Is it too soon to start a 1st March (secondary school allocation day) support thread?

[teddygirlonce]

DD has six good options on her CAF - we will be happy if she gets any of those six but there are no other local schools we would be happy for her to be allocated/offered - and private schooling is not an option.

So just a bit nervous and already counting down the days until we find out which school she's been allocated (if at all).

Thanks Pointless we don't even live in a city or other high population area and there's always a fight for good school places round here. Wish there was more certainty in the system especially when you've already got a sibling at your chosen school but we're still near the bottom of the list of priorities. The government bangs on about making things easier for working parents and yet so many of us have to deal with shite like this.

Our email from Surrey arrived at 8:10pm last year, but we were able to log on at 5pm and check. This year we are waiting for dd but she is a sibling so hopefully straightforward. Good luck all !

This is what the local rag are saying about secondary school places and what to do if you get a place you dont like

Also found this.

talkto I rung the council this morning and they confirmed that even if I accepted the offer on the 2nd choice school, DS would remain on the waiting list for the 1st choice - so I did. Surely he wasn't telling me duff information

They can't make their minds up, can they?

This information is coming from the Evening Post website by the way, and I am NOT an expert in admissions in any way. Prh, Tiggytape and Admissions are the people you need

talkto that isn't the advice usually given. You should automatically be placed on the waiting list for higher preferences and if you refuse a place you may end up with no place at all.

2.5 hours till results in London. The suspense is killing me.

And now Herts have released the outrun / summary allocations. 5 out of my village gaven't got their first choice. 2 have a non ranked school.

How can Herts release this info but not tell us the outcome on individual applications!!! Grr...

Urggh. Hate the waiting. School Business Manager let it slip to me where DD is going and I wish she hadn't. She certainly should not have done! Don't want to tell DD until I have seen it officially though as we got DD's first choice (even though it was a long shot). So I want to feel delighted and tell DD as soon as she gets out of school - but cannot.

That is haven't of course. I think the stress is killing me!

Fwiw my children are in an independent school and will be staying there.

My local authority advice is accept the place offered even if you not pleased with it then start your appeal for the preferred place. That way you don't lose out in a place altogether.

More reading of reports. 2 pupils from DDs primary have been given a non ranked school :-(. I'm convincinmg myself we are not going to get our choice. I really should stop analysing data and do some work!

Birmingham just came through. First choice offered!
Phew.

Edna- where is the data for Herts on the website? I wonder if ours is the same.

Still waiting.

@JustEatYourDinner The Herts stats are here:

beta.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/schools-and-education/school-admissions/research-a-school/school-admissions-previous-years-statistics.aspx#DynamicJumpMenuManager_2_Anchor_1

I don't think that finding it has helped I'm now even more anxious having read the bits relvant to DD!

I just hope that the reports going up online is a sign that the system update has begun and that emails / individual allocation info will be available soon...

Do NOT under any circumstances decline a offer, always take it and then appeal / go on waiting lists / go private / homeschool, it's very bad advice to decline as I know of 2 people that did last year and got no school at all come sept and had to homeschool until a place came up.

Our letter said that if we declined the place we had to tell them what alternative provisions we had. So hopefully they would stop anyone declining a place to go on a higher waiting list.

Thanks tiggytape - I've ordered the recommended book. We feel it's worth a shot as DH was diagnosed with ADHD very recently which we believe goes some way to explaining why he missed the cut off by less than a point. Teachers were surprised too.

Still no news for us - council isn't emailing until later today.

OMG I didn't realised just how stressed I have got over this...I have just received the email and need to keep checking it. We got our first choice. So happy I'm crying!!!

Everything crossed for those still waiting.

What a relief Edna.

I remarked to my dh earlier that I must have checked my email about 10 times since this morning plus the letter numerous times too.

I'm not in Herts and I don't even have a y6 child awaiting a school place, but I found the reports in edna's link really interesting to read. Does every council publish such detailed data?

So happy for you @Edna1969. Enjoy the relief