Disastrous primary admissions

[kafka]

Ds has not got into any of his four preferences and we are a bit up and down about it all.

Anyone else been through this who is able to offer some words of reassurance.

Kafka

I'd do it Amicissima's way - I've just been avoiding the issue .

thanks kind of you to post

I am worried though, but nothing I can do. the aggregate score is 160 and it is bottom of the league tables in a very deprived area of the borough a long way from where we live, on the plus it has a good ofsted

We will go on the waiting lists, and my son is a very sociable get on with it type of person so he will hopefully love school and it will all be one big adventure...

I know how you feel - there is a school abt a mile away that does have places but its agg is 141 and its ofsted is , ahem, lukewarm so we are applying to a very good school in battersea which has places even though that will mean horrendous journey every day.

My sil is a teacher in Lambeth (am assuming that is where you are cos they had offersout last week) and the council phoned up her head last week and asked if they would mind creating another class of 30 to cope with local overflow . As if they could just magically find space/teachers/resources...

Really helpful posts, Amicissima; you've answered the exact question I'd come on here to ask! It's stilled my (near) panic

You in the same boat florence?

Sort of, kafka; we're on the border between 2 boroughs & got no offers in one & our least preferred in the other. DS is 34th on the waiting list for our closest school, which is faith-based (we're not!) and the best in the area. I don't know where he is placed waiting-list wise in our preferred school in the 2nd borough, but I think we'll be following Amicissima's advice; it sounds eminently sensible! Don't look forward to doing all this again with DD in a couple of years...

Kafta, sorry if this sounds very harsh, but you seem very accepting of the decision. Like there isn't much point, in even trying for an appeal.
My sil is appealing at the moment. She has a very good case, becasue there was an admin error, but none the less, YOU HAVE TO FIGHT, YOU KNOW.
Where is your fighting spirit ?

Oblomov, on what grounds would Kafka appeal? And what exactly is a school supposed to do when lots of parents want to go there and there aren't enough spaces?

Can I ask an ignorant question here (ds only 21 months but we are moving house and considering all this)? How come you didn't get a place in a school you applied to only 600 metres away? Does that mean that more than 30 other families with reception-age children (or siblings) live closer than you?!

Hi
I wonder if this forum might be of some help to you, it has some very useful information. Unfortunately, if it is an issue of infant class size most appeals are lost before they have even begun.

www.parentscentre.gov.uk/forum/categories.cfm?catid=57

I hope the above helps you

Southutshire: yes, that was the case with us (one school is only abt 450m away).

Southutshire - that is a very common situation in inner Londo0n.

Partly because the population can be so dense, wih most schools serving an estate, and partly because of teh sibling situation in popular schools.

This is what happens: a family moves into a small flat very close to the school with one child. They then move away to a bigger place, and their flat is re-let or sold to another family who get their first child into the school before moving away...so every year a new lot of siblings get priority, none of whom live anywhere near the school.

One-year leases on small flats in the same road as over-subscribed schools are very commmon and ensure that teh places left for families living even 5 mins walk away gets more and more restricted. There is a Lambeth school famous for it's over-subscribed-ness which frequently only has about 7 places available for oldest children based on proximity, with all the rest goping to siblings, because of this factor.

Ah, thanks for explaining.

Same thing has happened where I live. We were lucky to get a place for DS2 at the best school in town because DS1 is already there. But there are 80 on our school's waiting list and 250ish children haven't been offered any of their preferred schools. The worst school in town has vacancies but not enough for all of them. I don't know what the council will do with them all.
And we're not even inner London.

Hi Kafka,
I'm in the same position with dd and appealing, which has been put back to June. Having a complete nightmare as council has agreed that dds allocated school is a risk (social grounds) but even with the support of my gp they won't accept that the school I want is the only option. My council thinks that dd should go any school with a place left even if its an hours walk or 2 bus rides away. HELP!
Try not to get to caught up in it all, it has at times made me unwell with worry and I've had to sit back and take a break or I would go mad.

Why on earth don't they factor in length of time living at an address? Would stop this issue at a stroke.

Couldn't agree more zog. Dd was no.2 on the waiting list for the school we wanted, which has dropped to 4 since the list was opened up, seems to me that people have given false addresses or rented properties nearer to the school to bump themselves up the list.

Factoring in time at an address is unfair suppose you hcae just moved house/had a job transfer/been made redundant/landlord served you notice?

sorry this has happened to you (and ds)kafka, can't really suggest anything, I suspect the council see 1 hrs walk /2 bus rides as being OK, round here there are oodles of primary kids walking up and down past each other to go to schools quite a way away, there are also oodles on the bus in the morning
I have vaguely contemplated moving nearer the school I want but the house is on for about 1.5 million (and needs considerable work) so I don't think it's an issue really!!

I know mummyeme, me too, caused all sorts of runctions here hand in there it is sooo stressful

We did not get a place at school dd is attending nursery class.We are currently 2nd on waiting list but feel shafted

Its the last thing anyone needs i know but i go back to work in 4 weeks and with this and settling ds into nursery,well I am a bot down about it.

well done choc nut (!)
you're climbing up aren't you?
We're 9th but I think we've been told there is no chance!

Our "worst school' isn't just at the bottom of the league tables, there are lots of other issues.
Likewise, our 'best' school isn't at the top of the league tables. It does perform very well but there are all kinds of other reasons why it's the best.