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!

[FairfaxHigh]

We only get waiting list place confirmation 15th March (just had general info in letter today about how system works) so might still be possible to find out the category you were in beforehand.

[Cariocbirello]

Thanks FairfaxHigh - I think waiting list info will be available online here from 17 March.

[FairfaxHigh]

Ah, I'm in the North West so nowhere near you! Seems like it varies so much from area to area -our offer was on the portal literally at midnight on 1st March, but could see on here that lots of other places didn't release them until the evening. Would have thought that everywhere would have to provide this info somehow though. Did it say anything with your offer notification about them getting in touch re waiting lists/appeals?

[Cariocbirello]

Thanks FairfaxHigh do you mind letting me know which LA you are under? We are in Essex & I have contacted the school & LA to see if I could get this info, but only had standard acknowledgement email responses so far.

[FairfaxHigh]

@Cariocbirello - we received a letter from the LA today confirming which category we were placed in for our 1st choice (which we didn't get) together with info about how to appeal - not going to bother as happy with the second choice we received. As they got nowhere near our category before using the tie break there was no more info, but I know from parents who did get into the last category used but still missed out that they had confirmation of the distance from their home to school as well. All the allocation info for the oversubscribed schools is on the LA website including furthest distance offered so they can check whether there seems to have been a mistake.

[riceuten]

@Cariocbirello

I’ve read on other threads that it’s possible to find out which criteria your child was considered under (eg distance or faith). Who would I contact for this info at this stage - local authority or school? Thanks

(Also posted this question on my other thread)

Check with the Admissions Authority (school if it's an Academy, Free School, Foundation, or VA School, LA if it's a Community or VC School). If it's a faith school, then it's the school doing the admissions in the main (unless it's a voluntary controlled school).

If it's a C of E school they will occasionally admit heathens by splitting the intake by religious and non-religious place (and fill up for the former with the latter if the uptake wasn't big). This is rare with Catholic Schools.

[PanelChair]

Start by asking the LEA (although they may refer you to the school if, say, it’s an academy)

[Cariocbirello]

I’ve read on other threads that it’s possible to find out which criteria your child was considered under (eg distance or faith). Who would I contact for this info at this stage - local authority or school? Thanks

(Also posted this question on my other thread)

[riceuten]

[quote Psychobobble]@indie123
My LA has said:
Places declined by 15/3 and LA notified by school
LA checks all declines and reorders wait list with late entry preferences (people who missed deadline back in October)
Then new round of offers around April 16.

Not sure it's the same everywhere.[/quote]
It isn't. You can imagine that a big LA like a shire county operates on a different scale to a small LA like Camden with secondaries in single figures.

The thing that most parents don't know and don't understand is that "lates" are treated as "on time" for priority. And that a "waiting list" is a complete misnomer. You are not ordered in the time you applied, but how you meet the original criteria. So if someone applies late and is closer to the school, they will go in front of you. Many a formal complaint and referral to the LGO would be avoided if people understood this.

[indie123]

@Psychobobble ohhh OK many thanks..im a bit stressed lol, Hopefully its a bit earlier!

[Psychobobble]

@indie123
My LA has said:
Places declined by 15/3 and LA notified by school
LA checks all declines and reorders wait list with late entry preferences (people who missed deadline back in October)
Then new round of offers around April 16.

Not sure it's the same everywhere.

[indie123]

Does anyone know when the waiting lists start to move?

[grammarwoes]

@marktayloruk

I believe that all publicly funded schools should be compelled to admit whoever lives nearest and no one from more than five miles away
I suspect that parent and paranoid beginning with the same three letters may be more than a coincidence!

Our nearest secondary school is 12 miles away!

[Flatoutonsofa]

@PinotLover

We got our first choice - very bad nights sleep but so relieved.

Really pleased for you. I'd be anxious too. Hope all goes well.

[riceuten]

You can game the system, and it is quite hard for us to prove you have - bear in mind that most academies do their own admissions and have neither the resources nor the will to do anything about it (as long as the child is high achieving, of course...)

[riceuten]

I believe that all publicly funded schools should be compelled to admit whoever lives nearest and no one from more than five miles away

I know plenty of rural schools with catchment areas greater than that. And some schools where children travel more than 5 miles away, through choice, because the school has places.

[icegarden]

@riceuten

I work in admissions for a London local authority.

I should do an AMA at some point !

Rest assured, we will find 100 different ways of telling you that unfortunately there were more siblings, medical/social needs, and people closer to the school than you, more out of boredom than anything else. Quite a lot of the time we're not the admissions authority, so you're downloading to the wrong person.

But we'd really rather be telling you that you did get the choice, it's just if 1500 parents apply and put a first preference for a school with 240 places, that's over 1000 disappointed and occasionally hysterical people.

This: I know people who think they can play the system. They can't

[Bunnybigears]

Missed the crucial word there RURAL SCHOOLS oops

[Bunnybigears]

I believe that all publicly funded schools should be compelled to admit whoever lives nearest and no one from more than five miles away

Well that's all your schools serving rural areas screwed isnt it.

[marktayloruk]

I believe that all publicly funded schools should be compelled to admit whoever lives nearest and no one from more than five miles away
I suspect that parent and paranoid beginning with the same three letters may be more than a coincidence!

[Peggyrose3]

My msg was in reply to someone else’s comment sorry that isn’t showing lol

[Peggyrose3]

I’m in same boat we have no other option live out in sticks there is only 1 secondary school option, 1 bus which leaves this village to a school. Sadly my son has special needs and I’m not so keen on this school I’m worried they not gonna be able to supoort him but all the special need schools for where I live are full and massive waiting list . So jus got to see how it goes .

[Lynz78]

@KitHenry

I’m in County Durham. I don’t know anything about waiting lists - there aren’t any grammar schools here.

Good luck with waiting lists. Sometimes it can work out OK I have seen people being offered jobs because they had to work harder at a not very good secondary school compared to kids who had better grades from very good schools.

[ACA1402]

Thank you for your reply.. it’s making me a bit at ease now as for my son he’s sad that he didn’t get to a school where his peers got accepted..

[IndecentFeminist]

DD is ok and seems excited about the other school. We are still going to appeal though, our GP and the local home ed liaison from the council are going to write and testify to her former anxiety issues and state that school 1 would be the better choice for her in that regard.