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Secondary education

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

Original poster

Anyone else waiting for offers day - March 2nd here?

523 replies

cece · 22/02/2015 11:12

We have put an out of catchment school as first choice. Second choice is our catchment school. Some years we would get into our first choice, some years we would not. So we are anxiously awaiting the email...

OP posts:
TeddTess · 03/03/2015 12:16

richmal3 - you will be so high up on the waitlist i would be amazed if you didn't get offered a place. this is only the first round allocation.

PatriciaHolm · 03/03/2015 12:22

Richmal, the LEA will have specialist software that measures to a fine degree, far more accurately than Google/AA etc to and from the very specific point that they use.

The AA, for example, seem to take the centre of the postcode for the house location (just looked at mine on it) which is immediately less accurate; it also measures to the road nearest school, not the gates themselves.

Make sure they have your correct address, and it won't hurt to ask them to recheck. But their software is going to considerably more accurate than anything you can find publicly available online (unless they happen to put it online on the LEA website - Surrey do, for example)

var123 · 03/03/2015 12:24

I thought distance was measured as the crow flies from your house to the main school gates, not the driving distance? If you google as the crow flies, you will see there are a few sites to help.

Unexpected · 03/03/2015 12:25

Richmal3 the school will use more accurate software than the AA one or Google Maps or anything of that sort. You can ask them what specifically they use. I don't follow your point about the site being further away than the gates and you would need to check, in the case of your specific school, which gate they measure to if there is more than one. If, for example, the school is on a corner site, like our local primary, measuring to the site corner would give one result but one gate is 100m further up the road and the other is 50m from the corner on the other side. Another school near us is on a small road which swings off a corner on a larger road (not sure if I explained that very well) Using the postcode on the AA or Google would give you one distance but the actual school gate is probably 50m down that small cul de sac at the end.

tiggytape · 03/03/2015 12:37

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tiggytape · 03/03/2015 12:37

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tutorproof · 03/03/2015 13:30

Nobody in our school got into the catchment school unless they have a sibling. Everybody was offered the same 'unplaced' school.

According to distance admissions, our school catchment does not qualify for any secondary school.

Last year everybody in the catchment area was offered a place

Angry Sad Angry Sad Angry Sad Angry Sad

tutorproof · 03/03/2015 13:32

sorry - that should have read 'primary school catchment'. It's a great school, OFSTED outstanding, fantastic pastoral care etc, as is the catchment secondary school.

The 'unplaced' secondary school is in special measures.

Heels99 · 03/03/2015 13:59

Tutorproof, so last year everyone got in and this year no one? Has something changed since last year for this to happen?

richmal3 · 03/03/2015 14:03

Sorry, Unexpected, my point about the site/gate wasn't clear. I was thinking of this particular school only (where there is only one entrance, and the actual site is all beyond that entrance) and not that obviously in some cases the site could be closer than the gate.

I appreciate the point about software and obviously AA routemap etc is not that accurate, but given that 3 websites give distances well inside what they say is the furthest point from which a child was admitted, it does make me wonder.

Also, the obvious way to drive to the school (straight up the main road) is marginally (perhaps a couple of hundred metres) longer than if you wind around the houses. Would they take this into account when measuring?

I'm not much comforted by the thought that we might be in a strong position on the waiting list: it's a small and very popular school, so there probably won't be that many children not accepting places. Plus people can go onto the waiting list who didn't apply for that school in the first place, so overall I still feel extremely anxious. And after 4 months of waiting for a decision, we now have to wait another 2 months to hear about the waiting list!

titchy · 03/03/2015 14:18

Richmal you'd have to check whether they use road distance or crow flies. They almost certainly use crow flies in which case route won't be taken into account at all. (Even if there's a bloody great river or motorway you have to travel round.) They will also use a specific point from the school to measure from. Often this is the main gate, but it doesn't have to be as long as all applicants are measured the same way.

What distance did they have for you? If it looks wildly out then you might have a case for them having used your address incorrectly but if it's within half a kilometre or so their measurement would seem to be correct and far more accurate than one you can measure.

tutorproof · 03/03/2015 14:28

No idea! Siblings have priority regardless of catchment, and in the preceding years the intake has been very wide, so I suppose their MIGHT be lots of out of catchment siblings but can't imagine it would be that many.

PatriciaHolm · 03/03/2015 14:34

If they don't use as the crow flies, Richmal, the distance is likely to be shortest walking route, not driving. This could make a difference as walking paths will often give a shorter/different route than driving. You need to be absolutely clear which is used; the LEA website should tell you.

tiggytape · 03/03/2015 14:38

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tiggytape · 03/03/2015 14:41

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tutorproof · 03/03/2015 14:47

I'm not sure to be honest.

The primary school near the secondary also has a very good reputation (0.6 miles intake) so it might be that lots of people have moved into that catchment over the last 5 years and that has increased the number of people living closer.

Or there are just a lot more people living here!

richmal3 · 03/03/2015 14:59

thanks tiggytape. It's the shortest walking route. The cut off point was 18181m and they say we're 18444m. looking at the map, there are a few places where one could shave off a few metres by taking a different route so I do really need to know exactly which route they used to calculate it. Our front door is straight onto the street so no issues around driveways etc. Will email them again and ask for pdf.

tiggytape · 03/03/2015 15:01

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tutorproof · 03/03/2015 15:19

The 'unplaced' school has actually had a lot of spare capacity in past years because it was so bad noone wanted to send their children there!

It has had a massive amount of investment etc and a new head which, coupled with a larger more varied intake, might mean it improves quite quickly. It is also closer to us than our catchment school.

Not guaranteed though.

One issue is though, it is a Church school. Both DH and I are most decidedly NOT religious and have never wanted our children to go to a faith school. Is there anything you can do about that on appeal grounds?

tiggytape · 03/03/2015 16:52

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kidsinbednowyay · 03/03/2015 17:21

I am fuming with the admissions process my DD was offered her 6th Choice even though we only put that down because we were told that we HAD to list 6 places. I have no intention of sending her to that crappy 6th choice.

Reason why i'm fuming is this: My DD is in Banding 1A and Top 5% of her school for ability.

Now children at the same school that are in a Lower Banding and who live FURTHER away from our top choices got into my DD top choice schools.

So actually my DD is being punished for being a bright child and unable to go to a school of her choice.

This just takes the .............

I guess I'll tell my other younger children to just go to school and have fun and not to bother doing any reading or homework as it doesn't matter. Or when it comes for them to do the Sat's or there turn to sit the banding test's ...... I'll tell them don't worry about it just draw pictures on the PAPAERS.

Flossiechops · 03/03/2015 17:41

kidsinbednowyay sorry to hear your dd didn't get the school she wanted. I'm not sure I understand though if other children further away got in. Is it a different admission system to the norm?

ChippyMinton · 03/03/2015 17:46

Just to lighten the mood:
Got an offer letter in today's post. Was a bit Hmm as our LEA don't send them if you apply online. It was a copy of DS1's offer from 2 years ago! The Admissions office were quite bemused when I rang to tell them.

DD got her first preference yesterday. Can our admissions experts confirm she can go on waiting list for a lower placed school please?

PanelChair · 03/03/2015 17:49

Where schools/LEAs use a "fair banding" admission system, this can mean that the distance at which the last place was awarded can vary (sometimes quite considerably) from one band to another.

PanelChair · 03/03/2015 17:58

Chippy - Yes, but you'll need to ask to join the list. It's usually automatic if the school was a higher preference, not a lower one.