Nervous about Secondary School allocations out this week!

[PinotLover]

Just another to thing to stress about but it's for my PFB so never been through it before. We find out on the 1st March, am being a silly stress head on here rather than in real life. Any one else? We are in the same postcode as the school we prefer, so it's a big deal if it goes wrong!

I am. Can’t stress at husband as he will think I’m being silly as the school we want is fairly guaranteed but can’t quite relax until I know as we don’t really have a good plan b as there are no other easy to get to schools nearby.

exactly the same here. We're in a feeder school, live 20 doors down, but still so worried.

I am waiting to find out for ds too - he took the 11+ and thankfully he did really well so his first choice is pretty much guaranteed...doesn’t mean I’m not eager to see it written down though!

Do you know what information will the school sent to us in March? Is it just a normally just a letter/email about the school offer or do they generally send more, e.g information on school day timings, uniform etc?

I know DD won't get her 1st choice and it's most likely she'll get 3rd, 4th or 6th choices. We'll be hoping on waiting list movement!

@New21 the Local Authority will let you know about a school place. You probably won't get much information from the school until May earliest I would think, possibly later.

I think it's the allocation letter followed by info from the school at a later date...

@New21

Do you know what information will the school sent to us in March? Is it just a normally just a letter/email about the school offer or do they generally send more, e.g information on school day timings, uniform etc?

You just get told which school. All other information comes from the school in due course - and that can mean well in to the summer term so don't stress if you don't get a full list of equipment etc by the end of March!

I see, thanks @mimbleandlittlemy

Thanks @BendingSpoons too!

Good moment to also say whatever you do, however bad you think your allocation is accept it. Do not under any circumstances reject it thinking that that will make the council find you somewhere else - it means they no longer have any obligation to find you a place at all if you refuse what you have been offered. You can go on waiting lists for all the schools you want, so do that and the WLs do move, especially if you are in a London borough as there is so much population movement in London and people will take independent school offers etc etc.

Every year someone posts that they have hit Reject because the allocated school is so awful etc etc - but whatever the shock, don't do it. Accept and go on all the waiting lists you want and hold the faith that it will come good, and if you want to appeal, remember you appeal for the school you want, not against the one you've been allocated.

There are lots of fantastic admissions experts on here who are usually around on 1st March to help and give very sound advice.

Thinking of anyone unsure. We're in a village and as the catchment school is the only one the county will provide transport to, that's the only one we've applied to. I'm not 100% sure it's the right school for ds, he seems far too immature for secondary at the moment, but I'm hoping by September he'll have grown up a bit. We're quite thin on alternatives.

Must be really stressful to have lots of choices.

Good luck everyone. I deal with secondary admissions and I’m also a mum that knows the fear. It’ll all work out ok in the end.

Don't forget to check your spam folder if you are waiting on an email on the 1st.

It's going to be a long day as we won't find out until 5pm......

Good luck everyone! We were in your shoes this time last year. It was all very stressful indeed. Lots of sleep lost by me over it all. But it worked out as it should eventually 🤞

I am waiting to find out for dd to.
Dd sat and passed two 11+ exams with high marks in both for 2 different schools.
1st Choice is the closest and has a school bus but no guarantee she will get this school due to where we live as placements go on distance and not score. Sometimes they get in from this area, sometimes they don't.
She has grown up going to the school as it's the school her sister went to but her sister finished there last summer so no sibling entry. If she goes to this school she will have local friends.
Choice 2 - Dd is guaranteed a place here so if she doesn't get 1st choice she will be going here. Amazing school and really like it, however it's further away and there is no school bus from our area, so I will either have to drive her 15 minutes to the nearest bus at 7am or drive her to the school - most probably drive her to the school as we wouldn't need to leave till 8am. There will be no local friends which is a major worry for me especially when she is a teenager.

We get an email but not sure what time. I just checked my inbox and 7 years ago for primary school allocation it was sent at 9.36am!

@louisejxxx

I am waiting to find out for ds too - he took the 11+ and thankfully he did really well so his first choice is pretty much guaranteed...doesn’t mean I’m not eager to see it written down though!

This is our position too for pfb dd1. V high ranking so unlikely to not get 1st choice but I'm still nauseous with anxiety!

Oh, waiting for our PFB too! We moved into the catchment area of our preferred choice. We are very close but I am still nervous. Good luck everyone!

It’s so tense isn’t it @nevernotstruggling - I feel like since we had the results I’ve had to massively play it all down and say things like “admin errors, things can go wrong that may take a couple of days to sort out” etc...I’ll be grateful when we can finally celebrate his achievements properly.

Me! I came to look for a thread about this. We had to move house in the middle of the application window, I'm so stressed. We ended up closer to town, so closer to the school dd really wants, but also closer to 3 other schools she doesn't want. Roll on Monday..

Wishing you all good luck!
I was in this boat a couple of years ago. We didn't get an email until 6am but you could log into the council portal from about midnight. (Oxfordshire).

We'll be waiting too, although our wait is likely to be longer. First choice was one of the London super selective grammars. DD1 hasn't done enough to be offered a place there on the day but will stay on the waiting list. Her position there would have got her a place on 3 of the last 4 years so we'll wait and see. Pretty sure we're in catchment for a place at our local girls school, which is rated outstanding, so is still an excellent option, which we'll accept. And actually our third choice is the local mixed school where her best buddy and lots of kids from her class are going, so although less academic, we'd also be happy with that. I think we're pretty lucky with our options but it will still be a tense day. I'm hoping we get a better idea of whether the grammar is a viable option or not at least by April or May as don't think I can bear the waiting list uncertainty for much longer. I've no idea how quickly these things move but am guessing there's not that much movement after 16 March when you have to accept LEA offers.

@BeakyWinder

Me! I came to look for a thread about this. We had to move house in the middle of the application window, I'm so stressed. We ended up closer to town, so closer to the school dd really wants, but also closer to 3 other schools she doesn't want. Roll on Monday..

We're in the same boat! House purchase took longer than expected so didn't complete until 22nd December, emailed the school and admissions at County Council that night with new address so not sure if they will take address into consideration. All of PFB's friends already have siblings at out first choice school so they are pretty safe, oh I feel sick writing this! I know there's bigger things to worry about but until Monday this is all I can think about!