Staying put in the hope of joining oversubscribed school, is it worth the risk...?

[Eesha]

Hi everyone,

We have twins who are very young at the moment but I've been scouting areas to move to for better primary schools, mainly elsewhere in Barnet. It occurred to me that we could potentially stay put in the hope of getting into the school Id like but I'm not sure of the risk. Having spoken to the council, they have said we potentially could be offered mid year due to distance but obviously can't promise. This is for Garden Suburb in Hampstead Garden Suburb. I just wondered whether anyone has held out for schools as I'm just nervous of the risk. Was planning to maybe go private till a place comes up in the school if we can afford it. The alternative would be to move now.

All good schools in London will be oversubscribed with waiting list so not sure how moving helps unless you are leaving London. In which case stay put and find a pro tem solution. Good luck.

Well we haven't moved since applying for reception and have stayed on the waiting list of our nearest one forn entry community school. Not that we really wanted it, and we wouldn't move to it now anyway. We are really happy with the school we have. It's just I suppose it seems as if it "should " be our school as the newest and we are less than 200 metres away. Started out as 22 on the waiting list and last time I checked was 26? Families moved mid year next door to school; younger siblings got in which have their older siblings in my child's year priority; people who really wanted it sold their homes and rented near. So the answer is, it depends!
What we did was work out what schools we would probably get and went to see them. Some of them weren't that close, some weren't popular for whatever reason, some had church going admissions. We just tried to be realistic and ended up with a lovely school. Are there really any awful schools in Barnet?
But yes, only you can decide so good luck.

Thank you so much for the advice, we are unfortunately just in the wrong part of Barnet where my local school is in special measures and the other doesn't have a good reputation. I have friends who were closer in catchment areas for better schools but didn't get offers at the time so had to go private. I'm just nervous of staying put to save costs and then ending up with nothing.

Thing is, if your dcs are still young, you don't know how school will be by the time dcs are school age.

My ds' school was most desired in the area. There was one school in deprived area everyone avoided. Turned out, last year's sats results were totally opposite. My ds' school was below average despite good ofsted, and school with bad reputation was above average for everything. You never know how school can change in few years.

Yes Irvine, I predict similar for our local schools too. The one with the bad reputation gets better results than the school people trample over each other for.
Have you looked at the school in special measures? Found out their plans? Might be worth it. I did that for localish secondary in same circumstances and I prefer it to outstanding alternative.
I think in the end it depends on your finances and how risk adverse you are.

I know I madly worried about primary but now I've seen so many children at so many schools they all seem much of a muchness, and yes that's private and bad reputation state.
Good luck with deciding.

I have worked in a deprived school - they gave everything to the kids - enriching their lives - they got so much more than mine did in the outstanding school! And the atmosphere was good!

I would keep an eye on the senior schools that's where kids excel - and a more important decision than juniors

But with twins you have to rely on 2 spaces in the same year becoming available mid year!

What happens if one space comes up?

I actually don't know what happens with just one place, can they be forced to offer two......I don't think they can as what about general siblings?

Not 100% sure, but I thought some special arrangement happens with twins? (I maybe thinking about normal school allocation, not with the waiting list.)

I have seen twins break the class ceiling with numbers - I remember one got in as a special needs and they allowed the other - not sure on general rule though

In an infants class where the 30th child admired is of a multiple birth then the other child will be admired automatically and be an exempted (?) pupil. This is in the Admissions Code, although this of course could change by the time your children start school.
The problem could be if the place comes up in the juniors, as far as I know there is nothing in the Code about this you will therefore have to read the Admissions very carefully. My Borough asks the school to go over 30 , this suggests the school may say no.
Places do come up in juniors as parents have used the infants as a pre-prep and sent their kids private at 7+.
Would you really want to move your children if they are settled and happy at a school? That will be the next dilemma!

Hi,

All this advice has been so helpful. Ideally I wouldn't want to move them but I suppose I'm hoping this would all be in reception year, I'd be nervous to move them after. I myself started a new school mid way and I figured at least these two will have each other as a support. It seems like I need to wait and see how the schools evolve over the next few years.

Imo, if you are planning to move in the future, I think you should concentrate on secondary, rather than primary school.
It's easy to supplement primary work as parents. Not so sure about secondary.

And I don't think you should rely on them being together- it's unfair on them both - they need to be encouraged to be independent (mine were put in separate classes for this very reason) I wanted them to be people first in their own right - not a pair

People often say that secondary is more important than primary, although I am not so sure. At primary school your child will be taught the basics of literacy and numeracy that will see them through their lives. As well as the academics primary school is where your children learn so much about being part of a wider community, building on any pre-school knowledge. I would hate it if my child had a miserable primary experience.
I would be concerned if you moved now for secondaries that all sorts could have happened in the decade before they start school. Who knows what will have gone on with schools in the next few years, let alone that length of time?
I would say don't panic, check the schools out, check the admissions rules out and go from there. And you are right that if the school is a three form entry then your chance of getting you children in in reception is higher than the one form school.
If you know the independents you would like then you could start a thread about them, lots of helpful N London Mumsnetters about all the 3+, 7+ stuff.

Thanks so much YouMakeABetterDoorThanAWindow, I've created another thread about private as a backup as I've been told I was meant to have registered my kids at birth!!! Now I'm looking around for schools to register with should I not get state. I agree that primary is also really important, I want them to be happy throughout.

I've seen your other thread but I'm afraid I don't know Maple Walk.

Are you anywhere near King Alfred's? It gets a bit of a slating on MN but have you been there? Drool! The grounds...

I do get the impression you are having a bit of a panic. I'm all for doing the homework while you have the time ( with twins, go you :) ) .
What are the state schools you are likely to be offered? Do you know people with DC there? Is there anything on MN about them?

While I'd love my Dc to go to King Alfred's there's no way they can BUT they are doing well, as are their friends, at a variety of state schools. Some the holy grail of schools, some at schools E list celebs spit at... All happy kids learning well.

No they can't be forced to take sibling

I moved mid year once and my children got different schools (year 1 &3) as they didn't have places in both class/year groups to take them

I guess the issue with maple walk is it's cheaper but also takes a registration fee. I think most do now. I basically want to register but not end up forking out tons to different schools. King Alfred's is relatively near, I've chatted to a few kids at the bus stops and seem very well mannered etc. Very expensive but hoping this is just a temporary thing