Advice on secondary choices

[PopcornFiend]

Hi, I’m not due to apply for DC secondary until September but have been driving myself mad trying to figure out which ones we’ll choose. Mainly stressing about admissions criteria. I’ll try and keep it brief.

There are 2 absolutely fantastic schools near me (within 6 miles - we’re semi rural so schools aren’t super close together). Looking at admissions data from 2019 and 2020, they are always oversubscribed and DC wouldn’t have got in either year based on the last criterion used. So I’m being realistic that these should NOT go on the form.

So that leaves me with 3 schools that we’d be happy with:

• School A - our closest school (1.9miles). No feeder or catchment, places always offered based on distance. Always oversubscribed. Based on last 2 years admissions DC would have got in 1 year, not the other (would have missed out by about 0.3miles!).

• School B - 5 miles away. DC attends a partner primary but we live outside catchment so would be criterion 5 for admissions. Always oversubscribed. Based on last 2 years admissions DC would have got in 1 year, not the other.

• School C - 4 miles away. Feeder system (we’re not a feeder school), but generally takes pupils from surrounding villages too. Always oversubscribed. Based on last 2 years admissions DC would have got in 1 year, not the other.

So basically, for the last 2 years if I had put these 3 schools on the list, DC would have got a place at at least one of them. Does that sound like a reasonable gamble to make for this year? I’m driving myself crazy with it and freaking out that DC might be refused all 3 and allocated a worse school further away! Any advice appreciated 😊

Sounds good to me. Just put them in the order you would prefer if you would definitely get in.

How many choices do you get?

Thanks ImpatientAnn. We only get 3 choices. Good to hear you agree.. I’m just consumed with thoughts of the worst case scenario!

We are currently in our worst case scenario - we get 5 choices and only choice 1 and 5 we would have got into in all of the last 3 years. We didn’t get into choice 1 this year and hot choice 5. We missed out by 10m. But we are on the waiting list and I’m hopeful.

If worst case scenario does happen (I’m sure it won’t though) then you can go on the waiting list for all 5 school you’ve talked about. There are loads of positive stories on here about waiting lists so all is not lost on March 1st.

ImpatientAnn thank you, that’s very reassuring about waiting list movement. I’m so sorry to hear your situation and hope you get a waiting list place soon - 10m, that’s crazy, but hopefully that means you’re right near the top of the list!

One other query about waiting lists. Say I don’t get any of the 3 on the list, but instead get given Horrible Allocated School. I then go on the waiting list for the 5 preferred schools. Imagine these 5 schools in order of preference 1-5.

If I get a waiting list place at no. 5, and I accept (because it’s better than Horrible Allocated School), does that then automatically remove me from the other 4 waiting lists? Or would there still be an opportunity to still get offered a waiting list place at no’s 1-4 which would be even more of a preference? In which case I’d accept, and then have to let no. 5 know we didn’t require that place any more?

As far as I’m aware you can stay on waiting lists as long as you want to so you could get school 4 then still have a chance of schools 1-3.

I don’t think you need to let any schools know anything - where I am the LA deals with all of it.

Remember that getting in only includes the first round. Not sure where you are but in my area, there is loads of movement at the margins and people who miss out on first allocation get in on the waiting list before September.

The added complication we will have is that the 5 preferred schools are split across both our LA, and neighbouring LA. So I know I have to do the initial application via my own LA and include the names of the other LA schools, but if it came to waiting lists I’ve no idea if I’d be having to liaise between both LA’s! We’re right on the boundary of the LA (we’re in Cheshire).

My third choice is in the neighbouring LA. I had to contact them directly for the waiting list.

You may be lucky with a lower birth rate year.

My Dd is the same year. It's certainly the case where I am that almost none of the schools near us have a full y5, whereas y6 is crammed full.

I don't know if that's just a local fluke, or if it is part of a wider nationwide trend - you might be able to get an idea if your council publishes which primary schools near you have places available for current Y5.

Whereas my DS is in Y5 and normally his school have 2 classes of 30 and his year had to take a bulge class so there are 90 of them and all the surrounding village schools had to do the same thing.

The current Y5's are a low birth rate round me.

Given you only have 3 choices, I think not putting the 2 lovely schools you dont think you stand a chance with is a good idea.

The only other possible school to add would be on that you are pretty much guaranteed a place at, if such a school exists for you. Horrible, nearby, school may be better than horrible, randomly allocated school. The question then would be which school not to put on the list, and youd be gutted if that was the one you would have got into this year. Tough one

We got place 4 on offers day were them offered 3, 2 and 1 in order. I suspect if you were offered 2 before 3 you may drop off 3 as 2 was a higher preference! But not sure. Also I believe distance published is as at offers day so catchment is likely to be bigger than started.

OP,
I am going to go somewhat against what others have said and say that you need to be totally comfortable with the decisions you are making. You have clearly decided that you have two fantastic schools about 6 miles away but that you have made a realistic decision that you are not going to get offered a place at them. The question you have to ask yourself is whether you can live with yourself in having ignored these two schools and be for ever wondering would I have been offered a place?
OK on the data you have the answer is you would not be offered a place. However I am going to say to you that you that maybe your first preference should be the one of the two schools you do not think you have any chance of getting in, which is closest in distance to your home. Then chose 2 of the 3 more likely schools. My gut feeling says schools A and C are the more likely to be able to offer you a place but there is never any guarantee.
In terms of the waiting list then you should be able to put down all 5 schools on the waiting list and see what happens. There will be movement because you have grammar schools and independent schools not far away, it is just about how far away.
I may be able to offer more advice if you PM me where you live and what schools you are talking about.

Thanks so much for your replies.

@DancesWithDaffodils unfortunately there’s no school that’s a “banker” really as our closest one is school A (1.9 miles away) which I’d be happy for DC to get into but even that one she’s only have got in 1 out of last 2 years. Next closest (horrible) school is about 2-3 miles away, I suppose it could be classed a banker as it’s never oversubscribed, but I honestly don’t think I could bring myself to put it on the form. I’m still trying to convince myself that of the 3 schools I mentioned in OP, my DC would have got into at least one of them for the last 2 years. I know it’s a gamble though what with birth rates etc! Aargh!

I also know that hopefully in the next few months the LAs will publish their information booklets for starting secondary 2022, which will show the details of criteria/distance this year, so I’ll have a third year of data that might help my decision making. I’m horribly impatient though!

@admission thanks for your advice. I will try and PM you - haven’t done that before!

Sorry, not sure why I felt the need to finish every paragraph with an exclamation.