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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Offers Day 1st March 2012

776 replies

gazzalw · 06/01/2012 18:44

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.....

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Blu · 03/02/2012 12:56

oh - sorry Busymummy!

Data Protection / Freedom of Information request a good idea, but occupying the Head's Office and applying blackmail and / or torture would be quicker and cheaper.

eek -sandyballs, how agonising Sad

busymummy23 · 03/02/2012 12:59

no they don't know yet - from what I could fathom from the earlier posts - they find out a few days before we do or can go online to view the allocations less than a week before!

For what it's worth though, there was so much movement after 1st March in our area last year that allocation day is really only the beginning. If you are lucky enough to get your 1st choice on allocation - fantastic - but if not - hold on in there - often the kids that are disappointed at first - end up with multiple offers by 1st Sept. Good luck to you all

mumwithtwokids · 03/02/2012 13:00

Blu - totally agree, the tought had crossed my mind :o

Can't believe the primary schools know though, why would they tell them first?

Original poster
gazzalw · 03/02/2012 13:00

Not sure - think as Blu said that some Boroughs will be ahead of the game...Presumably in parts of the Country where there's no selective schooling (and not a lot of inflow/outflow of people moving) the Admissions Team probably do virtually have the choices sewn up....

But in London in particular given the ever-shifting population and all the issues about selective schooling, applying across other Boroughs etc... sure it's not necessarily a fait-accompli at all....do you think?

But yes, this idea of asking a direct question using the DPA to the Heads is an interesting one..... know that for the Wandsworth Test results are out after 1/2 term so maybe at the same time the CAF choices are sorted too?

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busymummy23 · 03/02/2012 13:02

Oh and Blu - re blackmail and torture - great idea! I'm down for whatever!

prh47bridge · 03/02/2012 20:14

Even if the schools do have the information, the timescales allowed under the Data Protection Act mean you still won't find anything until 1st March I'm afraid. And the Freedom of Information Act won't help you at all - which school you are being offered counts as personal information which is not therefore subject to FoI requests. Sorry.

As I said up thread, 1st March was set as the national secondary school offers day by the previous government. LAs are not allowed to tell anyone about offers before this even if they have got everything sorted.

Original poster
gazzalw · 03/02/2012 20:40

Thanks for the inside knowledge! Just a thought.....Well it didn't really seem very likely. Given that the Head Teachers are in the pay of Local Authorities they are unlikely to go against a nationwide policy.....

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justmumof1 · 04/02/2012 03:07

Up at 3am. Poor DS has heavy cough and cold and has finally drifted off..pickled to within an inch of his life with vicks! It's been a while since he has called me "Mummy"! Looking at him lying in bed, can't believe he is off to secondary school in Sept....looks so small...where did the last 10 years go?

justmumof1 · 04/02/2012 03:14

This super duper school pan-admissions computer system does work accurately right? I am plagued with worries that somehow my poor DS's name will be left off. Irrational fears at play in a sleep deprived Mum's mind!!!

Original poster
gazzalw · 04/02/2012 07:40

Hope you are not still up JustMumof1??? Being awake at 3.00 am is a dangerous thing as your thoughts become exceedingly bleak....Hope your DS is feeling better this morning too????

Given that at the best of times Councils can get simple things wrong how are we assured that they haven't made mistakes with any of the applications? Do they check and recheck and recheck to within an inch of the Education Boss's life????

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justmumof1 · 04/02/2012 09:48

Thanks gazzalw, DS seems alot better this morning. Grateful it's Saturday!

Yes, who does check if all secondary school selections are entered correctly? The system is not new and all these issues must have come up no doubt over the years so hoping all is well. My DH, being a computer engineer, assures me these programmes are checked and re-checked. I worry that it is the over-worked, underpaid human entering the info that could be the potential spanner in the works.......but, again, no doubt checks are made there also.

As my DS has no siblings, apart from our sixth choice, which is our catchment school, all other schools are based on distance. Our LA does not publish the data on distance from school, so it is hard to predict his chances.......so we wait....

marriedinwhite · 04/02/2012 10:56

We did it two years ago and yes the computer does work. Just beware that if you get your second/third choice and your back up is an independent and you have accepted that, even if you have no intention of accepting the 2nd choice you must accept it and not decline it. You have to stay in the system to stay on the waiting list for the first choice.

Funny how things work out. DD was offered her 2nd choice first, we accepted out first choice of independent and the 2nd choice state (which we did not intend to accept), we then got the first choice state school and were delighted.

We chose really carefully and thought we were making the right decision. Even though we got our first choice it was a disaster for dd and at the end of Y8 we moved her to what was initially the 2nd choice indy and overall 4th choice on the combined list. She is now absolutely thriving.

I think the moral is don't be too disappointed if it doesn't turn out as you would like it to because you don't really know what will happen in the future and we wouldn't have dreamed that in spite of all the visits, all the agonising that our original 4th choice would have ended up to be the right choice. Although I would say that if the HT of our 1st choice had told the truth at admissions, it would never have been our 1st choice.

marriedinwhite · 04/02/2012 10:57

Should have said three years ago - time has flown.

Original poster
gazzalw · 04/02/2012 11:55

Sure the computers are fine! It's the human error element that is not quite so assured :-{ But if a lot of the Boroughs/Councils have a whole month in which to check and double check etc....then presumably any anomalies should be picked up.......

Well it is ironic isn't it that a school that initially doesn't seem like the right option could very well turn out to be the best for one's child. See Karma will out in the end!

Good that your DD is thriving in overall 4th choice after a shaky start with 1st choice school.

If you don't mind me being nosy what half truths did the Head tell you as parents? And are you in London????

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Original poster
gazzalw · 04/02/2012 11:55

Sorry comments addressed to Marriedinwhite!

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marriedinwhite · 05/02/2012 23:08

Yep - not too far away from you judging from some of your comments up thread.

StressedSian · 14/02/2012 23:27

I feel the same as Madgirl above. Instead of enjoying each day of our lives, I am just willing away Jan and Feb to get to March 1st. Along with full time work that does not give much time for actually enjoying the delights of our dcs, DHs, etc does it?
Roll on 1 March....I will be glad to see the back of all this and know what we are doing one way or t'other!

StressedSian · 14/02/2012 23:28

but then just read post from busymummy23- so maybe 1 March is only the start??? :(

StressedSian · 14/02/2012 23:30

15 days to go. At least spending some time on here brought it closer!

Original poster
gazzalw · 15/02/2012 07:33

I've been looking at the 1st March Thread from 2010 and various Mumsnetters say that the Heads of Primary schools know mid-February(ish) - how come they are allowed to know about our children's future before we are???

And what devious methods could we use to extract the relevant information (grins insanely!)

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Blu · 16/02/2012 11:43

I checked our online login yesterday - making sure we still had the email with the username and password, and I tried it out to make sure it worked.

I am anxious for our comrades-in-stress in Southwark, the kerfuffle over one school changing the means by which the distance was measured within a month of the offer day must have sent ripples throughout the whole system as that schools admissions list changed. Whoever the winners and losers are I hope the MNers waiting on that school get what they want.

(to be clear, the change was to implement what they should have been doing all along, but which they hadn't been doing in the last few years, giving people an innaccurate expectation)

Original poster
gazzalw · 16/02/2012 17:10

Just discovered that lists are still being revised in London Boroughs and yes such an issue in Southwark won't help one iota! How long ago did all this happen? Presuming that every time one slow coach Borough realises it needs to revise the preference lists (e.g. with the Wandsworth Test results only out two weeks ago that will have caused a major revision which will have had repercussions for lots of other Boroughs' lists too) it has a pan-London domino-effect.

You do just wonder though that if they are still frantically revising this late on in the day, how are we to be assured that everything has been double and triple checked and that they don't make errors.

If anyone works in Admissions it would be nice if you could explain quite how it all works - a dummy guide to secondary school admissions type of thing!

Anyway only two weeks away from D-Day!

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Blu · 16/02/2012 17:15

ooh, how did you find that out, gazza?

EdithWeston · 16/02/2012 17:22

"I've been looking at the 1st March Thread from 2010 and various Mumsnetters say that the Heads of Primary schools know mid-February(ish) - how come they are allowed to know about our children's future before we are??? And what devious methods could we use to extract the relevant information (grins insanely!)"

I ave no idea if this is true (sounds rather fishy to me!) but if. S, then you need to find a geek to hack into the school's computer system. I'm not actually recommending this though, as I'm sure it'd be dreadfully illegal.

Perhaps try seducing one of the staff?

Original poster
gazzalw · 16/02/2012 17:39

Can't betray a confidence but a reliable source and it would support your theory, Blu, about Southwark.

Please, please someone put us out of our collective misery and give us a dummy's guide to how it works - is it all done by database and is it just one click of the button that revises the relevant preferences etc....

Not sure any of the relevant staff would be worth seducing [grins and shudders simultaneously].

Maybe elsewhere in the Country the Heads might know any day now but perhaps not in London.

Do any Lambeth Mumsnetters know when the Lambeth Test results came out? Before or after Wandsworth's?

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