National Offer Day!

[Mokaloli]

Only a few days left until we hear the outcome/offer for primary admissions (to reception). Anyone else finding the wait tricky?!

@firedog

It's not a massively over subscribed year in all our areas. In our city there's a huge number of undersubscribed schools on a scale that I have never seen before. As if loads of people have moved etc

I wonder if Covid has resulted in more people than expected moving to rural areas? This is the first year of admissions where applications were made after Covid!

We got into a school we would never have go into before, and looking online schools with tiny catchments for the last 6 years are now between 1-3.5km!! So strange but defo not complaining!!

Is this in a city?

I’ve been hearing of problems in ‘Covid desirable’ areas where there’s not been enough places full stop. Unfortunately not in areas that have published their distances etc. as far as I can tell so I can’t verify, and I’m relying on hearsay.

@RachelSq

We’re in Bristol, close to the centre

I'm in a rural area in Kent. Between a really lovely market town and a not so desirable town.

Not allocated any of our 3 which were previously undersubscribed . The one we've been given is in the not so desirable town so maybe it is people moving during C-19 🤷🏻‍♀️

It seems to be a thing here too, based on the stories I’m hearing. I personally know of several people that used Covid as the final push to move.

I feel that a lot of LAs will be in a tough spot because they absolutely couldn’t have planned for this level of movement in a year.

I really feel for parents stuck with non-choice schools where there choices were sensible.

One school here hasn't had spaces spare in 20+ years until this year. It is quite impressive

That’s an interesting point.. I’m semi-rural/desirable countryside area. The housing market has been bonkers this year!

The guardian had a price about exactly this the other day -

www.theguardian.com/education/2021/apr/16/primary-schools-in-england-record-steep-fall-in-demand

"Birmingham and London have recorded steep falls in demand for primary school places next year, with local authorities reporting that disruption caused by the Covid pandemic, as well as the falling birthrate and migration after Brexit, may be behind the decline.
London’s boroughs had a 7% fall in applications for reception class places in September, while Birmingham had 9% fewer applications compared with 2020. Major local authorities in the south-east of England reported declines of 2% or more, including Essex, Kent, and Brighton and Hove."

We live in a very international area. Anecdotally a lot of parents from China, India, Pakistan etc went back “home” in the autumn or in January, albeit in most cases expected to be temporarily. Most of them haven’t applied for reception places yet. Brexit has meant we have fewer Eastern European families than a few years ago too. Lots of unexpected and desirable schools with places, but I expect many of them to fill in round two/over the summer/next year as international families return.

We got into a school that statistically we would have had no chance for the past five years at least even though we are in the nursery. They only took one pupil from a neighbouring local authority last year. We chanced it and put it first and got it, I couldn't believe my eyes when I read it! Took me a full day to take it in. Fairly sure enough people must have been late applying just this year or perhaps moved further away.

Our city must have had around a 5-10% drop I'd say and neighbouring LA to us looked the same. Schools with spare places that have been oversubscribed for years & years. Schools who always had 0.3-0.4M distance cut offs now are over a mile etc.

Finally heard (by contacting the school, still waiting for our 2nd class letter!) that we got into our 1st choice school.
After almost a year of battling to get my summerborn child a CSA start in reception (and as a result having already turned down a place at 1st choice school last year)... I am so relieved by this news I cannot describe it.
Now just excited for September and all the new adventures ahead.