secondary admissions 2013

[gloo]

Anyone know when the booklets etc will come out for this application round?
Anyone know if the admissions criteria are generally expected to be the same (I know local areas vary, but just wondered if there's any big sweeping national policy change that will affect all areas that I should know about!!)

[Badvoc]

Got mine last week.
Deadline is end of oct

[imnotmymum]

our applications open today and closes 30th October. Did a lot of footwork for pfb so this time a breeze.
Indigo I know it does not matter other students get but it is a reflection of school if more students do well they must be doing something right.

[imnotmymum]

Just submitted only picked one choice. It is in the hands of the Gods!!

[CouthyMowWearingOrange]

Imnot - I went round all the schools for DD, but that was A) 4 years ago, and a lot can change in 4 years, B) I was asking about SEN help for DD, and need to ask questions about G&T stuff for DS1, and C) As of 1st September this year, all of the Secondaries combined forces and changed to an Academy Consortium, which may well change all the school's ethos's, they may ALL change the way things are going to work for DS's year group!

Too many questions!!

Plus, back then, I was only interested in finding the right Secondary for DD, and as DS1 hadn't even entered the juniors, it seemed a long way off!

[CouthyMowWearingOrange]

One choice - that's a bit risky, unless you literally live next door to the school, or have an older child who ISN'T currently in Y11 attending the school (Y11 won't count as a sibling link) isn't it? Only putting one choice doesn't make the LA any more likely to GIVE you that school. It just gives them more opportunity to send you somewhere else.

[CouthyMowWearingOrange]

Great. For 3 out of 4 on my list, the open evenings are 2nd, 3rd & 4th October. How the hell am I meant to arrange childcare for my younger ones for 3 days in a bleeding row?!

[titchy]

Take them with you! Plenty of littlies at dcs school open evenings.

[EllenJaneisnotmyname]

Can I join in? My 3rd time of going through this, but still just as stressful. Ds1 and 2 are in the same good comp but we live way out of catchment and there is no sibling policy. So DS3 is more than likely to get the sink comp just 0.85 of a mile away. I'm making him do the 11+, another new thing for us, but the grammar in town is super, super selective and DC go there from 50 miles away! The boys' grammars in the nearby town are merely super selective! So he has a chance to get in to a school he doesn't want to go to that's 8 miles away. I'm having a hard job trying to convince him without dissing the local comp too much, because he could still easily end up there. It wouldn't be the end of the world, but still not great.

So, visited first grammar yesterday, test in early Oct, still want him to go to the nice comp my others boys go to. At least won't have to worry next year, then it'll be GCSEs for DS1!

[Blu]

imnotmymum - do you know for sure that you will have no difficulty getting a place in your chosen school?

[imnotmymum]

School fab and is third best school in county beating a lot of indies and my girls thriving so I know it is still good. Two older siblings at school and if she does not get in will home school until does.

[CouthyMowWearingOrange]

Titchy - The Secondaries here only allow the prospective pupil to attend, not siblings. Always been the way here.

[CouthyMowWearingOrange]

Are either of the two older siblings currently in Y11 though? Because of they are, then they won't count as a sibling link. If you're fine to homeschool, I guess it's not too much of an issue - but what if a place doesn't come up before the point in Y9 when you choose options?

[CouthyMowWearingOrange]

They're all going to be over my DC's dinner time, too, when you add journey times in. That's really going to mess with DS2 & DS3's routine. Gah.

[imnotmymum]

I am aware of the critieria. No, one in year 9 one in year 8. Have decided to put a second place now but that school 20 miles away I am confident she will get in and am happy to school anyway.

[lljkk]

Blimey, I guess I should be grateful our local choices are so mediocre. Almost nowhere over-subscribed & our choices are pretty simple.

[imnotmymum]

Dog eat Dog around here... Feeder school in village but our children did not go there and got a place so I am happy however it is getting more and more popular and now selective in 6th form so will only get worse.

[FoofyShmooffer]

Me and Ds went to the tour at our first choice school this morning. I am totally sold on it. I knew I would be. We were told that more often than not all applicants who put them as first choice get in due to a lot of the feeder schools being little village RC schools with only 17 or 20 per class. We are RC but not in the catchment. Looks promising.
DS loved it. so that's it till next week at third choice school.
I'm surprisingly keyed up about it all.

[signet]

We've got our first visit to our catchment school next week. DS will be going there as I'm already pretty set on it and as we literally live next door to it I'll only be putting one choice down. It's come around so quickly!

[lljkk]

I think I'm still getting used to the fact that they are in Yr6. Lots seems to happen in y6 (school council, SATs, residential, awards, end-of-yr party). Secondary applications just one small part of it.

I never went thru this with DS because he switched schools at end of y5.

[mankyscotslass]

DS1 came home today saying that his maths class are going to be doing YR7 work!

We were talking tonight, and he seems set on the more academic school, but we need to look at the other one too.

It's too soon.

[FoofyShmooffer]

It is too soon isn't it?
I found myself in that school yesterday thinking that this is where he will have girlfriends and go through all the crap that teens go through. This is the place that will shape where he goes in life. (maudlin )

and then this morning he drove me batshit crazy from the minute he woke up, so all sentimentality over with.

[ATailOfTwoKitties]

I have DD agonising daily about the decision affecting Her Whole Life (drama llama that she is, but actually she has a bit of a point!)

[mankyscotslass]

We have just been given dates for school tours now too, so I am trying to book onto them on the day our school has off for training - but the second school has put a dodgy email address on, and then said to call a specific person if there is a problem, and not given the number.

I'm not impressed.

[mankyscotslass]

Right, been to one open night, and two school tours, one more open night to go.

The new build school is beautiful and well resourced, but I am not convinced that academically it is the right school for DS1.

The older more traditional and very strict school was run down and pokey, but gets far better results, and talked about the boys getting involved in the whole school ethos with extra curricular sport and activities.

DS has friends who will be going to both, and he met a nice lad there today who is sure of a place, so at the moment I think we are going with the older and more academically successful school.

We won't put our application in til after the last open evening though.

How is everyone else getting on?

[CouthyMowWearingOrange]

Been on the tour of School 2, and it DID impress me, it is starting to change for the better under the new HT. I actually now think it would have been a better school for my DD. which is a shame.

DS1 went with me to School 1's open evening, and is very taken with it. He wants school 1 as his back up to the Grammar. I think I will go with that given the league table results difference between the two.