Opinions on this school?

[Aizazshah]

Hello.

I have recently moved to Bristol and I applied for a few schools for my son. (In-year application)
Redland Green and Bristol Cathedral did not have any spaces, as many others. Therefore, the only school that had a place was Gordano in Portishead. However, I'm kind of hesitant now and I'm not sure if it is a good school.

Thank you!

Redland and Cathedral are always full, wealthy parents manipulate the system to hover up those schools. Gordano is an average massive school, not my preference but ok if your DC can cope with very big schools.

What year are you trying to get into? Where are you based? The Free school is good, Fairfield is doing well. You probably wont get into Cotham but worth a try, its good. If your religious St Marys R & T is the one.

I assume your not considering Private as there is unlimited amounts of them.

What happens if none of your preferred schools have places in your dcs year group is that you are offered a place at the school which is closest to your home with places available.
You should be able to go on a waiting list for your preferred schools, but most of the most popular schools will have long waiting lists already.
My understanding from a DF who is a supply teacher is that your offered school is a Good school.
If you are aware of another school (perhaps one a bit further away) has places available in your desired year group then it is possible to apply there instead. Have the Council given you a list of which schools have places?

What's your problem with Gordano?

Where do you live?

It's an Outstanding school and has places available. I doubt that there would be a better option which still has in year vacancies.
The size doesn't seem to be that much bigger than many state secondary schools in the Bristol area.

I think there is little evidence to support the notion that large schools are not any good. Sometimes small schools cannot offer a wide range of subjects and courses so larger schools can be a lot better. Children adapt and this school seems to do well for its students.

Thank you for your replies everyone!
My son is in year 11 and I visited Gordano today and unfortunately no luck, as their GCSEs start from Year 9, and they said it was tricky for my son to catch up.
Other than that, the other schools don't have places.
I live in Bristol by the way!:)

Hmm.. I can see that moving in Y11 is tricky, but I don't think that they can turn your ds down because of that. If they have a place available then I think they have to offer it to you. There are admissions experts on here that may be able to advise.
Have Bristol city council given you a list which schools do have Y11 places?
If you want to pm may be able to help as I am local too and work in a school that definitely does take new pupils into Y11 (however it affects their results).
By the way, you need to start applying for sixth forms in Bristol as Open Days are this term.

Have you tried North Somerset or Banes? Backwell is very sought after. My dd goes to Chew Valley (albeit not Y11).

Btw, Gordano has a good reputation.

Gordano is considered to be very good and always over subscribed. Also on that side of Bristol is Ashton Park and then if you attend Church, St Mary Redcliffe. St Katherines in Pill is where children who didn't get into Gordano often go, I have heard some mixed things about it but its a small school and considered to be improving.

Yes I would have thought that if they have space for him in year 11 they are obligated to take him regardless of when they start GCSE.

Is there a particular reason why you've moved in Year 11 as it's known that moving schools at that point in a child's education seriously messes up GCSE's.

If your dc is in year 11 I would be contacting schools with spaces and making sure there are spaces in the subjects he's choosing.....just because for example he's doing history doesn't mean there's space in the history class. Though you would hope to God they'd squeeze an extra one in in the circumstances but I've heard of schools been funny.

Then finding out what exam boards your dcs old school used for subjects and trying to match up as much as possible....especially for English. You need a school teaching the same texts. If his school did Macbeth in year ten but the new school did Romeo and Juliet he could potentially sit an English lit exam on a text he's never studied.

I think it will be very hard moving in y11 without it affecting GCSEs. The chances of the same option blocks and same syllabus and same teaching order is relatively slim.

So for whatever school you end up with I would expect to

• have to drop a GCSE that doesn't fit either due to timetabling or syllabus
• use the time freed by the dropped subject to 'catch up' on the syllabus of another option.

I would have thought schools might well try to put you off as his results will count on their statistics, even though they will have had limited input compared with kids they've had since y7.

If you have come from abroad, you may be able to make the case for starting in y10 instead, but I don't know whether that is possible at all or not.

I don't think the OP needs to explain on here why her family have moved - sometimes it does happen at a time that is inconvenient but there isn't a choice.
Independent schools may be open to the idea of older pupils starting/restarting Y10 but this may limit options post-16.
I am not clear from OPs last post whether the school turned down her child or she turned down the offered place.
Other than that, the other schools don't have places...
Although many schools will be full there will definitely be places somewhere in Bristol and sometimes the schools that people assume aren't good because of the statistics do a lot to make sure pupils catch up.
Surely any school place, even one in a less popular school, is better than no place at all.
As I said previously, there are opportunities for pupils to join the sixth forms at your preferred schools in a year's time (sixth form open days are being held this term) so being at a further away/ less desirable (from the OPs point of view) school will only be for a year.