Didn't get in to any of my local schools in Hackney

[bealos]

Just found out this morning that my ds didn't get into any of the 3 primary schools I applied for. Quite shocked, upset and not looking forward to the palaver I now imagine I'm going to have to go through.

Choice 1 was our nearest school, Choice 2 another school nearby, choice 3 a school a little further away but with a large (90 pupil) reception intake, so I thought I was playing it fairly safe with my choices.

They have said we will be on the waiting list for our 3 choices (I'd like to know ifI can be added to the waiting list for other schools nearby too) plus we have the right to appeal.

They have also sent the list of the approx 12 schools that do have places left in Hackney (read: unpopular and therefore bad OFSTED etc). The nearest is a good 25 min walk away.

I am a single parent, I work full time and my ds goes to a childminder + nursery. If he ends up at a school further away I just don't know how I'm going to manage as the childminder will not be able to drop him off as she goes to 2 local schools already. Panic!

Has anyone else been through this - esp appeal - and succeeded?

bealos I'm in a similar position in Wandsworth and it's a horrible and stressful place to be.

Some of the things I've done (although it's not gotten me a place yet but has made me feel like I'm doing something):

• Spoken to the Head and Admissions Officer at my closest school. They haven't been able to do anything but have been really encouraging.
• Sent off a Freedom of Information request to the council to understand the scale of the problem. I asked things like number of children without an offer (421 in my borough!), intake distances for all local schools etc.
• Written to all local councillors (one of them has been to visit us and is working behind the scenes to try and help us)
• Written to my MP, and all major party politicians with responsibility for schools. Micahel Gove (Tory Schools Minister) has been by far the most helpful
• Spoken to my Conservative parliamentary candidate (he didn't get in, but he's also been agitating for us to try and get an extra class added at our closest school)
• Appealed the decision to refuse admission to the closest school (appeal hearing is on 21st. It's a class size appeal so not hopeful but we're doing it anyway).
• Contact ACE, The Children's Education Centre about appeal (lots of good advice)
• Read the admissions code. This is useful and has helped us frame our appeal.
• Visited other local schools that don't currently have places but that we would have gotten into if we'd applied up front. I've since sent in late applications for two of those schools so we're on 6 waiting lists rather than 4.
• Myself and another mum have also contacted the papers and we're considering getting a group of us together to appear in our local press on this. This is currently work in progress.

You need to ring the LEA regularly to understand where you are on the waiting lists. In my area they are supposed to move quite a bit but have been snails pace for us. We're 7th on the list for our closest school and consensus seems to be that we will get in eventually but it doesn't help right now with the stress and worry.

I do feel like we've let our DS down

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Some good stuff here ... I am in the same situation in another London borough. 4 choices and this year we are not close enough to any of them, even though I put 4 of my 5 closest schools down, none more than half a mile away and none of them faith schools. 2 years ago we'd have got into any of them easily. This year, we're tenth on the waiting list of three of them and fifth on the other.

9.8% of parents are in this situation this year (here). I am appealing, even though it looks hopeless, because I can and I want my voice to be heard.

I've rejected the place offered to us at an alternative school as it was too far away. The point-to-point distance was about a mile and a half but the actual distance travelled is more like 2.5 miles as there are various parks / cemeteries in the way on the point-to-point route.

Fingers crossed that we all get an outcome we're at least prepared to accept.

Hi Bealos - As I said to ellestone on her post - I was in a similar situation in Hackney a couple of years ago. (And I only put down one school as I live close and all the neighbour's kids go there). There is a lot of churn in Hackney schools - one third in my son's popular school, according to the head. Not everyone accepts places, people move out of London etc etc, get transfered to housing in other parts of the borough etc etc. Find out where you are on the waiting list.

My son did get a place before the start of the school year. I would have thought there's a good chance a place will come up in one of your preferred schools, either before your child starts or later in the year. I know several kids who started at one school & transferred to the parent's preferred one in Reception or Year 1 - and its fine. The system seems to set up to be stressfull but most people get an outcome they are happy with.

P.S If you think you will need the school's before and afterschool care, check out how easy it is to get a place - my son's school has a drop-in breakfast club which is great but the after-school places are very scarce, he didn't get one for a year until I had worked out the system, and even then only for 2 days and I didn't get to choose the days, and then he hated it... Tra la la the continuing trials of parenthood!

And let us know how it goes!

So what did happen? We're about to start the whole procedure this year and it would be good to know the end to this story...!

Hello Bealos,

Without putting you under pressure to name the schools that you describe as rubbish (please don't - defamation laws apply), I'm not sure that's right.

Some schools in that postcode have turned round very quickly indeed in the last year or so. There are some very good schools in your postcode, and I don't actually know of one that is rubbish. Historically, yes, but now, not at all.

What are you basing that on?

Bealos, London Fields Primary is part of the Best Start Federation, along with Mandeville and Woodberry Down Schools. They share an executive principal but each has its own headteacher.

It is an excellent school, and it is a real advantage belonging to a federation: it has massive resources in terms of specialist expertise.