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!

@Neighneigh

Anyone else in north yorkshire? Our top two choices (out of catchment) say waiting list and choice three says offered but when I click on all of them it says on each ( even the offered one) that we do not have to respond, what's all that about?!

Same as our portal. You don’t need to accept. They assume it’s accepted unless you contact them. The top two have automatically been put on waiting list so you’ll hear if a place comes up. If you decide to stick with 3rd place you need to let them know to take you off the waitlists.

@KitHenry

Why do people advise not to turn down the offer of a school I didn’t preference and don’t want? Surely that says I accept/am happy for him to go there? There is zero chance of me sending him to that school.

Don't reject the place unless you are prepared to go private or home-educate. The LA will have fulfilled their statutory obligation to offer you a place and will have no further responsibility to you.

Re acceptance, it varies by County. For some it’s automatic but others will ask you to complete an acceptance/rejection form that you have to send to the school. If you need to complete a form you should receive it in the post shortly.

Is 5th on a waiting list to far down to be possible for Sept?

We find out after 4pm today. We live round the corner from the school but I'm still so nervous. The nearest other secondary is miles and miles away and we don't drive

I've got it into my head that there's no way he'll get in without a sibling already attending, and I feel sick!

@bex12345

Is 5th on a waiting list to far down to be possible for Sept?

All areas and schools are different with the amount of movement so there are no guarantees, but generally I'd say that 5th is a pretty strong position to be in. Good luck

We got first choice here luckily but lots of his friends didn't. What a stressful process.

We are in Berkshire. Anyone else?

@bex12345

Is 5th on a waiting list to far down to be possible for Sept?

Depends on things like

• how big the school (if year groups of 480 there is obviously more chance than in a year group of 60!)
• mobility in the area (how many people will have moved away or are planning to move away since applications)
• how sought after the school is (if it's a top grammar, it's probably less likely)
• how many parents are likely to go private and have applied to state as a backup

I can see the eadmissions site is down. Wonder if this is due to too many people going on it or whether they have taken it down intentionally..

I wouldn’t be surprised if I don’t find out until 23:59 tonight. My LA are 💩 their website is awful. I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t send my application to the other authority.

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

@Longdistance

I wouldn’t be surprised if I don’t find out until 23:59 tonight. My LA are 💩 their website is awful. I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t send my application to the other authority.

Same, ours is awful, all but one of our choices were in another county as we live just across border. Ours don’t come out until about 8pm.

Thank you ChildOfFriday and UserAgain. Will take a cautiously optimistic stance on this one then!

First choice. Phew.

What a horrible system!

Re appeals - can anyone advise what would be grounds for appeal. We got 4th preference. 1st preference is a faith school & we had a signed supplementary form from Vicar to confirm church attendance, but obviously not enough to get a place this year. Would the faith element be a basis for appeal?

My advice, (as an appeals panel member) would be to turn up to the appeal.

Currently, they are done via zoom, but still, you would be amazed how many parents do not attend. Being able to present your case and answer any questions dramatically increases your chances of success.

Thank you, @CheltenhamLady, that is good advice. In your experience, does turning up for the hearing increase your chance 2jen it comes to super selective grammars as well?

@cariocbirello @ironfloor269 There's lots of advice about appeals on the elevenplus forum

www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/11plus/viewforum.php?f=35

We won't hear until 5pm today.

In terms of appeals, do you have to submit evidence at the point when you log the appeal? Our appeal deadline is in 3 weeks so doesn't give long for getting evidence (we would need NHS reports etc due to DC's disability and the NHS takes months to reply on anything). I can't see anything on the website about this and to get any further in the appeals section of the website you have to log an appeal so obviously I don't want to do that yet!

@Chillihat

We won't hear until 5pm today.

In terms of appeals, do you have to submit evidence at the point when you log the appeal? Our appeal deadline is in 3 weeks so doesn't give long for getting evidence (we would need NHS reports etc due to DC's disability and the NHS takes months to reply on anything). I can't see anything on the website about this and to get any further in the appeals section of the website you have to log an appeal so obviously I don't want to do that yet!

No, normally you can submit evidence until about 10 days in advance of the appeal with no problem. You can just log the appeal in the first instance and then gather your data.

You can say you will provide evidence at a later date.

@Ironfloor269

Thank you, *@CheltenhamLady*, that is good advice. In your experience, does turning up for the hearing increase your chance 2jen it comes to super selective grammars as well?

Absolutely. If you don't turn up, there is no way for you to ask the admissions authority questions, or answer them from the panel.

I'd go so far as to say I think it's pretty much impossible to win an appeal if you don't turn up, based on my experience as a panelist, unless it's fully evidenced that a mistake has been made or the school explicitly say there is no prejudice. Fully and clearly written cases that answer all possible questions are rare.

Very relieved to get our first (and only) choice but I don’t know how as it was a long shot! Catchment school is Inadequate and rife with unmanageable behaviour/bullying so we applied for a normally oversubscribed school a bit further out and got it! Had seriously thought about moving house if we’d been allocated the catchment school!

Will be getting the champers out tonight!

Thanks Squiblet

For those of you who know where you are on the waiting list for higher preferences, can I ask how you know your WL position - is this showing on your application info/portal? I can’t see this for us - I’m in Essex btw.