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Secondary education

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

Original poster

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

286 replies

ToxicGirl · 23/02/2022 15:22

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...

OP posts:
boyblue · 25/02/2022 12:06

@ToxicGirl I guess that leaves SH & SH. I know one family at one of those who is happy

resipsa · 25/02/2022 12:09

Any feedback on BHS in Stockport? Last head was great by all accounts but left after poor Ofsted...

ufucoffee · 25/02/2022 12:12

OP. This is what you should do. On offer day if you don't get your preference school get a appeal in asap. Accept the school you are offered. Even if you hate it. If you refuse it and don't get a place elsewhere your daughter won't have a school to go to in September. Make an appt to visit the school you have been offered with your daughter. Speak to staff about your concerns. It may not be as bad as you think. You can also put a late application in for other schools. Being refused will mean you can go on the waiting list.

Original poster
ToxicGirl · 25/02/2022 12:18

Thanks. Don't worry, will definitely not be refusing what we get. Home ed or private aren't an option!

OP posts:
greyinganddecaying · 25/02/2022 13:08

We've applied to all non-religious schools in Sale/Altrincham, but I have a feeling we may end up at Stretford High or Lostock, where he will know no-one - and reports I've heard on Lostock aren't great.

boyblue · 25/02/2022 13:48

@resipsa

Any feedback on BHS in Stockport? Last head was great by all accounts but left after poor Ofsted...
I think Bramhall took a popularity hit when it got a poor ofsted & the Laurus schools are promising exceptional excellence. Not sure if makes BHS actually poor and many there would say Laurus isn't all amazing.
resipsa · 25/02/2022 13:56

Thanks @boyblue
Yes, the feeling of missing out on CHHS's brilliance by dint of a few metres is palpable round here but not sure if it's justified.

Original poster
ToxicGirl · 25/02/2022 14:52

@greyinganddecaying

We've applied to all non-religious schools in Sale/Altrincham, but I have a feeling we may end up at Stretford High or Lostock, where he will know no-one - and reports I've heard on Lostock aren't great.
Lostock is my fear too. We live nowhere near it but it looks to be where they sent anybody without a place last year. Fingers crossed for good news for on Tuesday 🤞
OP posts:
boyblue · 25/02/2022 16:17

@resipsa I'd defo recommend that people ask for very honest options from Yr8/9 parents and even better Y10/11 about local schools. Some are better for the less academic child. Grades can be inflated by dictating what options DC take. Some schools are super super strict which means some DC are miserable. The ability to walk to high school is a huge bonus too. Socially is really good and if doing afterschool clubs etc

madnessitellyou · 25/02/2022 19:07

So pleased to have found this thread - I thought offer day was in April!!!! Dd2 should get into our first choice (the nearest school to us - 600m - and well within previous years' distances) but I guess you never know! Dd1 goes to a different school for various reasons - nothing to do with the school - so no sibling priority here.

PatriciaHolm · 25/02/2022 19:31

@madnessitellyou

So pleased to have found this thread - I thought offer day was in April!!!! Dd2 should get into our first choice (the nearest school to us - 600m - and well within previous years' distances) but I guess you never know! Dd1 goes to a different school for various reasons - nothing to do with the school - so no sibling priority here.
For primary, it is! April 22. For Secondary, its March 1.
Whatwouldscullydo · 25/02/2022 19:36

Can I join.

Waiting on my dd2s allocation.

"Choices" are all shit ..I'm really hoping we get our first choice but they have been over ambitious with their catchment so I can't see it happening..I'm.kimda wishing I'd put my last preference second now. But nothing I can do about it now except waiting lists etc after the 1st March.

CoffeeRunner · 25/02/2022 19:38

Yep. We actually live in catchment for DD's preferred school but it is hugely oversubscribed & hundreds of extra homes have been built in catchment in the last year alone.

Her best friend will get a place as has two older siblings there already & siblings have priority over catchment.

The second choice school is still good but DD will be heartbroken to get it.

bluecitygirl · 25/02/2022 19:44

GM borough with grammars here and yes this is a boom year intake. I have gone for the smallest secondary school so hopefully won't need to worry as it is really under subscribed due to rep. Have a child there already and they are doing as well as their sister did a a local grammar so not stressing to much now.

bluecitygirl · 25/02/2022 19:51

Lostock is being run by a head from Stretford high and is not as bad as its rep. The whole ethos of the school has changed and the behaviour policy. I had two children in the same year and one went to Lostock and one to a local Grammar and they did equally as well achieving high gcses. Hope that puts your mind at rest. My son currently goes and is exceeding in all areas.

The smaller classes and good pastoral care make a big difference. I would never recommend the Grammar my child went to.

SwayingInTime · 25/02/2022 20:33

Trafford applicant here too….I can only find info in the local press about demand for primary places rather than secondary. Have no idea where DD will be allocated but now think we put the schools in the wrong order so will go on a few waiting lists regardless I think.

greyinganddecaying · 25/02/2022 21:42

@bluecitygirl

Lostock is being run by a head from Stretford high and is not as bad as its rep. The whole ethos of the school has changed and the behaviour policy. I had two children in the same year and one went to Lostock and one to a local Grammar and they did equally as well achieving high gcses. Hope that puts your mind at rest. My son currently goes and is exceeding in all areas.

The smaller classes and good pastoral care make a big difference. I would never recommend the Grammar my child went to.

That's good to know, thank you.

boyblue · 25/02/2022 22:20

I'd never ever heard of Lostock despite not being that far away,
And why is it so tiny at less than 300 kids in while school (the size of Yr7 intake at other schools)

SwayingInTime · 26/02/2022 07:42

They tried to shut it years ago and a local campaign prevented it (possibly?). It feels slightly like it’s kept open so there’s always an in year place somewhere for applicants (I have experience of one of my children being offered it having needed a year 9 place). It means you have to appeal if you want an in year place regardless of where you live in the county. Just a theory!

I can only fine stories about the current pressure on primary places in the area at the moment but am also wishing away the days between now and Tuesday. I think I might find out later as am just over the county border.

SwayingInTime · 26/02/2022 07:43

Accidentally replied twice to the same thread, oh dear, mumsnetting in the middle of the night!

Original poster
ToxicGirl · 26/02/2022 08:15

The stories are generally about pressure on primary school places but they say it's largely in the upper primary school age groups.

There's been so much movement into the southern parts of Trafford over the last 12 months (the articles say 800 families applied for in year or late primary school places between May and Sept last year!). I think the fact that so many Hong Kong families have moved to Trafford will put real pressure on secondary places over the next couple of years. My DD's already full class had 3 students from Hong Kong join this September. All these extra children are applying for places at the same secondary schools and nobody has heard anything about plans for bulge classes.

Just seems rubbish that I'm probably going to have to bus DD to an out of catchment school in another town when some years we'd be in catchment for 3 local schools!

OP posts:
SwayingInTime · 26/02/2022 08:48

Makes sense, glad it’s my youngest doing it. Hope there are plans in place for expansion where needed.

boyblue · 26/02/2022 08:57

Gosh hoping everything in Trafford sorts itself out. I'm not aware of the same issue in Manchester. A lot of primaries have spaces and massively so in the early years. Last years secondary admissions in Manchester were broadly in line with previous years factoring in the new schools that have opened in the area. (2 close together). Manchester families wanting Trafford schools might get a shock!

greyinganddecaying · 26/02/2022 10:02

This is one of my bugbears about lots of new houses/flats being built. Lots of schools (primary & secondary) are fit to burst, but there seems to be no consideration of that, or plan to increase school size/places to accommodate the children whose families move to the area.

If I'd realised the school system was like this I don't think I'd have moved to Trafford (back when I was child-free and my main criteria were distance from a tram stop and the city centre!).

Whatwouldscullydo · 26/02/2022 10:05

This is one of my bugbears about lots of new houses/flats being built. Lots of schools (primary & secondary) are fit to burst, but there seems to be no consideration of that, or plan to increase school size/places to accommodate the children whose families move to the area

I'm in an area where there are so many new houses being built too. And the only school that's been built was inaccessible to many of rhe locals due to it being a faith school.

Fuck knows what this year will be like I genuinely fear not making any local.school at all

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