schools were, one I went to but DH didn't). He was very impressed with the one we want and could see how the other one didn't have much of a clue. For example, we mentioned to both of them that our DCs are both adopted and that it is really the reasons for their adoption that will become important during their time at primary school, to them, and at Lovely School the person showing us round immediately reeled off a list of (correct) reasons why children such as ours might have been adopted. At the other school she just looked at us blankly.

It's also down to feel - Lovely School (and to some extent Distant School) felt very calm to us, while Close School felt very manic.

[Tarahbab84]

Tiggy tape I'm shocked that I was so misinformed on the phone by someone on the council, who said they only investigate whistle blowers. I'm glad they do investigate more thoroughly than I thought.
Anway lets see what next Monday brings

[99percentchocolate]

I'm quietly confident that we'll get into our local school as DD has a place at the nursery and they've just increased the number of spaces by 20. However, of the neighbours on each side the left didn't get in one year and the right got in the next.
The right's other neighbour got in though too so (including last year before the spaces were increased) so fingers are firmly crossed.
Second choice we haven't got a chance in hell but is our next closest, then added the next two closest but 3rd choice isn't supposed to be great.
We'll have to see.
I know that Birmingham and Solihull councils have definitely started making checks already.

[Tarahbab84]

99percentchocolate it sounds like you've put sensible choices and it sounds positive that you'll get the first choice. All the best and I really hope you do. Our 3rd choice (the special measures one) is round the corner and always undersubscribed so I feel like that's our banker. I've been hearing positive things from parents too. If I'm completely honest I think even if I get preference one or two I might still go and look at the school round the corner and if I'm happy with the changes I might just go for it.