School allocations!

[Kirby05]

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

It varies by county and even within a county some schools may have catchments and some not. Our county does not and never has had catchment areas - it's done by distance once all the other criteria (children in care, siblings, church attendance etc have been applied). DS did not get into our village infants school because despite it being our nearest school there were 30 children who lived closer than we do or had sibling priorty etc so that was that - it was gutting to go past our village school every day driving to the next village over which had places.

Roll forward 10 years and our once oversubscribed village school only has 12 children in reception such is the demographic change. The one in the next village (that he went to) has gone from a 2 form entry to single form entry and is struggling to fill that. I really fear that so many schools are going to close.

Catchments still exist where I am, but looking at today's figures for my area they have shrunk year on year.

So you may be in a catchment but if theres 10 siblings and then 20 kids closer to school then it doesnt guarantee a place in a 30 entry school.

Or our catchment school was religious, and not good either, so we ended up getting our top preference which is an equal distance but a different direction. Its just how the catchment falls.

This is true. I thought the school just down the road was our closest but it isn't our catchment area school. We are on the border of three catchments. My daughter and now son go to one very close by that we aren't in the catchment for.

For those who are unhappy with the allocated school, if you want advice on a possible appeal please start a thread with the word "appeal" in the title. That way the experts who post on here will definitely see your post and will offer advice.

I’m in Kent and just had the email confirming an offer so they must be sending them out in batches. Good luck all.

Just to let you all know make sure you’re checking the online portal regularly and not just waiting on an email. I’ve not actually received any emails but had the offer and accepted it on the portal. They’re looking into why I didn’t receive the offer email or a confirmation email when I accepted DDs place, so just make sure you’re checking the portal too if you’re still waiting on an email.

We are in Herts and the portal updated at 10am, got our first choice which is a relief as it's a church school and we are not religious, though there are only a handful of houses closer than us. Feeling so relieved and able to start making plans for wraparound care etc which has just been hanging over me as something to sort but not knowing where he'd be meant we couldn't. Feeling quite emotional as well - no more Fridays off with DS (I know we're still 5 months off anything happening, but it feels so solid now we've had the allocation!).

Good luck to everyone still waiting!

Have you got yours now? I'm northants and mine was on the portal at midnight

Ours are available now on the portal in Wiltshire, but still no email.

Still waiting for 5pm in Surrey. For those who have had their offers, what does the offer page look like when you log in on the portal. Is it immediately obvious?! Thanks!

We had to click on our application to see the offer. It wasn’t on the homepage.

Oooh good question. I wanted to know that too. Still waiting in Surrey as well.

We got first choice! It's our nearest school but we're out of catchment so I was a bit concerned. Doesn't look like I need to accept, it's automatically accepted.

Got first choice! And then had a bit of a teary moment as it hit home that my first and only is growing up!

I did an online application and got the email at just after 2am all I had to do was click on the link and after logging on there was a drop down box to say accept the offer. Oxfordshire for us. She was a tiny 6lbs thing 5mins ago - now big school 😫

Still waiting on Surrey…

From last year (when I was applying for my eldest), the portal updated on the dot of 5pm. Email came through about 7ish I think .

First choice - accepted at 5.01 😂

Very pleased! Good luck to all others waiting on Surrey.

First choice too!

We got first choice!!!

Second choice in Surrey but tbh it’s actually better than our first choice!! Accepted!

We got our 4th choice. I'm not too anxious about it as we are likely to move out of area, so won't stay long. I always make a bit of a political point with my first three choices as it irks me when councils insist that 90% (or whatever) of parents got their first choice - but most of the time it isn't the genuine first choice of the school they'd really want their child to go to, if they had could make a choice based just on the school qualities and weren't limited by distance criteria. I think it's important to add to the statistics in a meaningful way in terms of number of applicants per place and applicants on the waiting list and with six choices in London, I didn't risk not getting a place at all as I was more realistic with choices 4-6. I will lodge an appeal although it's not likely to be successful, but it costs nothing to me and will mean the council will understand that not all parents are happy with the options on offer.

2nd choice here too. All ok, the only reason it wasn't top was it was in the wrong direction towards work but it's a lovely school so all good. Phew, one less thing to worry about

First choice (Surrey) - phew! Accepted on portal. Still no though?!

Missed the word email there!

Whilst I get where you are coming from, appeals cost the school time and money, which is time and money not spent on actually educating the children that attend. I think it's a step too far to appeal just to make a political point. All you are doing is wasting everyone's time.