No school offer

[souplady]

We have these schools we applied to.

A. State Grammar school out of area.
b. state comprehensive out of area.
C. Over subscribed state comprehensive out of catchment.
D. Private school academic scholarship. Not enough to pay fees.

We didn't apply to the local comprehensive as it's not the sort of school I want for my child. We live in a small town with a lot of deprivation concentrated on one estate on the edge of town but our suburb is not deprived.

We don't know what to do now as we have no school place for September. The schools we want all start in September, our local compl starts a year later.

QuarterMile some State schools have ‘scholarship’ places based on aptitude, which generally put the child in a higher admissions category and may come with an offer of free or extended music offer, spirts opportunities or whatever. These places cannot be more than 15% of the intake, I think.

Private schools can do what they like. Generally a scholarship is based on talent / achievement and may be academic, musical, anything they like.
Often bursaries are means tested and based on income.

But you have to research how each school operates and defines bursaries and scholarships.

Right OP.
Can we clear something up.
Can your child stay at the middle school they currently attend until the end of year seven?

Regardless of your wishes or perceived readiness?

If so your child has a place.

I think you need to move house

You have a place at his current school. When the admissions round for middle to high school comes around you can apply to other high schools. And when you do you need to be realistic about his chances.
You have the options of waiting lists and appeals in the meantime.

Also, no matter how able and ready for high school a child is, there will be other children, at whichever school, equally ready, and many probably more so. Where are other children in the current school going?

Your child is going to suffer if you don’t change your attitude pronto.

Your plan to apply for massively oversubscribed schools out of your area where you have no older children was never going to elicit a space. You also sound like you’ve massively over estimated your child’s academic ability.

Your plan was foolhardy. Your attitude towards the local school he can attend is not helpful if you can’t afford to go private.

You need to sort out your attitude of he’ll end up being homeschooled or in an undesirable school miles away.

Contact school admissions. They need to provide your child with a place for secondary

There is no issue with getting a place, he can go to the local comp. she’s already stated that, she just doesn’t wish it, and she wants to move him out of his current school because she doesn’t like that either.

The issue is not she can’t get a place for her son. The issue is she hasn’t got a place she wants. Two very different things.

Moving is not necessarily the answer either, schools if over subscribed look at many things, including siblings, how long been in the area etc. If a school is over subscribed it’s highly feasible, based on location, he could still be allocated a place at the comp she doesn’t wish. Moving a few miles to the catchment is absolutely no guarantee of a place.

Contact school admissions. They need to provide your child with a place for secondary
It’s not time to apply for secondary schools yet in the OP’s area. The child already has his current school place for a year, or more. Then it’s application time for secondary school.

Places often come up in year 7 - several new boys started my son’s grammar in year 7 and 8 because boys left (mainly because they were moving house or they got a place at a nearer or ‘better’ grammar).

The only thing the OP can actually do is keep her son at his middle school or home educate and hope a place comes up at one of the 3 schools she applied to. What other options are there in reality?

Op you’d be surprised how many people try to game the system. It’s frighteningly common. That’s why there are such strict criteria.

From people renting or pretending to live with a relative in the catchment area, through to not naming their local school thinking it means they will get one of the preferred. It doesn’t work like that as you’ve seen, and the local authorities are so wise to it now, they go to extreme length to weed out these people.

Scholarships and bursaries are something else entirely. A huge amount of people apply, from those with truely exceptional children to those in poverty, to those with additional needs that means the state school,would be detrimental. Many many people would like a private education for little to no cost, the competition is fierce.

It looks like you need to take a step back and think carefully. If feasible and I assume it is, he needs to stay at his current school for the next year.

Relocating fully and immediately gives you a better chance in a years time at one of the other schools, but there is a big risk it may not pay off.

Alternatively you need to review home schooling and your ability there. Because it is likely that or the local comp.

The only thing the OP can actually do is keep her son at his middle school or home educate and hope a place comes up at one of the 3 schools she applied to. What other options are there in reality?

It’s highly unlikely she would be given a place in an over subscribed school out of catchment, she will not be close to the front on the waiting list. “Hoping” a place comes up would likely be akin to hoping pigs can fly.

This is so unclear. Is he yr 6 and you want to move him from a middle school to a secondary school for yr 7 next September?

Why did you think you would get a full scholarship and why did this not work out?

MyOther OP's DS is in a middle school area; he's currently in Y6 and the normal age to move is after Y7. Therefore he can stay where he is and apply for a local upper school next year (one that starts from Y8).

OP has attempted to find her DS a slot at a school that's out of area which starts in Y7. He's passed the 11+ but failed to get a place at a grammar school (presumably on distance). He's hasn't been offered a private school scholarship, and they can't afford the school without. He didn't get into any of the non-selective comps (again, presumably on distance).

OP has the option to keep her son where he is and apply again next year for an upper school in her area (which is why she's been given no offers in the admissions round), but she's doesn't want to keep her son at middle school and she doesn't like (any of?) the local upper school.

OP is in a middle school area. Child is in Y6. Has applied for two schools out of area where children start secondary in Y7. Also applied for an independent starting in Y7. Hasn’t been offered these schools. Children in OP’s area start secondary in Y8, it looks like. So OP’s child still has their current middle school place, and can apply for high school places for Y8, as is normal in that area. That’s how I read it.
I assume the independent scholarship didn’t work out because child didn’t score as well as hoped in whatever academic or music or sporting award etc they tried for.

Cross posted with @RedskyAtnight

Correct me if I'm wrong but you only listed schools you had no chance of getting into and one you could not afford.

^^ Yep.

Yes that’s about the size of it. 🤷‍♀️

OP, I'm not sure what you wanted from this thread.

Your only options are those that are open to everyone who has not been offered their preferred choices: waiting list and appeal.

Otherwise you have the option of moving house ready for the next admissions round to get into an Upper school that is more to your liking - whist remaining on the waiting lists for the schools you have already applied to.

There isn't really a magic wand that can sort this any other way. Only you can decide the 'least worst' option based on your opinion of the current middle school and the other options available to you.

I work in a secondary where the intake is very mixed and some of the children come from backgrounds that bring many issues. There is a LOT of snobbery and pearl-clutching in the local area about it but people are cutting off their noses to spite their faces by not considering it seriously. It has amazing leadership (Ofsted Good) and children achieve very well. In fact, in terms of progress, it's outperforming other schools which are deemed to be more academic and they are selective.

The pastoral care is phenomenal and interestingly we have a regular but quite large trickle of people moving their child from the more "acceptable" schools in Year 7 as their child can't handle the rigid rules and academic rigour and are desperately unhappy. They go on to thrive with us.

OP you are doing your child a disservice by not seriously considering your local option. You've already done him a disservice by going for such unrealistic options and ending up in this position.

We moved house when my children were in Year 3 - the main reason for the move was secondary school catchment. We looked long and hard before deciding where to move to.

So you basically didn't follow the admission instructions and put at least one safe school and now you aren't happy with what you have been given.

@mypoorfurbaby
No, that’s not the case. OP hasn’t been given a school at all - It’s not the year for secondary school transfer in her area. But it is in neighbouring areas.

Best option seems to be move ASAP...

You realise year 7 is year 7 regardless of whether it’s in a middle school or a secondary school? If he’s “academically ready” for year 7 he’ll be fine in either. Children in year 7 who happen to go to a school that caters for 11-16/18 don’t do harder work than those who cater for a different age range.

^ This