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Original poster

Does this sound like the school messed up?

56 replies

mynameiscalypso · 17/04/2023 18:01

I'm sure there will be lots of these posts today! We just found out that DS has a place at his second choice school (which we will accept). We were, however, astonished not to get an offer for his first choice.

His first choice school is a Catholic primary school and DS is Catholic (all forms done by the priest and handed in on time in person). The school is linked to the church he goes to. There are c.40 places a year and for the last few years, there have been c.10 places for Catholic siblings, c.20 places for practicing Catholics in the diocese (the group we fall into) and the other 10 have gone to other Christian denominations.

That's been the latter for many years and we would have comfortably got in. We'd also been told that the school had less applications this year as many EU families had left the area and gone home.

In and of itself, I'm not sure that would be grounds for appeal but a couple of weeks ago, we had a letter from the school offering DS a place for the nursery school attached to it in Sept 2023 (ie not reception). We emailed them to clarify but never got a response as to why we'd been offered this when we'd applied for a Reception place through the system. We had, however, included within our supplement information a letter saying that we were/are considering deferring as DS is an August baby however we'd make the decision one places had been allocated and that we were applying for Reception entry - this is what we were told to do by our local council (and if we decide to defer, DS will stay at his current different nursery).

It seems to me like they've messed up somewhere. Does anyone else agree? I just can't see that they will have had 40 applications that rank above us given we're in one of the highest categories.

OP posts:
Elsie20 · 17/04/2023 18:20

Does this school give priority to other Christian's over Catholics? Eg why are they giving 10 spaces to other Christians. Most Catholic schools I know always prioritise Catholics over any other religion.
it does seem strange

Elsie20 · 17/04/2023 18:22

Sorry i think I've misread that, you mean in previous year?
it sounds like this year more practising Catholics.

PuttingDownRoots · 17/04/2023 18:26

You should be able to find out what category your are in, and what category they offered to. If you think you were placed in the wrong category appeal.

Original poster
mynameiscalypso · 17/04/2023 18:34

Elsie20 · 17/04/2023 18:22

Sorry i think I've misread that, you mean in previous year?
it sounds like this year more practising Catholics.

Yea, sorry, I may not have been clear. In previous years, there have never been enough Catholic children to fill all the spaces so have gone down to the 'lower' categories of other Christian children. As a Catholic family (well, not me but that's not important for the purposes!), we should have priority along with other Catholic children who applied. I'd be amazed if there had been a huge influx of Catholic children that the priest wasn't aware of but that's the only explanation if they didn't mess up.

OP posts:
Original poster
mynameiscalypso · 17/04/2023 18:35

PuttingDownRoots · 17/04/2023 18:26

You should be able to find out what category your are in, and what category they offered to. If you think you were placed in the wrong category appeal.

Thanks - we've just emailed to ask this and stated which category we believe we are in based on the forms and supplemental information that we provided.

OP posts:
Elsie20 · 17/04/2023 18:43

mynameiscalypso · 17/04/2023 18:34

Yea, sorry, I may not have been clear. In previous years, there have never been enough Catholic children to fill all the spaces so have gone down to the 'lower' categories of other Christian children. As a Catholic family (well, not me but that's not important for the purposes!), we should have priority along with other Catholic children who applied. I'd be amazed if there had been a huge influx of Catholic children that the priest wasn't aware of but that's the only explanation if they didn't mess up.

Show quote history

Yes it does seem odd as practising Catholics have definitely declined over the years , not like when my elder ones at schools (it was near impossible to get into Catholic schools even as practising Catholics) and like your parish priest has said, ours has also said the same, many families have returned home, less babies are being baptised especially with Covid too.

at of interest where about are you. London? My nephew last year got his first choice and many non Catholics got in to which shocked me, never heard of it before. My niece also had her first choice today, but she is not in London but the midlands.
Have you checked your local councils allocations and see how the places were offered? Also check with the school tomorrow,

PatChaunceysFruitCake · 17/04/2023 18:45

The local authority where I live (and many are the same) publish the allocation data on their website on offer day. You can see the lowest admission criteria applied to applications for a particular school and if relevant the distance of the last child admitted.

Can you have a look at see if you can access this data?

Original poster
mynameiscalypso · 17/04/2023 18:45

@Elsie20 We are in London, yes. My experience is exactly yours and I can't help feeling there's a mistake somewhere and that our pocket of west London isn't some kind of weird anomaly! DH has already emailed the school so we will wait to hear back and I will scour the council for information now! Thanks

OP posts:
Original poster
mynameiscalypso · 17/04/2023 18:47

PatChaunceysFruitCake · 17/04/2023 18:45

The local authority where I live (and many are the same) publish the allocation data on their website on offer day. You can see the lowest admission criteria applied to applications for a particular school and if relevant the distance of the last child admitted.

Can you have a look at see if you can access this data?

I can't see it yet but DH did all the school applications so I will send him hunting for it.

OP posts:
BeautifulWar · 17/04/2023 18:50

Some years the number of sibling applicants is really large compared to other years and trumps everything except cared for children.

Always worth asking though!

Original poster
mynameiscalypso · 17/04/2023 18:53

BeautifulWar · 17/04/2023 18:50

Some years the number of sibling applicants is really large compared to other years and trumps everything except cared for children.

Always worth asking though!

Yeah, that's my fear! It just seems bizarre that there will be 40 practicing Catholic siblings of the same age! It could have happened though.

OP posts:
Soontobe60 · 17/04/2023 18:53

Elsie20 · 17/04/2023 18:20

Does this school give priority to other Christian's over Catholics? Eg why are they giving 10 spaces to other Christians. Most Catholic schools I know always prioritise Catholics over any other religion.
it does seem strange

You do know that Catholicism is a branch of Christianity don’t you?

Treacletoots · 17/04/2023 18:56

We missed out on our first choice because the local authority systems that were supposed to talk to each other ( Cross County applocation) didn't. Our first choice was never requested by the 'state of the art' computer systems and defaulted to our 2nd choice.

It took about 2 weeks solid on the phone to get them to admit they'd fucked up. And another 2 months to get confirmation we actually had the place despite the school being under subscribed.

Absolute nightmare. Wishing you all the best of luck for dealing with the admissions teams. 😩

Elsie20 · 17/04/2023 18:57

Soontobe60 · 17/04/2023 18:53

You do know that Catholicism is a branch of Christianity don’t you?

Show quote history

Not even getting into this with you. Do not insult my intelligence please, by trying to open up a Religion war. HOWEVER as previously stated, Catholic schools that I know of, will always prioritise RC over any other form of Christianity!

PussBilledDuckyPlait · 17/04/2023 19:00

Soontobe60 · 17/04/2023 18:53

You do know that Catholicism is a branch of Christianity don’t you?

Show quote history

Poster used the phrase 'other Christians' so it's clear the poster knows this. Confused

Original poster
mynameiscalypso · 17/04/2023 19:01

Treacletoots · 17/04/2023 18:56

We missed out on our first choice because the local authority systems that were supposed to talk to each other ( Cross County applocation) didn't. Our first choice was never requested by the 'state of the art' computer systems and defaulted to our 2nd choice.

It took about 2 weeks solid on the phone to get them to admit they'd fucked up. And another 2 months to get confirmation we actually had the place despite the school being under subscribed.

Absolute nightmare. Wishing you all the best of luck for dealing with the admissions teams. 😩

Argh, nightmare! This is what I'm afraid of! Well done on persevering with your application though. DH is stomping around grumpily so I think it's definitely going to be a few weeks of stress here.

OP posts:
Rosecoffeecup · 17/04/2023 19:55

How odd. Presumably he's been offered a place in Reception at your second choice (not nursery), which would suggest the LA is aware of the entry you are applying for?

Sorry I have nothing to add of any benefit, but I hope you get an answer

BendingSpoons · 17/04/2023 20:19

It does sound like the school have categorised him as the year below based on you saying you might defer. Out of interest, if you do defer, would you keep your place or have to reapply?

Original poster
mynameiscalypso · 17/04/2023 20:22

Rosecoffeecup · 17/04/2023 19:55

How odd. Presumably he's been offered a place in Reception at your second choice (not nursery), which would suggest the LA is aware of the entry you are applying for?

Sorry I have nothing to add of any benefit, but I hope you get an answer

Yup! Definitely Reception at his second choice. It's all a bit odd but - as ever - I feel there's a human error at the root of things here. It's all very confusing though!

OP posts:
Original poster
mynameiscalypso · 17/04/2023 20:25

BendingSpoons · 17/04/2023 20:19

It does sound like the school have categorised him as the year below based on you saying you might defer. Out of interest, if you do defer, would you keep your place or have to reapply?

The guidance from our LA says that you apply as normal and then defer when you have a place. So I don't know if we'd get a chance to apply again for Reception as he's technically aged out of the application system so we'd have to do an in year application. I agree it sounds like the school could have assigned him to the wrong age group but we didn't go through the nursery application process (which is a different process) so it's all very odd.

OP posts:
niclw · 17/04/2023 20:26

Just to throw another idea in the mix. Parents can apply to defer the place. However, many schools don't accept deferrals. Schools have no obligation to do so. Therefore it may be that they won't accept you because your want to defer your child's place.

Original poster
mynameiscalypso · 17/04/2023 20:30

niclw · 17/04/2023 20:26

Just to throw another idea in the mix. Parents can apply to defer the place. However, many schools don't accept deferrals. Schools have no obligation to do so. Therefore it may be that they won't accept you because your want to defer your child's place.

We had confirmation before we started the process that they were happy with deferrals so I don't think that could be the issue but would that override the other admissions criteria especially if it's not published as such? I did wonder if maybe my DH shouldn't have written though as maybe it's just complicated matters!

OP posts:
Elsie20 · 17/04/2023 23:05

I know you said you're west London, so not sure what borough you are but this is Hammersmith and Fulham that still have spaces

Does this sound like the school messed up?
Elsie20 · 17/04/2023 23:08

A couple of Catholic schools on there, gives you an idea that they are undersubscribed.

Does this sound like the school messed up?
lilao · 17/04/2023 23:40

Is this for Oratory school?

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