Just found out dd hasn't got into ANY of the local schools - now what?

[lalalonglegs]

We live about 4-500m from two schools both of which we are eligible for (the one I prefer is a church school) but have been accepted at neither of them nor at the two nearest after that. I'm feeling a bit bleak and angry.

I'm that your councils operate a system whereby they don't have to offer you any school... surely this must indicate that there are not enough places overall so they should be extending/building more schools?

lalalonglegs and newtolondon, we are in the same boat, with no offer. In sutton borough. What is the problem in sw london? Can't they expand the schools to accomodate enough places???

Anyway, I was told today by the council:

• there are no places in the borough or we would have been offered one.
• in 4 weeks we will be able to be told where we feature on the waiting list, but they won't tell us now.
• if we don't get a place in the borough, they will point us in the right direction to find a place outside the borough.

Not sounding good. Private schools over-subscribed, so right now we are looking into home schooling. Or setting up our own school?????

Sounding flippant but in total despair about this.

GM and new: I am sure the council thinking is that the less co-operative they are, the more likely that "nice, middle-class" parents will just go the independent route and make life easier for them. Statistically, there are enough schools in Wandsworth because there are some that don't fill up - for obvious reasons - so they will always be able to claim that they can provide enough places but am staggered that I live within half a mile of four and haven't got into any of them and am, in fact, 63rd or something on list at the one furthest from me.

Newtolondon: must be very, very difficult when your daughter is already at nursery there and has made friends with people you expected to be in her class. I do feel sorry for you.

Bloody hell Cloudhopper, I thought Wandsworth was bad. I was going to keep my dd at her nursery which they said they would be happy to do but I was there today doing an activity with them and it occurred to me that she is one of the brighter, more advanced among them (I know but it's true) and, once her contemporaries leave, she is going to be really on her own with a lot of quite babyish children. Can't contemplate home-schooling as, by Sep, will have 2 year old and new baby as well.

I'm sorry, I have nothing to add but my sympathy. This sounds bonkers. No, scratch that, completely unacceptable. I had no idea it was so bad.

llll, i agree with you about home schooling! Actually I have a two year old as well - probably not the best combination!

Apparently if the borough can't offer a place at all, they still have an obligation to educate your child, so they have to send someone round to your house to teach them.

This is of course all hearsay, but in a way it makes sense. If the borough aren't obliged to offer places to each child, surely they could cut costs by not having as many schools?

I don't know how I have stayed so calm today. I suppose I kind of expected this to happen, knowing what it is like round here. I have heard so many horror stories.

The bottom line is that we are only about 600-800 yards from the schools but this area is traditionally a commuter area not a family area. SO there aren't enough places. Since families like us are unable to afford to live in the more family type areas with houses, and we are all crammed into commuter flats, there are not enough schools to accomodate all the children.

I wish we had moved house. I have been worrying about this since dd was born.

Our area is known as very "family-friendly" and has lots of very expensive prep schools so the council has obviously decided that there is no need to worry because we can just cough up £10k a year for a private education.

Ironically, we did move house to get away from truly appalling school we lived opposite from in old borough - guess I misjudged that one .

Maybe the boroughs are just too stingy to cough up the extra money they need these days.

It certainly looks that way to me. There must so many more children in these areas than there used to be.

i'm in sw london and can just add to the reassurance that in my experience people in your agonising position generally get offered a place at a nearby school over the next few weeks. 7th on the list sounds really high to me. good luck. hideous for you.

sounds like a ridiculous situation.

there's something very amiss with a government which continues to hike the cost of fuel - which effects the cost of public transport as well - and yet children can't get into the schools which are close enough for them to walk to.

Did you apply in the Lambeth at all or were they all too far?

No, didn't apply to Lambeth because the nearest schools across border are, wouldn't you know it, very oversubscribed so knew if we didn't get into the ones in Wandsworth, we definitely wouldn't get in there either.

Just found out that the woman with twins down road did get her children in so that means that in the space of 100m (distance between her house and mine), there are three children that have been turned down - not necessarily on my street but that is the difference 100m makes to catchment area around here.

lala- grinning soul is right, ime almost all the children who appealed or lived as close to the school as you do got in.
I think the council are uncooperative with everyone by the way, not just the mc parents.

I know how you feel, I went through the very same thing last year, but it all worked out in the end.
The problem is the ever growing opulation in London- there are too many people and the infrastructure just can't cope!!!

if you apply to schools in a different borough i don't think it makes any difference - it still goes on distance. maybe worth bearing in mind. it must be very stressful for you.

we are in london too, hackney. ds is at our nearest school, as it happens, but we were offered a place at the very oversubscribed, trendy (middle class favoured ) school a couple of weeks into reception. we thought hard & turned this offer down & are still very happy with our decision 18 months later. so it will work out, i'm sure. but horrid on the way. good luck.

Thanks MrsR - feel we may get into second choice school as that is closer to the border with Lambeth so people living other side of it from us have choice of that school and one in Lambeth, iyswim. Wasn't suggesting that council singled out mc parents for rough ride but that they had at the back of their mind that a certain number would just go the private route if council just sat back and did nothing. I have asked my BIL to call me as he is a school govenor (in north London, not around here) to see if he has any hints on appealing. I was looking at the material on preferred school and in past three years, they only seem to have allowed one child in on appeal...

HC: what made you keep him where he is - just the fact that it is close? Reason I didn't apply for Lambeth schools is because I wouldn't have got in on distance rather than border. How is house sale going now that you have ditched F**? Sorry to be nosy, but I follow the property threads quite a lot.

Most of the private schools will already be full though won't they?

Have you tried the other Catholic schools? Is St Mary's too far?

if you search the threads from this time last year, Richmond borough was in a right mess with 230 children without a place!

however by sept it did mostly sort itself out - they built some new classrooms, many accepted private places so released more state school places (most private schools want confirmation by the first day of summer term, so a few weeks left).

hang in there.
Good luck x

I think because a lot of people who go into the private system take places in two or three schools before they make their final choice, there are usually spaces available - the state system in Wandsworth does everything centrally to avoid that, you only get one offer (or none at all). Certainly, people I have spoken to who have been in a similar position in past years have just said "Oh, we went private instead." There is a Catholic private school round the corner which, as far as I can tell, is specifically for children such as my dd who didn't make it into local church schools and whose parents have £10k a year to spend per child.

St Mary's isn't too far for me to get to but the second criteria for entry is worshipping at St Mary's which we don't. I think it is going to be the same at virtually all the Catholic school that have an associated church. But I can't really do any ringing around until Tuesday because of wretched bloody religious bank holidays .

but also many who go into the private system will also have applied to a state school, and will then release that place, resulting in a shuffle.

honestly, that's what happened in Richmond last year. On the deadline for accepting the state school place there were loads suddenly released into the system.

oh and the state system in Richmond is the same - just one offer. The church schools are also co-ordinated centrally by the borough, not separately. I mean, the church schools provide the list of children they have offered a place to to the borough then those children are taken out of the system when the non Church school places are allocated. So everyone just gets one.

I had forgotten about the Catholic private school
We are looking at Sept 2009 entry and I suspect will have to stump up deposits for private in Autumn 2008

Thanks ami - I am clinging to the hope that there will be a certain amount of opt out into private system but, especially at church school, I don't know why they would. Perhaps I lack imagination, but it's a really great school and it's free so why would you send your child private instead? I know a lot of the people living in £1million homes close to the school could afford fees but I think they moved there so they don't have to, iyswim.

Well, people choose private for many reasons. Perhaps they think their children might need the extra assistance/ratio. Or maybe both parents are working and private schools offer longer days and after school clubs. Or private schools offer a lot of extras within the school (swimming lessons, gymnastics, music etc.) so the parents don't have to do all that after school ferrying around!

I have a private place i am about to release but all the pre/post school childcare and extra curricular stuff on site were major advantages to me.

i'm you don't get offered a place at all I'm waiting to find out about dd's primary school(in Kent) They don't let us know til 31st March(only one more week) but I know that if she doesn't get one of the 3 schools on our list she'll get offered a place somewhere. Who knows where but they have to offer a place somewhere. It's madness that you just have to wait and basically get your dd into a school yourself

Fingers crossed for 4th April and your dd getting a place. 4th on the list doesn't sound too bad in your area

Ami: that makes sense - hope there are enough children in SW12 with like-minded parents.

Eddas: trying not to raise hopes too much - everyone I know was confident that we would make first cut - kept saying: "Year my ds got in they were taking children from such and such street - 400m further away than you - so you'll be fine". I suspected things might not be so cut and dried when I went to get letter of recommendation from priest - had to go on one particular evening and it was like a UN refugee camp, so many people crowded in looking wild-eyed with desperation. While I agree that we have been very unlucky to be 4th on list when it is a matter of a few metres, I'm not counting on a place magically appearing. Good luck with your dd.