Its 2018....countdown to 1st March secondary school allocations!

[Hersetta427]

Well two months down and two to go to 1st March. I have been fairly chilled since applications were submitted however now that 2018 is here it is creeping into my thoughts more frequently.

We are truly lucky to live in a town with very good secondary schools but I know DD would be heartbroken if she didn't get her first choice (a top 10 non selective girls school).

Realistically we should be virtually sure of a place as if we don't qualify on distance within our feeder school group then she should get a sports aptitude place (she score 10 percentage points higher than the required score for the last 3 years). However a part of me is still nervous as I imagine what if all 200 girls taking the aptitude test got amazing scores too. Logically I know this isn't the case as other girls at her school score 20-25 marks lower than DD but there are only 9 places available so the margin of error is small.

Anyone else beginning to get jittery? Please tell me I'm not alone.

I think we will get one of our top two choices - the first one would have been a shoe-in last year but due to a fundamental change it's less certain this year, unfortunately for us!

I keep plugging both schools with DD while we are waiting to hear. We could name 5 on our list and there is only one that I would prefer her not to attend

Hi all - can I join you all? I’m getting more and more nervous and committing more useless time worrying as time gets nearer.... In Hertfordshire and applying for oldest (son) so first time going through the system - found it surprisingly stressful and much much worse than primary allocations.....

Welcome gardengirl......the more the merrier on the crazy train. I am in Herts too so we will find out together !

Can I join too, please?

In this county there are 3 spaces on the form and we have listed 2 schools that allocate randomly after an NVR test and a 3rd school where we fall into the second category of the admissions criteria - so we are more hopeful of this school, but nothing is cut and dried. DS is more concerned about wanting to go to a school with one of his friends . Just to add a little bit of extra worry into the mix we are in the process of moving house - still close enough for all the schools we have listed but worried how this will affect DS's application.

SMUG ALERT DD is in on assisted place at private school I wanted. Will be only parent in playground well chilled on 1 March

Also Hertfordshire, first time around.

Extremely nervous as our "catchment" school is really not suited to DD at all, we'd rather try and slot her in somewhere private at great expense and sit on a waiting list than have her go there.

So we've listed four schools, and there is no 100% chance she will get one of them.. I estimated probably a 95% chance she will get one! Unless we listed the catchment school which we would never send her to, there's no other schools she could definitely get into within reasonable travelling distance.

Anyone know what time of day we are likely to get results in Hertfordshire? Is it an email, or a "hit refresh" kind of deal?

In the past herts emails go out in batches between 3-4pm but most are before 3.30. I have no idea if you can check your online application before you get the email but i will therefore be hitting refresh a lot !

I think we can check online at midnight, not sure when the emails go out.

I'm hoping ours come out earlier than 2. They did with primary last time. They were available to view before the specified time.

I can't wait til 2. I'm hopefully going out ok the 28th as I will need the distraction.

I'll join you all for coffee in the morning though

Some counties are midnight (Essex for example) however Herts definitely is not midnight and the system will not show you you offer before the first emails are sent out

Ah yep, with primary it was available before the email came out I seem to very vaguely recall. I thought it was around 6pm but I could be misremembering and I don't think I could last that long!

Even though it won't be there at midnight, I know I am going to check anyway then again at 6am, 7am, 8am etc

I started double checking our process yesterday. Here you get added to the waiting lists of higher choices automatically and I had a check of the method for appealing. I pretty much have my statement written as we applied under exceptional grounds. I need to add in stuff that's happened since the application was submitted and a few other things that I left out because I knew they were too subjective to be considered at that panel but may sway an appeals panel.
Also realised that the appeals aren't heard for ages which just draws out the agony and will make things far harder for dd.

Just shows how different the systems are with the Councils - we can check online one minute after midnight and we don't get added to a wait list automatically!

Thank you tiggy

That's kinda what I thought but it was worded in a way which made me wonder.

I'm assuming I can also go on lists of schools I didn't apply for as well?

tiggy

Thank you so much for the heads up 're the "no second chances" rule

I will definateky look that up and check if it applies to the out of county school we placed on the list.last thing I want is to be forced into taking a place because the current one was made null and void by reaching the top of the list.

And dont worry i have no intention of rejecting the place. There are most likely hundreds round here fighting for a place at the same schools giben the other choices are pretty poor. I know I could be waiting along time for a space. I know i.cant take the chance

Hi to all the Herts Parents (particularly anyone in SW Herts who also had the consortium tests to deal with).

I'm going through this second time round, but have different first choice for DS2.

Whatever happens on the 1st, it is really important to accept your place, then stay on the waiting lists. I knew one family who were offered a school not on their list, they refused, and ended up with no offer at all. In the end Herts simply re-offered in September, and they had to accept.

I agree, you must also make sure that you come off any waiting lists you don't want. I do, however, know of one family who were offered a place 2 days after the start of term in year 7. They were actually given a few hours to decide, and moved their child the next day!

Eyes on that date but telling my dd not to worry about it.

Yes, thanks for the heads-up [b]Giles[/b] - I wouldn't have realised that she'd lose her offer if a place higher up came up. It's quite possible she may change her mind if she doesn't get into school 1, because if she doesn't, her friends who have it listed won't get in either, and they'll all want to go to DD's school 3 which they have listed as school 2 and they're guaranteed a place there (unlike us!)

Out of interest, our plan was always to pop her into private school whilst waiting it out if she doesn't get into school 1,2,3 or 4 (as our catchment school would do more harm than good) But I'm wondering if that's realistic.. would all the private schools be likely to be full?

Perhaps that's why our local Council doesn't do the auto waitlist - it strongly advises you to accept the place you are given whether you want it or not and there will be advice on the webpage with the results on if you want to go on a waiting list (so I don't actually know what we'll do for that really). Not long to go before we find out anyway!

It would certainly present a conundrum. I only viewed three schools. Figured the rest would just be a waste of time given I wouldn't get them anyway and I thought that if I got one of them id just ring up and ask for a viewing.

Makes it difficult if there wouldn't he time to do hat and I had to accept or decline blind.

Shattered, not sure if you could 'fall back' on a private place unless you had already applied (and is most cases sat the entrance tests'. Our local privates have already offered their places so if you were going into the process from scratch I fear you may be too late for September entry unless there are local undersubscribed private schools.