Son didn't get in to any of our school choices

[Courtney10891]

Hi,

Don't even know why I'm making this thread I'm just so upset and angry. My son found out today that he hasn't got in to any of the four schools we put down. He has been offered a place at a nearby school that isn't the greatest. I'm so upset and disappointed. I feel like I've failed my son. The school I wanted him to go he is currently in the nursery there and is settled and loves it but he was declined.
I am appealing but I know it will be hard. Anybody else disappointed with the school they have been offered? X

What grounds do you plan to appeal on? Presumably it filled with children higher priority in the admissions criteria and there is no link to nursery attendance.

It's more productive to go on the waiting list TBH.

Unless there's an error, an infant class size appeal is pointless. Honestly, not worth wasting your time.

Did you get your catchment school?

You haven’t failed your son and it’s natural to be upset. But I’d forget about appealing unless you have grounds to think there has been an actual error. Find out where you’re likely to be on the waiting list for your preferred schools and think about how transient your area is - here about 10-20% of the class changes every year as people move area and waiting lists move fast. Consider if there’s another undersubscribed school you’d prefer to the one you’ve been allocated and think about whether you’d prefer to apply there instead. Consider whether in fact your allocated school is actually not that great or if it might be ok (how much do you know about it?)

The waiting list might move quite a bit between now and September. Unfortunately you really don't have grounds to appeal.

What are your grounds for appeal?

Do you have grounds for appeal? If not you'll just have to go for the waiting lists but that depends on who is higher priority already on the list.

The local school may not be awful once you're there. We go to our local school that many try to avoid by applying further out and it's actually a lovely school with great teachers, parents can't see past it not being quite as middle class as surrounding villages.

Kids are pretty resilient, he'll soon settle into his new school. Yeah having a nursery place doesn't actually give you any priority of a place in reception unfortunately xx

Did you list schools that he would be likely to get into based on the previous years intake?

Put his name down on their waiting lists.

Are the schools that you wanted sensible choices? i.e Are you in the catchment for them? If so, I'd get on the waring lists ASAP if you can. If they're not then it's probably best to accept the place allocated and make the best of it.

Ok I understand I won't be able to appeal I was just so disappointed but I understand I don't have a leg to stand on.
I just honestly didn't think it was a possibility to not get in to any of the five choices we made. All the schools we chose are within walking distance to our house. They were sensible choices, I can't understand what I did wrong. I am going to ring round on Monday see what number I am on the waiting list and go from there.

Did you check the furthest distance that was accepted last year to the schools for any indication if you had a chance (for example I live 0.4 miles from a school in my village but the furthest is always about 0.3 away as it's a small school in a tightly built estate.

@NerrSnerr how do you find that info out ? Thanks

@Courtney10891

Ok I understand I won't be able to appeal I was just so disappointed but I understand I don't have a leg to stand on. I just honestly didn't think it was a possibility to not get in to any of the five choices we made. All the schools we chose are within walking distance to our house. They were sensible choices, I can't understand what I did wrong. I am going to ring round on Monday see what number I am on the waiting list and go from there.

Of course it’s worth appealing. Don’t listen to others, start the appeals process regardless, you never know even if there is a slight chance go for it. Just do your research on what reasons you can appeal on.

Definitely go on the waiting lists asap. There will be lots of movement between places over the coming weeks and months as others may not have got their first choices. My DD got into one of choices within a week I think it was, we lived 30 miles away at the time but she was higher on the waiting list that local children as she met the school criteria.

@Courtney10891

Ok I understand I won't be able to appeal I was just so disappointed but I understand I don't have a leg to stand on. I just honestly didn't think it was a possibility to not get in to any of the five choices we made. All the schools we chose are within walking distance to our house. They were sensible choices, I can't understand what I did wrong. I am going to ring round on Monday see what number I am on the waiting list and go from there.

Did you check the enrolment criteria? Are the schools faith schools?

Dd got option 4 of ours which was awful, but local so better than getting an awful school miles away.

We attended the designated school’s settling days, bigged it up to dd, and tried to look for positives so she wan’t upset about leaving her nursery-school friends. Kept my upset entirely private from her.

Simultaneously, Went on the waiting list straight away. Find out the date (usually just after the start of the summer holidays) that the waiting list stops and the “in year transfer” list starts instead. Wait up until midnight that day and get your child’s name on that list so you’re first. I did this and was called on the last day of the summer holidays with an place in our first choice (nursery) school. Good luck, i remember that awful sinking lurch in my stomach when i first found out.

My first 3 choices were not faith schools and they have two classes each year so I really thought I would be fine. My 4th and 5th choices were faith schools so I can understand why we wasn't successful. I really really hope something comes up before September. The email stated that I will automatically go on the waiting lists for the schools that I wasn't accepted for. X

@oohmama I think the info disappears after the application deadline (but hopefully someone more knowledgeable might know) but for us it was on the local authority page school admission page where you search for schools, each school had the intake, the criteria and the how far the furthest accepted pupil was.

@Flipflops85

Did you get your catchment school?

There’s no such thing as a catchment school in lots of areas.

It's worth checking that a mistake on the LEA part didn't happen, because occasionally it does. It sounds like you live in a densely populated area and to get a place on distance you have to liver very very close to the "better" schools. Also in some reception years many spaces are allocated to siblings just by fluke it could be a high year.

My dd didn't get 1st choice this time last Yr, older sibling (who also got in on appeal 3 yrs earlier) already in the school. An error meant that the class size was already 32.i appealed and she got in, making class size 33. All is not lost. X

What puts you off about allocated school? Did you visit it? Lots of less popular schools are actually really lovely

i can't understand what I did wrong

It’s not a case of what you did wrong but the amount of school places and those who qualify over your son.

It's not a case of 'not being accepted'.
All applicants are ranked according to the admissions criteria and the places allocated in that order. If too many above you, you don't get a place