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.

I work in a comp and we have children with swimming pools in their houses and children frequently without hot water.

If I could guarantee my children would be in all top sets, I would consider the school. If they were in middle sets, they would have a much different high school experience and one that I wouldn't want for them.

Op, if homeschool is an option youre considering, does that mean you dont work? Would getting a full time job plug the gap in the private school fees?

If I could guarantee my children would be in all top sets, I would consider the school. If they were in middle sets, they would have a much different high school experience and one that I wouldn't want for them
I'm guessing that comes with the caveat 'if they were in the top 30 of the year'.

Speaking generally, the problem with top sets is that everyone wants their child in the top set, often regardless of whether it's the right thing for their child academically, or whether there's limited difference between sets 1 and 2.
Equally, do you not find that there's quite a lot of parents who have a rather warped view of their child's ability and forget that being one of the brightest in their primary school doesn't mean they are exceptionally intelligent, nor does it mean they'd be top 30 in a 7-9 form entry secondary. Set 2 is perfectly reasonable and will often cover similar work, but some parents and students get fixed with having the number 1 on the timetable.

Exactly. One of mine was top of primary school, got top sats results, and was in set 4 (middle stream) of a 9-form-entry inner city comprehensive. I was shocked. Still got 13 GCSEs, 9A* and 4A, including 3 sciences and 2 foreign languages.

Thank you @daisypond and @RedskyAtnight I get it now.