Worth a late panicky application to private schools for Y7 Sept?

[Swiddle]

I'm fretting about the state school place that we've been allocated for my ds, starting Y7 this September.
Wondering if it's worth calling around any independent schools at this late stage and seeing if there are places? (no idea how we can pay for it)
We're in north London.
Any experience or anecdotes of anyone doing likewise?

It probably is worth it, as in, you may well get a place. Even very oversubscribed schools have some movement between March and September.

BUT! Don't be sucked into accepting an offer in a panic. It is not the case that private schools are always better than state schools. There are some really crap private schools, out there. Make sure that, especially as you are paying, you are getting what you want.

Swiddle we have done just that. We have been allocated a secondary school place out of town in a school that has just come out of measures and is a very poor fit for our son.

We rang the private school on Mon 4 March and they told us that they were waiting for people to accept places but until then there were no places. We then received a call on the Thursday of the same week with the school asking if our son could sit the assessment exam the following Tuesday. He sat the exam last week and the school said that they hope to be able to write to parents the back end of this week making offers or otherwise.

So it is definitely worth a try. We live in Herts. Good luck.

It is a very worrying time! Are you appealing for any of the schools you didn't get? We are.

Really think you need a clearer idea how you would manage the fees before applying. The bursaries and scholarships will have been allocated by now, so if you need help with paying fees it's probably too late!

If you were anywhere but London, I'd have thought your chances of a place were quite good.

And even in London, an extra day pupil can sometimes be fitted in, though schools are generally more sympathetic to those with extenuating external reasons for late application eg moving house (they fear the chaos that would ensue if lots of parents thought the normal admissions timelines were flexible). But many/most schools will already be full with a waiting list.

But you really do need to think hard about affordability for the whole time he would be at the school. And whether the school is actually right for DC.

Some all boy prep schools have quite a few boys leaving at 11 and there are or used to be spaces and they will prepare your son for common entrance at 13. I know Keble in Winchmore Hill and Lochinver (Potters Bar) have taken boys at Where are you in N London?

Should have typed 'age 11'.

Definitely , many will allow for a few places to fill between now and year 9 and do a later exam sitting.

I'm told it takes about a month before all the swilling around of acceptances has happened for the state schools, so I'd wait one more week before I went for it. But I'd agree that your chances of a bursary are just about zero, so you need to know where the money will come from