Having nightmares over secondary school selection...

[Heidi243]

Question: has anyone ever refused point blank to send their child to a secondary school that there is no way in hell you'd let your child attend and basically said you'll keep them home until they get one of your preferred choices?

Marchingfrogs... thank you... that's cleared that up for me! Give me 3 more minutes and I'll come up with a dozen more scenarios that will just randomly pop into my head! 🙄😉😂

So GA's furthest offer this year was 6.594km. At two miles away, she would get a place.

You will only get 'landed with' any school if your child qualifies for a place there AND you put it on your CAF above any other school which you would actually prefer and for which your child would also qualify.

OR by naming no schools at all which can offer your child a place. In that instance, you are 'landed with' the nearest undersubscribed school.

The two main ways of ending up with scenario 2 are being 'wilfully' unrealistic with regard to your child's chances of getting in to any of your ranked schools and being genuinely unlucky - new housing estate built with a large number of children in the relevant school year, a school you would just have got in previous years temporarily cutting 30 places do to major building work, or something.

You do need to look at each school's admissions criteria to see which category your child would be in AND you need to be realistic about their chances, given previous years statistics. However, previous years statistics are what happened in previous years and the situation this year may be different. But it is also very important to list the school's on your CAF in your true order of preference. The admissions system assumes that you most want the one you rank number one, then if it can't offer you that, it will see whether the one you said you next most wanted can offer a place and so on down your list. So if you really want School C but put schools A and B above it for some reason, you won't get school C if A or B can offer a place.

Gotcha! Thanks guys... my only other dilemma now is... how on earth do i come up with SIX schools that don't include the two I absolutely won't have my daughter go to when realistically there are only three? Do I put the same school down twice? Or pick 3 schools that are totally out of the way as my bottom 3?... you see? Things just keep popping I my head when I think I've got things sussed! 🤗🙄😛🙃 lol...

It doesn’t particularly matter whether or not you include the schools you dislike. If your county council can’t allocate your dd a place at any of your chosen schools (however many chosen schools you have on your list) your dd will be offered a place at the nearest available school with spare places. So if either of these have capacity, they would effectively be a seventh choice. Even if you put your most favourite school in the world followed by five oversubscribed gems in the depths of Cumbria, you’ll still get your nearest undersubscribed school if you don’t get your first choice.

Put down any 6 schools you would be remotely happy with, including one which you would be ok with nearer/less competitive which your dd stands a good chance of getting into. If you don't express a preference for these, and fail to qualify for the 3 you name you would be allocated by default whatever school is closest with a place after preferences have been considered - which could well be the very one you don't want. However do visit as many as possible before October with an open mind. Btw if my earlier replies seemed not to address your situation it was because I was misinterpreting middle school literally, as in one going up to y7/8, rather than junior up to y6, apologies.

wrt schools out of area - yes of course you can do this, but the way you do it is through your LEA

so, you use the form from your LEA and you simply put down the schools in order of reference, reardless of where the school is eg:

1. school in next county XX
2. school in next county YY
3. school in county but out of catchment ZZ

and so on.
You always apply through the place where you live, not the place where the school is.

You can also apply to super selective schools from anywhere: the only thing which will affect your child’s chances of admission are how well they perform in the tests. Super selectives differ from normal selectives by having no catchment or distance criteria. I don’t know where your nearest ones are, but if you’re prepared for your child to commute, that gives you another option.

Lizs... thanks for the info... sorry to confuse you, I'm old school... I'm 43 and still work in first school (infant/primary school), middle school (junior school) and senior school (secondary school)... lol... I still find the whole idea that secondary schools can be called 'Colleges'... to me, that's something you go onto for further education or after sixth form but before university! 🙄😂

Non-catchment places are offered by Nosuch High School and Wallington High School for Girls (same Selective Eligibility Test, same second stage test for those who get through the SET, I think) - but seriously, can you see your DD travelling all that way five days a week, ten months of the year for five or seven years?

Steppermum and Korg... thanks for the info... I'll drive my daughter to and from school so distance is irrelevant to me for the right school. I really don't care if the school is an hour away provided I can get the best for her and from her. 😊

Marchingfrogs... both are within 20 miles of where we live according to Google maps... that's be okay with me... my daughter wouldn't be getting there herself... I'd be driving her there. Tbh, there's only one school in the vicinity of our house that is be happy with her walking or cycling to, and that's one of the ones we don't want... so wherever she goes, I'll need to take her and pick her up... gone are the days where you could safely walk 2+ miles to school like I did everyday... it's not my daughter I don't trust, it's other weirdos out there... 🤔🙄😏🤗

"my daughter wouldn't be getting there herself... I'd be driving her there"
For the next 7 years? Are you sure? What happens if you break your leg, or need to go and look after an elderly relative or something?

What happens if you're nearly there and texts-as mine has just done-to say that she's going to see a film after school with her friends?
Please don't commit to 2 hour's drive twice a day.

Traffic is hideous in central Guildford, and there may come a time when she would prefer some independence.

You might be happy be driving her, but does your daughter really want to be driven every day? When/how will she ever see school friends?

You're thinking she'll always be 9 or 10. She won't be. She'll want to get herself to and from school once she's a teen. And have the option of staying late, going to a friends, going for hot chocolate without having to let you know in time etc. Driving her an hour or more will seriously compromise her. Not fair.

"Driving her an hour or more will seriously compromise her. Not fair."
And the OP as well. 4 hours minimum in the car every day? Absolutely ludicrous.

Fair point guys... but that's what mobile phones are for... shell always be able to ring me if plans cgange... no biggie... as for me 'really driving my child to school for the next 7 years, am i sure?'... well, yes.. ive done it for the last 7... 😏😊...

So you're 55 minutes into your hour journey to school to pick her up when she texts you to say she's going out with friends. What do you do?

having a mobile phone to call you to pick her up later is only useful if
a) the school allows phones to be used during school time
b) she knows about her changed plans by lunchtime

... ringing you after school will be too late!

And you may have driven her to school for the last 7 years but was it quite so far? Do you really want to tie yourself up for another 7 years?

There are middle schools in Guildford? New one on me. As Surrey schools go, Guildford’s aren’t that bad.

Hi,

I live in old woking and have also done a lot of supply teaching in Guildford. GA has been having some problems lately. I haven't been there in ages but a friend of mine who was a permanent member of staff has handed her notice in as she says behaviour especially is really going down hill. Hoe Valley is looking like a good school but now they are more established they are heavily over subscribed and people in old woking didn't get in this year. Kings is probably the one I would be most reluctant to send my children too, but by all accounts it is really turning itself around and Ofsted are very pleased with the progress it is making. It was by no means the worst school i've ever gone into on supply.

Christ College is where most of the older children I know from Old Woking go as it was our nearest school before Hoe Valley was built. I would have no problem sending my children there, academically they are pretty good, but what they are very good at is pastoral care and nurturing children. Bellfields as an estate (where I lived before I got married) is really much better and a lot of people who live there now are young professionals who can't afford to buy in Guildford centre but want to have easy access to the station. I had no problems supply teaching at Christ's the few times I have, and the parents I know who have children there have no real complaints about it.

My advice would be to visit all the schools with no preconceptions, see what you think of how the school feels to you, talk to pupils and staff and don't just go on Ofsted. As a teacher I can tell Ofsted never gives you a complete picture.

As an aside I grew up in Cheam and about half my friends went to Nonsuch. They all had a horrible time there, it's very cliquey with a real emphasis on results at the expense of the child's wellbeing. I would be very reluctant to send any child of mine there.

Obviously these are only my experience and opinions, at the end of the day you have to do what you think will be best for you dd. Am happy you to pm me if you want k is more about the local schools.

If your house is paid off remortgage and put her in private school. Problem solved.

We paid off our mortgage for an easy life... my other half is a self-employed bricklayer so work can be very dependant on the weather... not having yo find over a £1000 a month before we even begin paying bills is amazing and also means the stress of me working when my MS is particularly bad doesn't mean we can't afford to live. That was also our reason for only having one child... we can afford one. Any more, and we wouldn't have the comfortable life we have... We worked bloody hard to get to be in the position we're in now... so, no remortgaging just don't happen... my partner wouldn't be able to carry on the job he's doing into old age to pay it off... it's simply too hard on him physically.