Placement request application - help please!

[QueenHofScotland]

Hello!

I posted under education but didn’t get many replies - one to be exact!

I am currently in the process of filling in a placement request for a secondary school. DD is in primary 7.

It is for a school very high up in the league tables so they get many placing requests every year.

We lived in the catchment then stupidly moved to another village out-with the catchment - we did it without thinking about secondary schools tbh.

Historically the school has always had placement requests from pupils in our village. I went to the school that we want to make the application to so I just always assumed our DC would to.

We don’t want to move. We love where we live and are settled here. I would probably move back to the catchment village where I grew up but DH really doesn’t want to at the moment.

Anyway the question I have…there is a section for “any other info” and it states that you don’t have to give reasons for making the request but that it may be helpful.

What should I write?!

Has anyone else been through this process?

To be brutally honest, it won't make a blind bit of difference what you write.

That section is for more details, so you might want to give details of why you need a school all on the same level for a child who's in a wheelchair.

Each local authority will have published a list of criteria and how they will rank applicants. Catchment first, then looked after children, those with a medical need, siblings, those within the same local authority area by distance, those outside the local authority area by distance is the most common way.

What has or has not happened in the past isn't relevant either - my kids are at a school which traditionally took kids from Clydebank, Duntocher, Carbeth, Glasgow - no longer. Because they've built so many new houses in catchment.

Your best bet is to get into a local FB group or similar and start asking questions about how many kids got in last year to try to judge demand. Placing requests are by no means guaranteed though, you can ask to remain on a waiting list but priority still applies, so if a pair of siblings move into catchment they will get the places ahead of your kids.

Agree with above. It is really down to how many places they have, how many applicants and how they allocate priority. When I applied many many years ago, i used that section to mention about how DS was bullied in primary and we wanted a fresh start and that I was not convinced that his catchment school would be able to keep him safe. However, I'm sure that would only really be looked at in the event of there being one place left after all those with a higher priority being placed and it being down to 2 applicants with no priority who lived exactly the same distance away, so basically a long shot and hoping that our reasons were better than the other persons.

However, as it happened all applicants got places and we were the same with DS2 the following year. All we put in his section was that his brother was already at the request school.

So, there is no harm in adding some detail about why you'd like a place but it possibly won't even be looked at and probably won't matter.

Check how the priority is made though as even things like being a single parent can be a factor.

It depends on your LA, ours recently changed to 'length of time at an associated/cluster primary' being added before distance, but that was for actual catchment area children as there's a fear there won't even be enough spaces for them.

Thanks all, I will say very little then.

The LA in question publish the details of placing requests online - how many applied, how many were successful etc and it varies from year to year.

@Miraloma

It depends on your LA, ours recently changed to 'length of time at an associated/cluster primary' being added before distance, but that was for actual catchment area children as there's a fear there won't even be enough spaces for them.

Yes our local authority has done similar to stop people swooping into a P7 class and securing a space ahead of others who have been in the school since P1.

What's your plan B, OP?

We have a few plan B’s!

The majority of DD’s class will go to the catchment school. It has improved significantly in recent years - I know I sound like a snob but it’s in an area of high deprivation and lots of associated problems - and I would worry about her peer group, unless she sticks with primarily her friends from primary school. I would worry about her going to that area to meet friends etc at the weekend, which I feel is inevitable at some point. I know it’s snobby of me but 🤷‍♀️ it’s a genuine worry.

However, if all of her friends go and she really wants to go we will consider it.

The other option is a better school within our own LA but that’s two bus rides away - some kids from our village do go to it but it’s not ideal. We will make a placing request for this school too. If some of her friends go there, it may be an option.

We have also registered with a very small independent within our LA. This was initially where we planned for both DC to go. However, I have some reservations about it now and am not completely sure about it in the way I was previously.

So, I think I need to make the placing requests for both schools and then decide when we know what places she has been offered?

We don’t want to move house. It would be a nightmare to get a similar sized house in the catchment area at the moment and we are really settled. The DC are also really settled and don’t want to move.

I’d be very wary of any small independent school, my concern would be the financial viability of the school. One in our local authority closed with no notice a few years ago and although reopened has struggled to get pupils. Friendship groups can also be problematic in v small schools. Good luck with your placement requests!

Would your DD consider moving after S1? In my area placing requests aren't always granted for the high performing school for S1 but places open up from S2 onwards as families move. DDs friend moved in S2 and DD joined her at end of S4 when there are much more places.

I think this is always going to be the result of getting the house you want rather than the catchment of the school you want. I imagine you wouldn't be happy if your dd came to visit my dc in the area we live in - but we are lovely folk, honestly

As Broccoli said re the wheelchair, I think the only thing that will make a difference is if your child has a disability or additional needs. Otherwise I don't see that it would matter if you filled that in or not.
We made a request for a secondary school and it was accepted straight away but I think they had places available anyway. My child does have ASN though.

@Popitdontstopit

I think this is always going to be the result of getting the house you want rather than the catchment of the school you want. I imagine you wouldn't be happy if your dd came to visit my dc in the area we live in - but we are lovely folk, honestly

Honestly I would be happy if she made nice friends from her catchment school. Of course in that area there are going to be likeminded people but there are also huge issues socially and this must impact within the school environment.

Sometimes I could kick myself for not properly considering this when we moved. We loved the village we bought in. It’s gorgeous and only 3 miles from the catchment village we did live in. All my friends are still in the catchment villages.

Without outing myself, the school we made the placing request to is in the top 5 this year. The catchment school was well into the 200’s. Both are close enough and a bus ride away to be feasible for us. I feel I need to try and get a place in the better school.

Yes we would consider moving schools down the line if we needed to

What is the teaching like at the catchment school. League table position doesn't tell the full story. DD who switched said standard of teaching in 200+ in league table school was as good as top 20 school. It had better transport links so attracted teachers easily. Plus unis gave contextual uni offers which the top school didn't get.

I don’t know is my honest answer - although it’s made huge progress in recent years. I’ve heard lots of good things about it in recent years. And in recent years far more kids from our primary school have been going to it. Mainly because there was a new HT who made lots of changes for the better. They have now left and a new HT has now started this year. So that’s a bit of an unknown at the moment.

I have to be honest and say that it is the peer group that worries me most. And not because I think badly of people living in poverty - I came from a single parent family and grew up in a council house. I don’t want to appear as though I am judging people because it’s not about poverty v affluence. I just want my DD to make friends with likeminded people. Kids who enjoy learning, who aren’t caught up in other issues.

You don't need to tie yourself in knots trying to explain, @QueenHofScotland. We all want our kids to achieve, be happy and be with likeminded people. I was that motivated kid in a crappy class at a not so great comp and it was hell in S1 and S2 until they streamed us at the start of S3. There is NOTHING WRONG with pushing to get your child into a better school. We saddled ourselves with a mahoosive East Dunbartonshire mortgage for the same reasons.

Thanks @BroccoliFloret this makes me feel better! And that’s exactly what it comes down to, just wanting the best for our kids.

I think because it wasn’t so long ago that barely any kids from our primary went to the catchment, it’s still a bit daunting…if we were a few years down the line and we could see how those kids were getting on etc I might feel more comfortable.

@BroccoliFloret we are in the same LA!

I am a little further West - the school we are applying for is in Renfrewshire.

Here’s your best chance of getting your child into the school - stay on the waiting list and be willing to accept a place after term has started.

Our catchment school is very similar to the one you want to get into . Every year I know parents whose child is offered a place from the end of august right through to the October holiday. Almost all of them refuse.

I have a friend who turned down a place for her child because she had already bought him a blazer for his catchment school ( they are not hard up).

Usually it’s because they think that their child won’t make friends at the new school because it’s a few weeks into term .

But of course the friendships of 12 year olds are not set in stone - they still make lots of friends, especially if they join all the extra Curricular clubs that will hopefully be back up and running by this time next year.

In large schools, new pupils join all the time and it really doesn't matter if you start a few weeks late. Everyone else is still finding their feet.

I know it’s stressful starting one new school and then moving to another few weeks later. But it’s worth it to attend the better school IMO.

I honestly don’t think dd would cope starting a school late in the term or starting once school for a few weeks and then moving. It would cause her too much anxiety. I think if we knew for sure that it was going to happen it might be easier but 🤷‍♀️

I just need to wait now and see what places she is offered.