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Secondary education

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

Original poster

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

569 replies

teddygirlonce · 03/02/2017 14:37

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 Shock - 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).

OP posts:
Becks84 · 21/02/2017 08:14

Aw it is what it is. My dd is a bright happy girl so she'll do well where ever she goes. It's just hard as she was practically guaranteed a place at the other school (after her older brother was refused due to ridiculous admissions criteria) and will be saying bye to literally all f her friends from primary. She'll be ok though I know she will, and I suppose she'll have the opportunity to make more local friends x

UnicornPug · 21/02/2017 09:00

Does every borough send emails at different times? Mine just says I'll get an email on March 1st. I'm not panicking, exactly, but I'm certainly anxious. I think DD stands a good chance of getting our first choice, but it's a newish school and this is the first year they are expecting to be over subscribed. It's a faith school and we have applied under faith grounds.
I was stunned to hear last week that someone else in her class had also applied for that school, but only that school. They live much further away and didn't fit the faith criteria. They just assumed that only putting one school meant they'd get it. I started to explain what would probably happen, but as they can literally do nothing about it now, I left it. There's no point in telling them the problem in their plan now. I dread to think which school she'll be allocated though.

tiggytape · 21/02/2017 09:04

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UnicornPug · 21/02/2017 09:24

Thank you, tiggytape I'm in Shropshire. If I recall, we got the Primary emails as the offices shut for the day, so I guess the Secondary ones will be the same. I'm going to be on tenterhooks all day!

tiggytape · 21/02/2017 10:04

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atheistmantis · 21/02/2017 10:05

Last time I logged in just after midnight and viewed and accepted the offer, I plan on doing the same this time. The email turned up sometime in the early hours and, as promised, I didn't open the email and let Dd do it herself Wink

tiggytape · 21/02/2017 10:05

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MumTryingHerBest · 21/02/2017 10:13

tiggytape Tue 21-Feb-17 10:04:44 Herts were told late afternoon and they seemed to arrive around 3pm last year but previous years were in batches.

They were sent in batches last year too. We got confirmation of the school place on the Sunday afternoon whilst a lot of our friends got confirmation on the Friday evening/Saturday morning.

tiggytape · 21/02/2017 10:34

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tiggytape · 21/02/2017 10:36

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MumTryingHerBest · 21/02/2017 10:47

tiggytape Tue 21-Feb-17 10:34:06 Was that for primary school allocations?

It was secondary school allocations. I know a person who works in admissions and they had told me that they were being sent out in batches.

I don't know if it will be the same this year though.

JustEatYourDinner · 21/02/2017 13:38

Ugh it is so real now. We just got nawmail reminding us we need usernames and passwords and that emails will be sent in the afternoon of the first. They also mentioned it would not be available online until after all the emails sent. Not sure I believe that bit so will log on periodically thruogh the day. Nine days to go....

Trb17 · 21/02/2017 18:17

Ours states 1st March 00:00 so I'm hoping it'll be there at midnight online and I think I'm going to stay up to check. Then wait for the email at my leisure. At least that way I can plan how to soften the blow in the morning if DD doesn't get her 1st choice. Fingers firmly crossed for the next 8 days!

SoulAccount · 21/02/2017 20:32

Becks84, is there really no public transport to your top school?
Many young people take more than one bus, train etc from Yr 7.

But well done for bringing up a resilient child who will do well and not be deterred.

Edna1969 · 21/02/2017 20:32

Just had an email from Herts admissions confirming my ID and asking me to check that I can log on. So obviously have checked and can't. So new password and second time lucky. Had to check the application, fortunately all looks OK.

Also confirms that "Allocation emails will be despatched during the afternoon on 01 March 2017." So nice and unspecific then. I'm going to have a very productive afternoon, not.

Edna1969 · 21/02/2017 20:39

@JustEatYourDinner I'm going to log on too. I found out about primary allocations from online which was up before I got the email.

MrGrumpy01 · 21/02/2017 21:30

I have just checked my email and it just said I would be emailed on the 1st. I got my primary offer (last April) at 6am, so I imagine it would be a similar time for the secondary places.

Anne2300 · 21/02/2017 22:06

DS keep asking when he can know his outcome again and again. He just can't wait for the big school! (Well, he's behaving like a teenager anyway.)

Becks84 · 22/02/2017 15:58

One of my friends lives in London and her dd failed to secure a place at any of her six choice schools. She did multiple appeals and lost so her dd now has to get two trains and a bus to school every day. So glad we don't live there as I'd hate for my dd to have to put up with such a commute every day. We get three choices in our borough and from what it said on the website 98% of kids get one of there choices.

Original poster
teddygirlonce · 22/02/2017 16:38

Becks84, OMG that is not news I want to hear at all!!!! There is the potential for that to happen to us (although I don't consider our choices unrealistic). Had your friend put totally 'wishlist' schools on the CAF for her DD? Did it come as a total shock on Offers Day? Are they happy with the school hre DD now goes to? Were they in a bit of a secondary school 'black hole'?

That is my worst fear. Beyond grim.

It must have been supremely stressful for them all :-(.

OP posts:
Edna1969 · 22/02/2017 21:32

That would be awful. Lets hope it doesn't come to it @teddygirlonce. I sometimes think this process and the illusion of choice is designed by sadists as its very stressful. My DB and SIL live in New Zealand and there if you live in a schools catchment you can turn up on the first day of term sure you'll have a place. In some ways that would be so much simplier and has meant transition for my DN has been easy. She's moved with her friends to the school she always knew she would go to.

Still now less than a week to go until we know. Although realise it might just be the start of more stress.

I keep reassuring myself that "Things do work out in the end". We didn't get our choice for primary and that has worked out well.

Original poster
teddygirlonce · 23/02/2017 06:28

Edna1969, totally agree! As I said upthread, we would be happy with any of the six on our list (and not one is even on the other side of the part of London where we live) but not with the localish ones we've left off.

What worries me is the unknown factor of the numbers of extra children in the 'school pool' because of the upturn in the birth rate in the past decade or so. Just an extra 30-60 Year 6 children in the borough (and surrounding ones) this year could make a massive difference to secondary school allocations.

Even our third choice (fall-back, theoretically 'dead cert' school) has now introduced a reciprocal sibling policy - with the equivalent boys school -which could potentially cause an issue for DD's chances of securing a place (as DC1 is at a school without such an arrangement in another borough).

Sighs...

Yes, I also agree that "things do work out for the best" but not sure if that applies for schools that weren't even on one's CAF (already visited and dismissed!). I cannot think of any nearish other acceptable state schools that are likely to have spare places should DD not get any of her six. And I'm not convinced she's the type of girl who would "flourish anywhere"!

OP posts:
SoulAccount · 23/02/2017 06:48

I know someone who was in Beck's friends' position but they put down 6 'wish list' schools, including selective , faith (without the track record) and ones too far away.

Eschewing the perfectly good comp round the corner.

Teddy, are you within distance of at least one of yours?

Original poster
teddygirlonce · 23/02/2017 07:28

We should be within distance for at least three of them (based on all previous years stats) but two have year on year shrinking catchment areas (hence the worry).

We were realistic in our choices, I think. We certainly didn't put on ' dream on' schools. They are all easy to get to and ones which local children attend.

Our 'neighbouring' school (at a 10-15 minute walk away is the closest to get to and would best suit DD) is one for which we're not in 'catchment' because it's less thank 1K (and stuffed full of siblings - about 40% of the places). So it went on our list as the rank-outsider 'long-shot' sixth place choice. Did consider putting it at the top on an off-chance but thought that too risky!

OP posts:
Trb17 · 23/02/2017 18:25

I've been surprised today by talking to two friends who are also waiting for 1st of March. They'd didn't understand about the equal preference scheme and therefore they had played what they thought were strategic games with the schools/order they'd listed on the CAF. Fingers are now crossed for them as one of them may now end up with the failing school really close to them that they didn't put down. I hope not.

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