"waiting list for local primaries" - confused!

[TheWheelsOnTheBusHaveFallenOff]

Just read an article in yesterday's Sunday Times Home section about a woman with a 16 mo who has moved into my local area in order to get herself into the catchment area of our two, excellent, state primary schools. Fair enough.

But the article states that she has put her daughter's "name down" for these schools.

Is this possible given her daughter's age? I emailed one of these schools last year to ask about how the admissions procedure works and was told that you can only apply in the year before your child is of an appropriate age to attend, so this woman shouldn't be able to "put down" her daughter's name until the beginning of next year at the earliest by my reckoning, to get a place for Sept 2011.

Would I sound like a nutter if I rang the school to clarify?

Arrgh, don't make me talk about it! Don't want to offend anyone!

If you want to have an insider's view on it, then feel free to CAT me. I had one of new parent-governors round for supper last night and he is pretty confident that there is enough of a head wind behind him to start improving things [hopeful].

So you think A is improving?

lala have you looked a Y1 entry at H or B instead of HG?

Thanks Lala

EldonAve - another neighbour? I don't think that A is currently improving but I know this p-g socially and he is not a bullshitter - he said that he thought that they (new govs)could begin to change the culture in next few months. It does need a huge kick up the backside.

I don't know about H or B - we were 46th and 67th on waiting list when offers went out last spring and, while I am sure that many of waiting list were children who had been offered places at H or B, iyswim, I think we have a long way to go.

HG looks like our best hope but no one moving. In many ways, I would prefer to keep dd1 at A because I don't especially want her to have a religious-based education but would like to feel more confident that it was improving and am not sure that it will until there are some very significant personnel changes. It does have huge potential.

Apologies to Wheels for hijack. My earlier point stands that the article was cobblers.

no apology needed lalalonglegs - and a big hello to you fellow Nappy Valley-ers!)

though I am feeling rather from what you're all saying that despite living so close to B it may not be close enough. as a lone (widowed) parent I'm hoping I might be able to push for a place there for ds if he's not accepted straight off - if we had to travel miles for a school it would make life unfeasibly difficult given I'm the sole breadwinner here and trying to fit in work along with all the other parenting and domestic stuff.

I was brought up Catholic and so HG is an option, even had ds baptised despite my now being on the atheist side of lapsed! but having looked at the school and its ethos there is just no way we could do it - as you say Lotster, it would be living a lie, and you have to attend church every week etc etc - fair play if it's what you believe but it's lot of dissembling to be doing not to mention unethical if you don't!

I'm only just starting to think about this as I'm just looking into pre-school apps but don't know which school "A" refers to, any clues as to location please?

A is Alderbrook Primary.

They have a sweet little pre-school there too called Lochinvar Pre-school Playhouse.

Thanks, not come across Alderbrook before, a bit more than walking distance for us. Just looked on the ofsted website and seen that there is a bit more choice out there than I had thought - easy to get fixated on the nearest, and supposedly best!, school to you I guess. Given that private school would cost £10,000 a year hardly surprising though ... Eaton House anyone?

Ds at Lochinvar and it is lovely - if you were able to walk there - and pretty cheap for area, abt £25 a day including lunch.

Is there actually an address where you would be in catchment for both Honeywell and Belleville???

Actually distance can matter for lots of the grammars - this is from the Tiffin admissions brochure: "In the event of a tied score to fill 120 places, a place or places will be offered to the girl who lives nearest to the school, as measured using the shortest approved walking route. All distances will be measured using the Council?s computerised Geographical Information System."

But surely that is a very small statistical possibility because the tie would only count for the 120th place? So, if out of several hundred applicants who take the entrance exam, (which is bloody hard, from what I understand) your daughter happens to fall joint 120th, then the address will matter. I didn't realise it mattered at all - certainly it never used to - but the chances of it mattering do seem slim.

Lala I am not sure, but I think there are so many doing the test now that they end up with multiple students on the same marks. So there may (hypothetically) be twenty girls with the same top mark, thirty on the next mark, etc. In theory it might even be possible that they have more than 120 girls all achieving the same top mark. In which case they would be accepted based on proximity. Certainly I know of several families moving closer to grammars give their kids a better chance, so I don't think it is that rare. Strangely a lot of the boys grammars don't seem to apply the proximity criteria. I don't understand why?

Because girls are very delicate creatures and don't travel well .

Ah...of course! That will be it.

Joined this late but just wanted to say that I have worked in school A and school B they are as different as it is possible to be and will remain that way unless there is personnel change!

Oooh Scaredy tell me more - the HT has resigned at A. Give me hope that it will be turned around.

Really?????? Good news, lovely lady terrible Head.

It could be turned around; it could be and should be a wonderful, small, inclusive, community school. There were some terrific teachers there 5 years ago but most left because it was heartbreaking.

I'm nervous about saying too much because I still work in the authority. Do you have a child there now?

Yes, I do, in reception. Can I CAT you?

I don't know what that means so probably not! Happy to talk by e-mail but can't give you my address because it has my real name in it. Sorry to be so cloak & dagger.

CAT means contact another member (don't know why it isn't CAM) - so it would be by email. You have to pay a subscription to send the email but I don't know if you have to pay it to receive one. I will try and email you tomorrow (it won't give me your email address unless you reply) and see what happens.

Thanks

LLLL

OK let's see what happens, otherwise if you're happy to 'come out' write your e-mail address on here and I'll e-mail you directly.

OOPs - forgot that I was still posting under this name. Namechanged for a different thread, 'Scardey' no more and back to angrypixie

No, you don't accept emails from other MNers. My address is lalalonglegs at hotmail.co.uk - hope to hear from you.