Applying to state school 1st choice with independent school as your back-up plan. How does this work?

[roisin]

How does this work?

If we apply to SchoolB (independent) we will be offered a place in January, hopefully with a scholarship.

But we won't hear whether we are successful in application to SchoolA until April/May, or possibly later if we have to appeal.

SchoolA is our first choice, not just for financial reasons; but it will take some work to persuade ds1 of this fact.
But if he ends up at SchoolB, I don't want him to think it's second best.

I'm feeling really despondent having watched Admission Impossible, and the obvious stress and pressure that the children were under. Given that we have been working towards SchoolB as an eventuality for some time, and budgetting accordingly (i.e. saving like mad); should we just avoid all the stress, accept the finances, and go for that?

Which school does ds1 prefer. Has he been to see both?

If asked today DS1 would say SchoolB, because he liked the food, his best friend will be going, and probably a couple of other good mates too. He has visited it.

He hasn't yet visited SchoolA. (He's only just going into yr5, so we have some time.)
He is 9 and fairly easy to manipulate, so we will be able to persuade him to prefer SchoolA.

IMO it is far too important a decision for a child to make anyway. Secondary education is not about the food and your mates.

But the tricky thing is if we persuade him to prefer SchoolA, but then he ends up going to SchoolB in the end anyway.

You may end up having to pay a holding or admission fee when you accept the place at School B. We found out DD had a place at her prep school in November and had to pay the admission fee that month also. This is non-refundable.

Go round state school in Oct when the year 6 ones are going round

Loads of year 5 go round as well

The reason I asked about dd1 visiting school was that we have just taken our 2 DDS out of independent school because thay did not like it.
They have now moved to state school and love it.
I took the attitude when choosing the school that I knew best (but they were only 5!) and ignored them when they said that they were unhappy until it got to crisis point with one of them.
I am now firmly of the opinion that the child should have some say or it wont work.
We have also been in the position of applying to state school for placing request but the head teacher was able to give some indication as to whether we were likely to get a place.
Do you know what your chances are?
Does this help at all.
By the way I do know how stressful this can be and I never thought that I would be the type to agonise over this to the extent which I did.

Roisin - did you not have to pay a registration fee? They can be extortionate. I think the school would ask you to confirm acceptance when offered a place - I don't doubt that your DS will get in with a scholarship but you could put in for the other school as a safety net (that is what we will be doing for DD).

Mis-read your post in that you would prefer the state school. I don't think there is an answer really unless you are fairly confident that he would get in to the state school. If he hated the state school then surely you could move him to the independent one next year?

Thank you for all the responses.

The situation about getting into the state school is tricky. Last year he would not have got in. I'm not sure about this year, as I haven't seen the stats yet. But there are big drops in numbers for the next three years. But it's not selective, so it's purely on distance, and there are a lot of people not in catchment who live closer than us; it just depends whether it "gets out" that there is a possibility to get it there, and how many apply.

I don't mind in the least paying a holding fee or an admission fee, even if it means potentially losing it: in the longrun it's a small price to pay. We have registered them both already and haven't had to pay a registration fee. There is only one independent school which you could reasonably attend on a daily basis, so there isn't the pressure of 'poaching' that exists elsewhere.

we didn't have to pay either a registration fee or an admission fee, but when you return the letter offering you a place (after entrance exams in jan, letters sent out early feb, must be returned by end of feb) you are then contacting to a place at the school so would have pay a terms fees if they then didn't go - still would work out a lot chepaer though :-)

We didn't pay a registration fee when we first put DD's name down. However as soon as we accepted her place, after her assessment and letter osaying she had a place), we then had less than a month to pay a £200 acceptance (or holding) fee.

In London the private schools run admissions consortia, and the dates do co-ordinate quite nicely with the state school admissions cut-offs. So we had offer letters from private schools in the last week of Feb with a reply date of 5th March or thereabouts. State school single offer date was 1st March, so could balance offers before deciding.

It sounds as if the private schools in your area haven't realised that they may be competing with state schools or maybe they're trying to force people's hand. Depending on how confident you are of the state school place, you may have to accept the private schools offer (and pay the relevant fee) until the other one is settled. They must get lots of people dropping out late in the day for a variety of reasons, so I'm sure you won't be the first. But read the small print very carefully the private secondaries here require a very hefty, sometimes 4-figure sum on acceptance of a place, and then a further payment of the first term's fees at some ridiculously early date. They may also be able to hold you to a term's fees in lieu of notice -- dsis had to pay a full term's fees when she changed her mind about which school dnephew was to attend, despite the fact that the school in question was so oversubscribed that they could fill the place umpteen times over.

Agree that the decision shouldn't be the child's. We told dd1 that we would listen very carefully to her opinion, but that we would make the final decision. In the end, on the second viewing, we all reached the same conclusions anyway, but I think it's too much responsibility for a child to have to take.

Thanks Frogs - that's helpful, and Hula and Loshad.
at the idea of possibly having to pay a month's fees in lieu. But if needs must ...

The good news is I've just seen the figures for last year's applications, and they look promising for our 'possible' state schools. (I've seen County's stats, which show significantly falling numbers every year for the next 6 years; but it's reassuring to see those figures reflected in the actual applications.)