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Secondary education

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

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Original poster

Gunnersbury waiting list - do we stand a chance?

16 replies

Westend · 03/03/2012 09:35

We didn't get our first choice on offers day, instead it was our 3rd .... Cardinal Wiseman School in Greenford. We live in LB Hounslow (and Hounslow Deanary) but lost out on distance ... We are the waiting list, does anyone have any experience of success with this?
Who in my deanary would refuse a place at Gunnersbury? Should we forget about and get used to the idea of Cardinal Wiseman .... ? My son is keeping a brave face but is desperately disappointed.

Any information greatly appreciated.

OP posts:

serendipity16 · 04/03/2012 09:46

Hi. I live in h&f and my son didn't get into Gunnersbury either, he got St Thomas More in Chelsea which was our 5th choice.
We had our letter from Gunnersbury on Friday which said my son was 8th for our deanary.... so i'm not expecting him to get to the top of our list.
I don't have any advice but just wanted to say i know how you're feeling, my son isn't too happy about the school he got & he's also putting a brave face on.
I hope someone comes along who knows more than i do.

MrsJoeDuffy · 04/03/2012 14:05

you live in Houslow but you got offered an Ealing school?

Tw1nmummy · 04/03/2012 16:44

I think lots of people are holding multiple offers from private schools plus a state offer ( I know of many) and things will all settle down over the coming weeks

Tortu · 04/03/2012 21:31

I know it's a long way away, but Cardinal Wiseman is very highly regarded.

minesawine · 05/03/2012 13:59

My friend in Northolt got turned down by Gunnersbury on distance as well. Her DD also got offered Cardinal Wiseman. It is a really good school and offer a great education. Top 3% in the country.

smacunning · 06/03/2012 12:08

Dear Westend....... I am one of the hundreds of familes who did NOT get a place at Cardinal Wiseman..... I would be happy to trade places with you!!!My daughter got offered her 5th choice school!!!

minesawine · 07/03/2012 12:49

smacunning - Sorry to hear that. Will you appeal? If she gets in then it will be worth it. There is lots of talk at our school about how many did not get into Cardinal Wiseman. Lots of unhappy parents

Original poster

Westend · 16/03/2012 21:11

We accepted the place. I know it is a good school with high league-table rankings but not necessarily the school for my son. Gunnersbury knows about how to bring out the best in boys and I also liked the traditional / history aspect of the school. Anyway my son seems happy but I won't be buying the uniform until the last last minute just in case.

OP posts:

minesawine · 20/03/2012 13:59

Hi Westend. I know Gunnersbury is an excellent school. I am sure your son will have a great time at Cardinal Wisemans and the building work looks fantastic, very impressive. But very big!!

bionicmother · 16/02/2013 09:21

One thing to remember about Wiseman is that they have 2000 pupils now. If you thing your child will be happy then go for it. The school has good reputation but it is not all that it seems.

QueenOfCats · 16/02/2013 09:27

I agree with bionicmother that CW is most certainly not all that it seems.

JenaiMorris · 16/02/2013 10:16

Do people do searches on specific schools to bad mouth them?

This thread was started almost a year ago.

minesawine · 17/02/2013 18:43

I agree with JenaiMorris. Why comment on such an old thread. Wesrend's DS will be well into Year 7 now so what is the point. If you have an issue with CW than say so, but leaving cryptic messages does not help anyone. It's just irritating.

yascar · 07/03/2017 19:36

Hi I am one of the two ina class of 30 children that did not get any of the six choices and instead was sent to a school that no one knows in fulham . We are on the waiting list for Kensignton and chelsea and I am really keeping my hopes . My son can not stop crying and I am so frustrated because he had taken banding test for some of them and was classified as a Band A and unfortunatelly places for band A are only 25% of the total available, He feels disapointed and punished for being a good student and I feell frustrated because I do not know how to help him. does any one know if Kensignton adn chelsea waiting list for Gunsburry moves ad we have a chance? I just hope he gets a chance.

knittingwithnettles · 07/03/2017 21:43

to reassure you, places move very fast by September, just stay on the waiting list. There is so much movement over next few months, people get offered another place at another Catholic school or another school higher on their list which frees up their Gunnersbury place, and so on and so forth...My advice is to stay on the waiting list of ALL the schools you are interested in whilst accepting the place at the school you are offered. This makes no difference to your chance of being offered another place at one of the other schools, if and when they come up. Contact your Admissions officer in Kensington and Chelsea for more information if you are confused by this..

knittingwithnettles · 07/03/2017 21:50

Just to give you an example, some of the people trying for the schools with the banding tests (they tend to be the oversubscribed ones..like Cardinal Vaughan) will also have tried for private schools, and been offered a place in a school which is not part of the state admissions process. So they are off the radar, no-one knows they have already decided to accept a private school place, and the state school may still be holding their place for them. When they finally tell the state school, which may take a while, then the state school can release places and you get to move up the waiting list. But all this takes quite a few weeks/months. Best wishes to your son, and I'm sure he will do very well whatever school he goes to. My son got into the school of his choice (not G) almost two months into the start of Year 7, and he was 25th on the waiting list in March of Year 6!

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