National Offer Day - 1st March. Anybody else anxious?

[ToxicGirl]

I feel like a woman on the edge. Am unbelievably anxious about 1st March. Made my peace a long time ago with the fact DD won't get a place at our nearest secondary (within easy walking distance) because it's so oversubscribed. All her friends and most other children from her school will go there. We live a tiny bit further away and just won't get in, particularly as I understand it's a big birth year.

Would be happy with either our 2nd or 3rd choice schools. They're further away and not as popular but we'd have got a place at them in previous years as we're in catchment and just within the distance they usually offer.

However our LA has warned of unprecedented pressure on school places this year and said that the schools are likely to be significantly oversubscribed. I'm worried that we now won't get a place at the schools that would previously have been 'bankers'. Our other preferences are too far away. We won't get a place at them. Just put them down because there was nowhere else.

There are a couple of hugely undersubscribed and really poorly performing schools in neighbouring towns within the borough. From everything I've read and from looking at Y6 leavers destination info from previous years, I'm absolutely convinced we'll be allocated one of them. They're the schools people get allocated when they only put one choice down and don't get it.

I'm so anxious about it. Can't think about anything else and am driving DH mad. Am managing to hide it from DD but know she'll fall apart on Tuesday. She's prepared to go to school without her friends but not to a completely unknown school in another area.

It's going to be a long few days...

Do we just get an email with the offer?

[quote boyblue]@greyinganddecaying In Trafford lots go to grammars. Then there are a few very popular comps on distance then some less desirable ones. The comps are on area / distance etc. [/quote]
Sorry that was a typo - how are your friends kids getting on in these schools?

@greyinganddecaying tbh everyone seems fine. No one I know with kids in less desirable schools is scrambling around trying to move them. Once DC are settled I think people realise that unless a school is truely awful, kids can do well if they apply themselves. I do know of a few in Manchester who have been less impressed with the super strict / academic / low on pastoral side type schools.

@Workinghardeveryday

Do we just get an email with the offer?

Yes if you applied online. You will have to log into the application system to accept in most cases. Some counties release results at midnight so you can log in and see your offer, others like mine, issue emails around 2pm and then open the login system.

[quote boyblue]@greyinganddecaying tbh everyone seems fine. No one I know with kids in less desirable schools is scrambling around trying to move them. Once DC are settled I think people realise that unless a school is truely awful, kids can do well if they apply themselves. I do know of a few in Manchester who have been less impressed with the super strict / academic / low on pastoral side type schools.[/quote]
Thanks - that’s good to know. Looking forward to the wait being over so we know where we stand.

Having been here last year my advice is don't look at midnight! It is the most unbelievably awful level of stress if you don't get your first choice. We didn't, we were given our catchment school which was less than ideal, putting it politely. It took three weeks on the waiting list for the one we wanted (an out of catchment academy) to be able to say yes he's got a place, and we are very lucky that our local authority actually answers the phone and you can speak to people, find out where on the waiting list you are (as the council ran the academy admissions procedure), but my god it's so stressful. There's also lots of movement as others have said, so just take a deep breath, and lots of advice from some excellent people on here. Good luck!

I am super nervous. I thought initially we had a good chance for our first choice, as last year we would have easily got a place. Last year appears to have been a mad moment though and there’s no obvious reason why the offer area was so much wider. I’m worried this year it will return to form and we won’t get a place.

I liked our guaranteed back up when we looked round. But it’s an academy and seems to be becoming one of those super strict academies which is putting me off massively. I really hope we do get our first choice but I’m not hopeful at the moment.

No hope of looking at midnight here. Results get released in the evening so you can’t ring up the admissions office until you’ve had a chance to sleep on it

Do you reckon its better they know before school or after?

Info doesn't get released til 5pm here. I think they press the button and run away from the office 🤣😂
With primary it was quicker to log back on to the admissions portal at 5 than wait for the email which arrived around 6:30.

I’m on absolute tenterhooks waiting for Tuesday.

Choice 1 - faith school, we’re not religious/baptised but it’s a great school. Last 3 years admissions they took a good number of “other” children and we’d have got in, so I’m feeling fairly positive for this year but who knows?!
Choice 2 - about 50% chance of getting in based on last few years.
Choice 3 - closest school, should be ok.

But I’m tying myself in knots wondering if this will be an anomaly year and we won’t get any of the 3 and get given a terrible school instead.

Also we are wanting to move house closer to school 1 (for Covid/job related reasons we couldn’t move last year) and we’ve seen a PERFECT house that won’t hang around long so ideally we want to get school 1 on Tuesday, put our house on the market straight away and try and get the perfect house. It’s so stressful and nerve wracking!

Very anxious. Despite sibling priority it doesn’t count for much as it only gives you priority for the exam band your fall in. There are only 16 places in the band dd falls in. We also filled in medical need form but these seem to never be granted unless it is a physical need. I’m not hopeful and there is no other choice suitable.

It’s giving me grey hairs all this!

Op I'm Trafford too. Everything crossed you get where you want...
I'm also waiting for dd.

I've just looked at the schools comparison for Trafford. I have a horrible feeling that we're not going to get any of the schools we've applied for.

Does anyone know how the waiting list system works? As I understand it, we can put our name down on the waiting list for whichever schools, but I'm not clear on the timescales and when they may start to offer places to those on the waiting list.

Generally you automatically get put in wait list for schools you put higher up than the one you get allocated.
There's quite a bit of movement. Some that don't like what they get will go private. They'll wait and see first. Some families will have moved etc
They'll be shuffling well into Sept / oct

Thanks all. Honestly, at this point I just want to get one of the schools we put down. Don't care which one. Am so anxious that we might not get any of them.

@blueboy are you able to say which school your friends have kids at? Understand if it's too outing and you'd rather not

DD already has a sibling at our chosen school which should help her get a place. I find myself slightly stressed anyway just incase something went wrong with the application. It's a long old wait isn't it.

Hopefully everyone will be ok and as others have already said the school you get allocated on 1st March doesn't necessarily have to be the school your DC ends up going to. There's always a lot of movement which gives other options between March and September.

@Drywhitefruitycidergin

Info doesn't get released til 5pm here. I think they press the button and run away from the office 🤣😂 With primary it was quicker to log back on to the admissions portal at 5 than wait for the email which arrived around 6:30.

I'm sure they absolutely press send and then run as fast as they can out the door.

They probably draw lots as to who goes back into the office first the next morning and starts answering the phone. 😂

I've got quite a few children so have friends with kids at
Wellington
Loreto
Aggs
Alti boys
Bth
AcA
Sale grammar
North ces
St ambrose

If I can help op?

Feel free to pm if you'd rather.

DC3 has two siblings at our preferred school. It’s a Catholic school and we are baptised/practising Catholic. We are 11 miles away though (rural) and I can’t help thinking ‘what if - there are 180 Catholic siblings who live closer than we do!’

@ToxicGirl some are Trafford, some Manchester & some Stockport. Common theme is that the DC are now happy & settled in Y7/8 and none have been a total disaster. Others put themselves under huge financial strain going private post allocations.

@troppibambini6

I've got quite a few children so have friends with kids at Wellington Loreto Aggs Alti boys Bth AcA Sale grammar North ces St ambrose

If I can help op?

Thanks @toppibambini6 and @blueboy

See, I'd be happy with any of those schools. Just worried we won't get any of them!