Offers Day 1st March 2012

[gazzalw]

Anyone else feeling like we do about the impending Offers Day?

Not at all a foregone conclusion that DS will get into any of first five choices (all selective, two 11+ passes, one 11+ result due this coming week) so rather up in the air.... Sixth choice is okayish but DS has talked it down to the point that he is now desperately hoping it's not his one and only choice! Otherwise DS is being quite mature about considering that he could end up at any of the schools and is already thinking about which friends from primary school he is likely to stay in touch with etc.....

It all feels a bit as if life is on hold till 1st March.....

Yes, gazza, we should be OK.
I keep having little 'what if...' thoughts, but it's just overthinking it while waiting, really.

Yes I said they use the 'nearest school' criteria - but this in no way is the same as saying 'you will therefore have grounds for appeal if you don't get your nearest school'. If there are 100 non-siblings for whom Surrey High School is the nearest, but Surrey High only has 50 places left after siblings have been allocated then 50 children will not get a place - the 50 that live furthest away. Those 50 will be allocated elsewhere thast does have space. And it may well be on the other side of the county! And we're a big county! (Though not as big as London admittedly.)

(Posted too quickly!)

So I can't see that this criteria is really much different to saying places are allocated according to distance....

IMO, siblings should not have priority over distance when it comes to secondary. At a push I suppose sibs who still live in the same place as the pupil already at the school maybe should get priority. It's really unfair.

I agree jenaimarr. Sibling preference is a nice perk when it's your second child, but the inconvenience of having two children at different schools shouldn't trump the need of a child who lives nearer to the school than dc2.

That said, just don't bring that rule in before my dd2 is safely in, eh....

I kind if agree jenni - particularly with secondary. But maybe for next year

I'm also a bit anxious about this although I'm trying to put it to the back of my mind as nothing we can do about it at the moment. I have twin DD's and our nearest school is 1.32 miles away (can you tell I've check ). It is always very heavily over-subscribed - last year over 1,000 applicants for 200 places. My neighbours son ended up spending his first term at another school (a failing one), before getting a place at our local. I really don't want all that upheaval for my girls. Doesn't help that 1st March is their birthday .

But most london schools do have distance as a criteria.
Not 'those for whom the school is the nearest school' true, which is a big disadvantage for some people who live in a 'black hole' between the distance catchment of two or more schools but are not on the doorstep of any.

But in an oversubscribed school, even the 'nearest school' criteria won't guarantee a place, surely.

I popped into DS's (indie) school today, to drop off some sports gear he had forgotten, and the reception area was filled with nervous parents and calm kids. Apparently it was interview day for this year's intake.

Hard to believe that a year ago I was one of thos nervous parents. Good luck to every one.

Blu - you're right - the nearest school criteria is often the final one children are admitted under, so no it doesn't guarantee a place. (My dd's secondary couldn't admit 40+ children for whom it was the nearest.)

I understand about the black hole parts of London (used to live in one!) - and think that London Boroughs ought to consider using the nearest school criteria as it gives everyone a minimum of 3rd criteria to at least one school (after looked after/special circumstances, then siblings). However it doesn't always work in Surrey. HW school for example (using acronyms for anonymity) only ever accepts pupils from within 0.5 mile radius (densely populated area). It is however the closest school for those living in a village a mile away. But no-one from that village can get into HW, nor are they any higher than in 4th place criteria because no other school is their nearest.

There is no perfectly fair system of allocating places - even lotteries can be deemed to be unfait for siblings that are allocate different schools. But most are reasonably fair, and I think that's thebest we can really hope for.

The whole system is flawed and there are always those who will find a way round the rules to suit themselves...heyho.....

Something that has not been addressed here or elsewhere as far as I have noticed is this whole looming-for-secondary-level baby-boom (the 2002/3 birth year and thereafter). It doesn't seem as if the Councils have even started building secondaries to accommodate all these extra children who are filling the primaries to bursting point....

So, we think our DCs approaching secondary school will have a hard time getting their preference in terms of schools - what about their younger sibs..... I can envisage that all mayhem will break loose in a couple of years......

Lambeth are planning another new secondary - but thay have a huge problem with finding sites for any new primaries, and are trying to expand existing schools. many of which are on cramped sites anyway. It isn't wasy in high density boroughs.

DD is part of the last cohort before the baby boom, which would work in our favour, but only if she goes to a mixed school where she can give DS a leg-up - if she goes to a girl's school then DS is left fighting it out with the rest of his oversized year group.

Dilys, two of the single sex schools here give priority to sibs of each other's pupils (if that makes sense!). We're not in London though.

Funnily enough they've been trying to close secondaries here for years. We have two very undersubscribed ones (I'm talking 50% capacity), and one which is only full because it's popular with a neighbouring authority.

I know there have been a couple of years recently where they've had to create bulge classes in reception at a couple of schools, but I don't think those extra DCs are too many to fill the spare capacity at secondary level.

Maybe it's just in places like London that there's been a population explosion then?

I def feel the sibling rule should be abolished in sec sch because at that stage,the kids are most likely going to school themselves and therefore 'ease of dropping off' shouldn't really come into the equation. Each child's case should be treated on its own merit. It's a very outdated system!....Rant over

If one lives in a very rural, out of the way area, then I can understand it but really as you said in this day and age it is quite likely that naturally children will not go to the same school (given that many are single-sex) depending on their abilities, strengths and weaknesses.....

Yes, it's going quite quickly now...... - better start stockpiling the wine!

What time are the offers generally released then? First thing? 00:01 hours? At some point in the afternoon? Not that it's terribly important but I hate not knowing stuff like this ASAP

Sure I've read somewhere that it's at about 4.00 pm and usually the whole system crashes virtually immediately....but stand to be corrected as we haven't been through this before....

just imagine having to wait for virtually the whole day!

4pm? 4PM?!?!?!