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Secondary education

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

Original poster

Secondary offers day 2020

221 replies

UselessTrees · 28/02/2020 11:58

Anybody else anxiously awaiting offers day for England secondaries on Monday? Obviously nothing I can do about our choices at this point, and yes it will probably all turn out fine, but I'm suddenly doubting everything and driving myself mad worrying about it!

OP posts:
twilightcafe · 28/02/2020 12:40

I was in your shoes last year.

Good luck! Gin

QuarterMileAtATime · 28/02/2020 13:08

Yep, fingers are crossed for our first choice but we are lucky to have several options we'd be happy with (in Greater London, so we list 6). Where are you?

twilightcafe · 28/02/2020 13:49

We're in Oxfordshire. I'd have been happy with first or second choice. DS got the last place going at our first choice, so we were delighted (and relieved!).

Original poster
UselessTrees · 28/02/2020 13:51

Yep, fingers are crossed for our first choice but we are lucky to have several options we'd be happy with (in Greater London, so we list 6). Where are you?

Also a London borough. We were just within the offers distance for our first choice last year but just outside for several of the previous years so it's dicey if we'll get it or not. Ditto for second choice. Third is a bit of an unknown quantity as it's fairly new and only just moved to its permanent site this academic year. Fourth would be a banker and has the advantage of being close enough to walk to, but it's a bit rough and I'm regretting not putting some other further away schools above it as I really don't think it would be great for DD. I'm starting to think it's a real possibility that we'll get offered it on Monday and then have to hope for a waiting list place elsewhere.

I'll take that Gin thanks!

OP posts:
EmmaGrundyForPM · 28/02/2020 13:53

I always watch these threads with interest. Where we live there is no choice so it was never an issue. Must be nerve wracking if you are in a position where the school place isn't guaranteed.

courderoy · 28/02/2020 13:56

I was relieved to receive the email with info for allocation day as I was beginning to worry that I hadn’t submitted it properly!

TinnedPearsForPudding · 28/02/2020 13:56

Apparently Portsmouth City council have released their 2ndry school places already

TeenPlusTwenties · 28/02/2020 14:06

Accept the school you are offered even if you hate it
(Though if you are clued up enough to be posting here you probably already know that.)

Then worry about waiting lists, appealing etc.

Hope you all get a school you are happy with.

QuarterMileAtATime · 28/02/2020 14:22

Our first 3 choices are grammars so I suppose I'm feeling pretty confident that DS did well enough in the exams to get one of those (we don't get told the scores). I'd be feeling more anxious if I thought he was borderline, as our very close banker (5th on our form) is also a bit rougher than I'd like (although excellent on paper and very sought after so small catchment).
Hope you get good news on Monday!

WhenDoISleep · 28/02/2020 14:23

Place marking for Monday - I have watched these threads with interest over the last few years and now it's our turn with DC1. We already know he is not going to be happy with the outcome as we couldn't include the school he really wants to go to on our list of choices - but we are resolved to make the best of whatever happens.

My expectation is that we will get our third choice (of six) - although they have changed the way places are allocated for this year, from having allocation areas to a more simple distance criteria. If that throws things off, then we will definitely get our fourth choice - but tbh it's not school I really liked (but it was better than our last two options). Our second choice is a possibilty, although it uses banding and since applying I have gone off it a little. First choice would be best for DS, but we are literally on the furthest distance marker based on last years allocation, and in previous years wouldn't have got in at all. It could come down to how high we are on the waiting list, how much churn there is locally and a nervous wait.

ChicCroissant · 28/02/2020 14:29

Good luck to everyone waiting for their places Flowers

Oblomov20 · 28/02/2020 14:43

Forgot! Ours is announced 2nd, Monday, in the evening.

twilightcafe · 28/02/2020 15:13

I didn't sleep much in the run-up to offer day last year. I think I spent the evening before sat in a chair on Mumsnet and trying not to hyperventilate.

Orangeblossom78 · 29/02/2020 09:11

Ours is meant to be the First, tomorrow? Should be Ok as has a sibling priority, still stressy though

Rockbird · 29/02/2020 09:12

Good luck everyone. This was me last year.

jackparlabane · 29/02/2020 09:23

Ds has an EHCP so had his school choice finalised last week, but kids from his school get dispersed across 30+ schools, so it's nerve-wracking for all of them.

MoverOfPaper · 29/02/2020 10:52

We are waiting too. Any of the schools will be fine and I’m not too worried about not getting anything which was a real issue for reception admissions. We put our top choice as number one but DD really wanted school 3 although she’s coming round to our way of thinking.

Mum2Girls19 · 29/02/2020 11:32

Im panicked totally lol
completely new to this...

Do you get offers for all the schools that have made offers or just the first one?
and if you end up with second or third choice why is that?

I saw online that the schools dont know what place you've put on the forms so does that mean we could get 3 offers??

Help

Zodlebud · 29/02/2020 11:59

You only get offered one state school. Hopefully it’s one of your choices on your form.

For all the schools you entered on your form, regardless of where you ranked then, you are put into a pot with everyone else who put them on their form. Everyone in that pot is then put into a priority order for that school. So the looked after child with a sibling at the school who lives next door would be number 1, and the child who lives 25 miles away and doesn’t meet any of the other priority admissions criteria is probably in the high hundreds.

The system then looks at your first choice school and if you are high enough up the list then you’ll get it. If not they then do the same for your second choice and so on. It keeps going round and round in circles though as someone may be higher up the list for your first choice school but it’s their second choice. They get their first choice school which means you get bumped up the list for your first choice. It carries on until everyone has got (hopefully) the school which they put as high up their choices as possible. If you don’t get any of your choices then you essentially get what is ever left closest to your house.

This is why last admitted distances for the most popular schools tend to be tiny and the least popular schools have children from all over.

It’s also why you should always put a banker on your form - that is, the school you might not particularly want but you are pretty much guaranteed a place. Better to be in a not so great school you can walk to than one even worse that’s 10 miles away.

We have opted for an independent school which we found out the result for a couple of weeks ago. It was honestly the most stressful day of my life.

Hope everyone gets the news they are hoping for!

confusedofengland · 29/02/2020 12:27

We are nervously awaiting allocation for DS1! Would like him to go to an international school, about 3 miles from our house. There was a separate form to fill in for this school, detailing any international/foreign language connections, for which they award points. We filled in this form very honestly & awarded him 0 points in each question, but also included a letter explaining that I, as his mother, have a great deal of international/foreign language connections. They rang me after receiving this form, to double check if I was sure he shouldn't be awarded any points, then told me that because he learns a little French at his primary school they would consider that a point. They also told me that they admired our honesty but not everyone was so honest! They said that if he has even a single point it will push him up a criteria level & most children from that level should get in. So I am cautiously hopeful of that school.

However, I am concerned that we may get catchment school, about 1 mile from our house, which is a very poor school.

KittenVsBox · 29/02/2020 13:50

Jumping in here.
A number of friends have recieved confirmation of their allocation today. Everyone confirming so far is all for one school.
We havn't recieved anything. Hopefully that means we have 1 or 2 choice.
BUT
Are people who hear today at any advantage over appeals compared to those who hear later (the school people have heard from is the least popular in the area).

cabbageking · 29/02/2020 14:21

The appeals process is a separate process.
When you hear about any offer had no bearing on anything.
Waiting lists have no effect on appeals.
There is no advantages for anyone when appealing.

KittenVsBox · 29/02/2020 14:25

Thank you @cabbageking.

Why have a national offer day then?

ArtieFufkinPolymerRecords · 29/02/2020 14:53

A number of friends have recieved confirmation of their allocation today. Everyone confirming so far is all for one school.

Do you mean the school has contacted them, rather than they have had the offer from the LA?

Toomanycats99 · 29/02/2020 14:57

We went through this 2 years ago. We got offered 4th choice and I was in tears. We got offered all 3 schools above that before term started.

So it doesn't mean it's all over monday!

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