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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Has anyone received an email from a school before offer day?

26 replies

Comedycook · 07/02/2022 14:34

Hi...I'm a bit worried and confused and wondering if this has happened to anyone else.

I made my secondary application and am waiting for 1st March offer day to find out....all to state schools.

Today I received an email from my second choice school thanking me for putting it down and saying that if I accept an offer, they will send me more information.

I am now concerned that this means it will be where we are offered (my heart is set on first choice!) How do they have my details? I assumed that the schools only receive our details if that's where we are going to be offered? Or do the schools receive the details of everyone who put it down as one of their choices regardless of whether they will be offered it or not?

Thanks in advance!

OP posts:
LIZS · 07/02/2022 14:43

No it just means they know you listed them.

Original poster
Comedycook · 07/02/2022 14:45

@LIZS

No it just means they know you listed them.
Thanks for replying. I assumed that the would only receive our details if we were definitely being offered...not if it was just an option? That is slightly reassuring!
OP posts:
LIZS · 07/02/2022 14:47

Did you have to fill in a supplementary form? Not sure why the contact details would be shared yet under gdpr.

Original poster
Comedycook · 07/02/2022 14:49

@LIZS

Did you have to fill in a supplementary form? Not sure why the contact details would be shared yet under gdpr.
No, there was no supplementary form. Yes, this is why I'm worried it means that she will be offered it.
OP posts:
Babadook76 · 07/02/2022 14:49

@LIZS

Did you have to fill in a supplementary form? Not sure why the contact details would be shared yet under gdpr.
This. One of my children got accepted early as she’d passed the 11 plus exams so the offer didn’t come through the council. I’m not sure why you’d be hearing from a school now if you hadn’t applied another way
Houseplantmad · 07/02/2022 14:58

Schools are sent the list of all preferences by the local authority ie those who put them as any preference. The school isn't told which preference you put them as though.

Original poster
Comedycook · 07/02/2022 15:00

@Houseplantmad

Schools are sent the list of all preferences by the local authority ie those who put them as any preference. The school isn't told which preference you put them as though.
Thank you...so the school will know we applied regardless of whether we will be offered it or not?
OP posts:
Original poster
Comedycook · 07/02/2022 15:01

I'm not bothered that they know we applied and I'm not bothered if they know the order.

What I'm concerned about is that this means she is being offered that school

OP posts:
Camdenish · 07/02/2022 15:18

How odd! I think I’d contact the school and ask!

PatriciaHolm · 07/02/2022 16:01

If they are an academy, they are responsible for their own admissions, though the LA will co-ordinate. That means they may take the responsibility of ranking their applicants in order, then sending the list to the LA to combine with all the other schools to figure out who you will get an offer from.

What might have happened is that they have now ranked their applications, and you come in the top 120 (or whatever) and would therefore get an offer if you do not get an offer from your first choice. So they have sent emails to those applicants who are in their top 120/150 or whatever their PAN is.

Seems an odd and unecessary thing to do at this stage tbh but there we go.

Original poster
Comedycook · 07/02/2022 16:04

Thank you @PatriciaHolm. That is very useful. Yes, it's an academy.

OP posts:
admission · 07/02/2022 17:27

Following on from what @PatriciaHolm said, I suspect this is the school trying to sway your thoughts towards their school rather than any other school. Having said that I agree that is an odd and unnecessary thing to do and what's more is achieving the wrong end result because you are now fretting over what it could mean!

Original poster
Comedycook · 07/02/2022 18:11

@admission

Following on from what *@PatriciaHolm* said, I suspect this is the school trying to sway your thoughts towards their school rather than any other school. Having said that I agree that is an odd and unnecessary thing to do and what's more is achieving the wrong end result because you are now fretting over what it could mean!
Thanks...yes I did think perhaps it was an attempt to convince me to accept if offered. My other thought was it was an admin error and had been sent prematurely to everyone who was offered it...but I'm a total over thinker and born worrier!!
OP posts:
BettySundaes · 07/02/2022 19:52

I'm inclined to go with your initial hunch OP. Much of the to and fro between schools and councils over preferences must now be sorted and final lists for offers day being drawn up.

I think someone either intentional or otherwise jumped the gun and sent emails to parents on the final list of pupils for Offers Day.

You could call the school and see what response you get. Or call the Council and see what they say. Seems a bit of an underhand tactic to me.

Original poster
Comedycook · 07/02/2022 19:59

Gosh this has made me so unbelievably stressed!!! It's going to be a long wait till March 1st

OP posts:
ThrowawaySecondarySchool · 07/02/2022 22:34

I'm in charge of putting all the pre-admissions together at my school, and I won't get a list from the council of who has been allocated to us until a couple of days before 1st March. (Enough time to get the students onto our system so we can email out a welcome letter. Even then we don't send out any other communications until after the second round of allocations...)

ThrowawaySecondarySchool · 07/02/2022 22:39

(I realise this may just be my county, some might distribute lists earlier. Even though we are an academy, we let the county handle admissions, I think all the academies in the area do.)

ApricotPeony · 07/02/2022 22:45

Dd got her first choice, but I do remember the 3rd choice sending us a letter encouraging us to go with them. I can't remember at what stage this happened as it was a few years ago, but just to reassure you it doesn't mean you got that school

Cattitudes · 07/02/2022 22:46

@LIZS

Did you have to fill in a supplementary form? Not sure why the contact details would be shared yet under gdpr.
They probably needed the address to rank the applicants if distance was one of the criteria. Doesn't mean they should use to mail people though.
Original poster
Comedycook · 07/02/2022 22:49

@ApricotPeony

Dd got her first choice, but I do remember the 3rd choice sending us a letter encouraging us to go with them. I can't remember at what stage this happened as it was a few years ago, but just to reassure you it doesn't mean you got that school
Thank you so much...that's reassuring!
OP posts:
Original poster
Comedycook · 07/02/2022 22:49

Thank you @ThrowawaySecondarySchool. That is very useful to know

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Canyoujustgotobedplease · 07/02/2022 22:51

We received an email from our second choice school a while back saying thanks for your application and that they had 900 applications for 240 places so would be working through the admissions criteria with the county council.
Based on that I assumed all schools got notified of who had applied to them but not what order of preference they had put it.

I didnt think it meant we were going to get it at all. I think we'll get our first

Original poster
Comedycook · 08/02/2022 08:00

Thank you @Canyoujustgotobedplease

OP posts:
BettySundaes · 02/03/2022 10:12

@Comedycook - which school did you get?

Original poster
Comedycook · 02/03/2022 12:35

[quote BettySundaes]@Comedycook - which school did you get?[/quote]
First choice @BettySundaes....Grin. Very relieved!

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