The school preference myth

[Poundpup]

After many months of reading messages and going through the transistion from Primary to Secondary schooling myself. I thought it would be helpful to create a thread for all those about to embark on the process of transitioning to secondary school.

Two pieces of advice I would like to offer are firstly, know your admission arrangement policies (as oversubscription criteria can change from previous years) and use this information combined with the amount of preferences that your council allow to forumulate realistic preferences.

Secondly, and the most important piece of advice I can offer, is to make sure you include your catchment area school (CAS) on your form, but be warned (and this catches out so many people each year) your CAS may not actually be your nearest school!

By including your CAS if you do not secure one of your higher preferences, at least you will be offered a local school and not some random school that you have never heard of, which may not even be in the same borough.

Hopefully, other Mumsnetters will come along and join me by posting their pearls of wisdom.

I have just spent a depressing couple of weeks as an appeals panelist. Here are my tips:

1. Use ALL choices - I cannot stress that enough. A school you don't want that is fairly near, is better than one you don't want on the either side of town.

1. If social/medical needs might come into play - SAY SO at the time of application and get relevant supporting evidence and send it with your application. Some school governors consider it; if not, at least if you come to appeal it will be taken more seriously.

1. Study the admission criteria. There are two schools local to me which have music aptitude and art aptitude places. Families don't apply using this route, then at appeal say their child is very good at music/art which is irrelevant by that stage. One school didn't fill its music aptitude places because hardly anyone applied for them.

1. Don't assume because sibling 1/neighbour got in a couple of years ago, your child will.

1. If your child has to sit a banding test or aptitude test - put it in your diary/on your noticeboard, plan in advance how they are going to get there and what (if anything) they have to do to prepare.

1. Have a plan a, plan b, plan c, plan d etc. Don't diss your last choices in front of your kids - they may have to end up going there. We heard several appeals in which parents said: "X has been really depressed/wetting the bed/having nightmares since s/he was allocated Bogoff School" - well tough unfortunately, the perception of it being awful was probably formed because of parents rather than anything else.

Overall the most important thing is to READ the admissions criteria from cover to cover. I cannot believe how many people don't bother and end up appealing because they haven't understood it. Go to the open day and open evening and listen to the headteachers talk. If you have questions - ASK. Don't rely on gossip and hearsay of how the school was years ago - form your own opinions.

Good luck everyone!

I would add the following:
If the school has a supplementary application form, please fill it in and check carefully whether this needs to be returned to the school or the LEA by the deadline.
At dds secondary school, there are several Appeals each year because parents do not fill in/ return the supplementary forms correctly or submit them late.

Check carefully that all forms have been received by correct recipients.

Print and keep hard copies of emails confirming receopt, and all reference numbers. Use confirmed delivery post or hand deliver and get receipt if using paper.

And do mention on the original form all health or anything else that might be later relevant for exceptional health/social/other reasons in case you need to appeal later.

Extension of crazy's post - if your dc does not fit the criteria for the va school of your choice, e.g. late baptism, attendance of mass etc. then make sure you put down the reasons as to why (gb's are not ogres and they take all things into account). Get doctor/parish letters where applicable and be prepared

Move to the countryside, our schools are undersubscribed

So much for the poor and social mobility in education. Those from poor, less well educated backgrounds, are disadvantaged by our education system at the first hurdle.

1. Make sure that everything is in writing and that you retain copies, I cannot tell you how many appeals I have done when the appellant says but we said..... to the LA. If you say it conform it in writing and ask the LA to confirm your understanding of the conversation.
2. Agree totally about the social / medical criteria, you must get your application in as soon as possible with the evidence and then push the LA to give a definitive answer in writing before the cut off date, so that it gives you the opportunity to go to plan B if the LA say no. Also any medical evidence has to come from at least the GP and usually the consultant and it has to say "in my medical opinion admission to the named school. If it says "mrsX says Y is" then the LA and no panel will give it any weight at all. In a similar view if you are police or social services etc that need a school place which is not the local school then you need to have a confirming letter from your superior.
3. Understand the LA and appeal panels are "dumb" in terms of they have to go with the letter of the law and will not bend to accommodate what may be perfectly good reasons for a school. They will follow the rules and the admission criteria to the letter.
4. If you try to cheat the probability is that you will get found out. So if you want to do something about getting into a particular school you need to be planning two years in front of the admission round to get yourself into the best position to get a place at the school.

If you are offered any help in applying for a secondary school e.g. meeting with Choice Advisor at primary school then do try to attend this meeting if possible. they are experts on the school situation in your LEA and provide valuable advice to all.
If you have an older child at secondary school, do not assume that the application process will be the same this time round - admissions criteria can and do change.

Yes the current system is a total disaster.
If you live round here and have a car and the money for petrol you have choice.

If you need to rely on walking or the council bus services you are stuffed, especially with our wiggly county borders.

DD2s lovely rural primary could have 10 places. Town 4 miles up the road is oversubscribed, but no way will council A lay on a bus to a school in council B.

So only well off DCs with a parent available to do the school run can benefit.

Likewise we have Grammar schools, but the council refuses to provide free transport to those, even in county. So they are a MC preserve.