Anyone waiting with baited breath for school place?

[Sallyre]

We find out tomorrow what school DS1 has been allocated to. The nearest one to us is horrible so I didn't even put it on the application. I asked for the second nearest as first choice and the third as second choice. I really want to get into our first choice as all his preschool chums are going for it.

It's so nerve-wracking! I've got butterflies just thinking about it and it's not until tomorrow I find out. Of course it will mean DS2 gets in there as well so it's so important.

Eek! Someone pass me a valium....

we find out today today - we're on the edge of 2 boroughs so applied to both - just found out we got the one we didn't want in our borough so fingers crossed for the other one - feeling quite depressed

Yes, I'm waiting too for dd2. Just hope it comes in the post today. She's convinced she's going into reception in the school where she's at the nursery class, and I really hope she's right! Aargh.

gutted didn't get any of our choices in other borough either and when my DH phoned them they won't tell where abouts on the waiting list we are. DD1 is going to really upset as all her friends from nursery are likely to get into this school so now she won't know any of the children as the school she's been offered a place at

We've got 2nd choice as well. Whereabouts are you, becks?

We're on the Hackney / Islington border - only upside is that lady did slightly imply that we might get our favourite one on the waiting list so the agony continues for a few more weeks I guess! Is your 2nd choice still acceptable to you?

Waiting here too, until now. Got my first or second choice (haven't concluded which is which). But relieved. Unbelievable how long they make you wait and then you have to wait in the post!

Refuse to answer via phone, refuse to put me through either grrrrrrr.

Becks, we used to live on the hackney/islington border too! There's quite a few of us around. Which schools have you been offered/are you waiting for? Initials will do.

If it's any consolation, we were offered both WT and H schools (islington) , though not until a few days into the start of the reception term. But by that stage dd1 was settled at OLSJ (hackney) so we never took up on it. I hear good things about deB school, though it does look rough. Rosie Millard used to live in the same road as us, and her kids went to H school (never quite sure how she swung that). Loads of kids in our road went to either WT or C schools, so there must be hope. Which road are you in?

we've been offered De B - applied to OL&SJ but we are catholics but DD not so knew we didn't have much hope there. However we also applied to St Judes and I really thought we had a chance of getting in there so gutted that we didn't. We are now thinking we may appeal but we'll give it a few weeks to see what the waiting lists are doing. OLSJ is at the end of our road! I'm assuming you're catholics then? We didn't apply to Hannover as thought it was a bit too far away from us. We did apply to C and WT but knew we had not chance of those as the catchment is so small and they are both such great schools. Where abouts are you living now then?

We live in N19 now -- dd2 has just not been offered Y school, although she's at the nursery, but has been offered StJo which is where ds is. So hardly the end of the world, though I'm optimistic that a place at Y will come up if we keep our nerve on the waiting list.

We used to live in S'gate road, and our neighbours kids went to WT, and ours were also offered places there eventually. So don't give up hope! Neighbours kids on the other side went to C. There is a lot of movement in 2-form entry schools, so you're always in with a chance. In a couple of weeks you should be able to get an idea of where you are on the waiting list, and then another tranche of places will become available in september when people don't turn up at the start of term.

I didn't know st Judes was so oversubscribed it used to be rough as a badger's a*se, frankly (though possibly not rougher than deB) but since the rebuild seems to have improved loads. DeB is also on the up, I think I have spotted the odd m/c boho-type parent there, so might be worth going for a closer look. In any case, reception classes are rarely terrible -- it's further up the school where problems become more apparent.

That whole area is a bit of a schools black hole, but it does all seem to pan out eventually for people. There's another MNer who lives opposite our old house with a child the same age, but I think I remember her saying they were going to go private. She also applied to OLSJ iirc, but you do need a baptism certificate to stand any kind of a chance, and really you need a priest's ref as well. Did you not have your dc baptised?

yes DD is baptised but CoE (we are baptised catholics) so we knew she prob wouldn't get in as you really do have to be RC to get in there it seems. We did look around De B and my husband actually really liked the school and the head - I think i have been swayed by others in the area telling me how bad it is. St J we also looked around and I wasn't that impressed by the head but its ofsted is much better and its a lovely small school.

Wouldn't you rather both your kids went to the same school?

Did you move away from this area because of the school situation? We had a friend who moved from here due to the school situation and another who moved within Stokey to get into WP - they got a place yesterday so are delighted.

I feel alot calmer about it all today and we feel confident that she may get a place at St J on the waiting list and then at least we'll have a choice between the 2. Who knows we may even sneak up the waiting list for OLSJ but I doubt it! Only other thing is that at De B she won't start until January and I was hoping she'd start somewhere in September as I feel she's really ready for it.

Good luck with getting into Y. I don't know much about N19 - are you enjoying living up there?

Sorry becks, didn't mean to ignore you!

No, we didn't move because of the school situation -- if anything we may have made ds's secondary choices slightly more difficult. I'm not too bothered about ds and dd2 being at the same school, as ds is going into Y5 next year, so they would only have overlapped by two years anyway, and he can walk back by himself, so the logistics would be ok. It's more a question of choosing a school that suited each of them. In fairness, I could have got them both into Y school as they offered ds a place last september, but since he'd only been at St J for half a term it seemed a bit wrong to move him again.

I'm sure it will all be fine - will be intrigued to see where we are on the waiting list for Y school once all the reply slips are back. We must be quite close to the edge of the catchment, but because it's so popular I doubt there's loads of movement on the waiting list. But we'll see.

From where you are, I think WT and C schools both do have quite a bit of movement, so probably worth staying on the waiting lists and nagging regularly. I think the schools take over the waiting list from the LEA at some point after the start of the Reception term - might be worth finding out when that is, as the schools have a bit more discretion once they're in charge of their own waiting list. I'd be really surprised if you didn't get offered a place somewhere else before or soon after she starts reception.

What are you going to do in the meantime? I suspect I'd just go with deB and see how it pans out -- I wouldn't listen too much to local gossip, people's info can be quite dated. Anyway, you never know what your own child's experience will be until they've started.

Hi Agonybeetle - have you heard any more about waiting lists? We are going to appeal but don't hold out much hope. Found out today though that she is number 6 on the waiting list but its a 1 form entry school so still a long way to go!