School Places

[happymummy12345]

How did everyone get on? I hope people got the news they were hoping for?
My son got our first choice, I was so nervous to open the email. I literally cried with happiness. It's the best school by far out of our three nearest and by far the best place for him. Feels very real now.

Congratulations!

We’re at the opposite end as DS is going to high school this time, but congratulations, I remember this day so well. It all goes by so quickly!

We got out first choice too, the relief is unreal. I couldn't sleep from worrying, so ended up waiting up until our offer was released at 12.30

We got our first choice and are very happy. We've moved on to debating what change or hours to request at work, after school clubs, general logistics.

I couldn't believe it honestly. I told my son and he said "I'm not going school I've been to school already. I want to go to nursery but my nursery is shut". He went to the school open days so that must be what he means.
I’ve emailed the school to say we accept. We already gave them all paperwork when we applied along with the school application form. So I’m assuming now I don’t need to do anything else and just wait to hear back from the school?

Are you supposed to accept the offer somehow? It's not clear on the email I got?

First choice here too! So pleased as we both absolutely loved it.

Our email specifically said we needed to accept, and gave a link to the portal to do that.

I applied online and it says I have to email the school that I've been offered a place by within 10 days from today to confirm if I will be accepting it or not.
Also that the place is provisional until you provide proof of address if you have not already done so, electronically if possible due to everything going on. I'd I have already done this as the school require applicants to fill out the online Local Authority form as well as their own form. I gave them the school form and all documents needed when submitting the online form. Both were done the same day last year.

@shirleyschmidt ours said we need to contact the school by email to confirm. There is a link that takes to the online account, and there is a link to the school website.
I assumed I should email the school using the admissions email address? Hope that's right. Or should I click on the link via the online portal and see if it takes me somewhere different?

Hi @happymummy12345 ooh I would defo contact the school directly in your case, if that's what the email said to do. No harm in checking the portal out also though!
Ours hasn't said to contact the school at all and only mentioned the portal - perhaps it varies by LA?

And yes maybe just use any and all email addresses you can find!! 😆

The online portal hasn't been updated. Wondering if I've done the application wrong now

Does anyone know how I get hold of admission arrangements for a particular borough ?? I’m trying to look online but they’re only from November 2019

@shirleyschmidt I logged into my online account and clicked the link to the school website, it didn't actually work at all, not sure why.
Could be different in different LA's. Or maybe because the admissions for our school are decided by the school governors not the LA, that's why we need to contact the school directly? Not sure. Anyway I've contacted them by the same email I used to contact them to enquire about the open day last year and they replied. So I'm sure it will be okay.

Oh that's great!! 😊

KTD27 - do you mean the outcomes for this year? They are very unlikely to be up anywhere yet.

Yes. We are completely screwed as in the middle of a house move between counties so I wondered if there was anywhere I could see which schools have spaces in the desired destination like I can in our current one.

Your best bet is to talk to the local LEA you are moving to - as I say, it's very unlikely anything will be up yet, as it's a constantly moving feast at the moment; things will change on a daily basis. If you want to tell me the LA I'm happy to see if they have anything, but realistically it wont be reliable at the moment.

Hey everyone

So we unfortunately didn’t get either of our top 2 preferences but the strangest thing is for our first choice school they stated that the furthest child admitted was 0.343miles away and when we moved into this house we confirmed from the council the distance of the house from this school we are 0.33miles so how is this even possible that we Didn’t Get in! This is the first time Iv applied for schools etc but surely this cannot be correct? :( really stressed out about this now

@Peardrops3 it will depend which category you were in. Were you applying under distance from school? Does the LA give a breakdown of how places were allocated?

@peardrops3 There are a number of reasons this could be the case. That could be the furthest distance someone was allocated under any criteria, not just distance: or it could be that the criteria takes into account nearest school ao if that person has no nearer school and you do, they get preference over you. (many do here in Surrey for example). You also need to make sure the distance you are comparing are the ones used for school allocations.

Of course, mistakes do get made, though if they have your correct address and postcode it is unlikely.

Sorry me again. Sorry for so many questions, but there is one thing I'm still worried about.
We are not sure if we will have to move house before my son starts school. When we applied we did not know that we may have to move, we found out after we submitted our application.
We have already given the school our proof of address as they require applicants to submit the LA form online as well as their own form. We gave all our evidence when we gave them their form last year (we submitted both the same day). Admissions are made by the school governors not the LA if that makes a difference?
If we do have to move we should still be in the same area, hopefully. I'm just concerned that if we do we may not get to keep our place? Even though we will not deliberately have moved after getting the place at our preferred school. I'm not sure of the catchment area and obviously with everything going on we can't simply go in and explain it to them. We won't know for a while yet if we will have to go or not due to lockdown and evictions being suspended for 3 months. We are hoping we will not have to go, but if we do I really do not want him to have to give up his place. Do I contact them by email and explain? Or wait until we have more information? As currently we don't know ourselves what will happen. Or will he keep his place regardless?

@happymummy12345 No, once the place is offered, there are very limited grounds on which it can be removed, and simply moving house is not one. IF they believed you had been fraudulent about your current address (for example, you own a house further away, move into closer rented for a few months to get a place then move out again) they can, but assuming this would be a genuine move you are fine.

@Patricia it’s Calderdale we will be moving to. I hope there will be places based on last year it’s just the specific schools in the areas we would like to live. Specifically ripponden and hipperholme / lightcliffe.

So the school we have been offered is 0.64 miles away hence my confusion as to what has happened :( will be contacting the LA but let’s see super disappointed... as we moved home into the area in order to secure a place in this school and used distance as the criteria we applied through