School allocations!

[Kirby05]

Reception school allocations will be out in 3 days! How is everyone feeling?!

Anyone from Kent? No update on our portal I think they make us wait until 4pm too… why oh why 🫠

I’m Kent, when it was my oldest it took until 3/4pm for us, however my brother got my nephews place email at 11am the same day and they were also Kent. No idea why it was so different!

We’ve got first choice!

Honestly it’s so annoying!! Why can’t it just be on the portal like everywhere else 😂

Second choice and our catchment school. Will be keen to see where we are on the waiting list!

I'm in Northants, I think they release the details at 5pm (well, that's what chatgpt says) This is our first child going to school, so I'm not sure how the process all happens.

DN got our first choice.
I’m super relieved. It should have been a forgone conclusion as the school gate is literally at the end of our garden and my two sons attend, but there are a lot of siblings in this year group and we were told last minute that us having special guardianship of him wasn’t enough to count as sibling in allocations. So I was nervous.

Isn't he technically considered as looked after @JustAnotherWhinger ? Id have thought he'd be top priority. Good luck 💐

We got first choice!

No, looked after only includes children who have been looked after by socials services placement apparently.

Its something I’m going to take up and challenge them on because it’s ridiculous that another family in our position (and we have DN because he is orphaned so it’s not a changing situation) could end up with two school runs through absolutely no fault of their own. Luckily for us you literally leave our garden, cross a narrow path and you’re in the school ground so when distances are calculated he’ll be the closest (as the two houses closer still have no children applying this year).

Did you get an email notification?

First choice in Cambridgeshire, the email came in at 4.30am

We got our first choice! Email came in at 12.44

First choice too but he has a sibling and they give preferential treatment also if they attend the nursery.

I was a nervous wreck this time last year, thinking of you all!

I hope everyone gets the places that they want and the news they wish to hear, and hoping that the various portals upload soon!

I feel so impatient - I have a feeling my LA will be one who waits until 5pm!

We got our catchment school but not our first preference! Would be lying if I said I wasnt pretty gutted. Reassuring myself that we did like the one we got it hence putting it as second choice. Will be nervously waiting for the waiting list position on 7 May.

Got first choice and there’s no option to accept it. I can’t tell if I’m being dim or if it’s a glitch, so I’ve emailed to ask.

Some councils assume you accept by default unless you tell them. It was def like that in W Sussex when we did it 2 years ago.

That’s a VERY unusual interpretation in my experience! Most areas I know of would class him under sibling criteria with ease.

I think you’d have had a very solid legal challenge if you’d not got a place - and if that’s the policy across your borough for primary and secondary I wonder if it’s worth making some noise about now anyway so that it’s hopefully resolved before you hit secondary applications!

It says to accept via the portal. I’m sure I did something to accept for my older children. Super frustrating!

Tbh we’re lucky in that there is only one secondary as well because of how rural we are, however I am going to make noise about it anyway since I have time and energy.

Its absolute nonsense that I could (if I split up with dh) move a boyfriend and his kids in and they’d get sibling criteria from living in the same household, but DN doesn’t.

i think it’s legally incorrect and needs challenged. Sadly it doesn’t surprise me with how poorly educated on the law, and their own rules, the department here is.

FYI when we did one of our school visits the headteacher told us that once you’ve received and accepted your offer in the system, you should email the school to confirm you’ve accepted a place. She said it was belt and braces and made sure the school had the information directly/quickly and was a back up in case of any admissions systems glitches.

Nervously waiting. We have an EHCP in place and our number one is our closest, but I still worry we won’t be given it. It just feels like it won’t happen. I really hope I’m wrong and over-worrying!

Good luck everyone.

@Ecgx I’m in Kent so they should be released after 4pm. I’ve logged into the portal but there’s no obvious place to look to find the outcome as far as I can see.

@MamaBear2210T great news for you! It must be a relief. How do you feel now?