Secondary, in-year admissions Manchester - does it really take 12 weeks??

[LoveJaffaCakes]

I've just made an application for a year 8 school place for DD2. We relocated to Manchester 2 weeks ago. However, I've been told it will be 12 weeks before she has a place!! Has anyone any recent experience of this - maybe last year - who can advise how long it took them?

How many schools have you approached? If the LA does not have a place ask about use of the Fair Access protocol.

@LadyLapsang I've put 5 schools down on my list. It's not that they've refused a place or anything, it's just that 12 weeks is a whole term out of school - too long for a girl who's now very bored. What I wondered is, is this just the standard line they trot out in the city council offices? In anyone's recent experience does it really take this long or is it likely we'll have a school place within a month.

Have you actually phoned round them schools and asked if they are full?

This is unacceptable, if a school has a place, they’ll want your dd to start asap not least because if funding!

Sadly, schools cannot tell you the situation and refer you back to the council. I know many schools are full but, if the council has many children waiting, they'll advise certain schools to take additional children. Then class sizes grow, which isn't ideal.

I agree but it's up to the council, not the school, as the council looks after most school admissions.

I can't comment on Manchester, but it took 1 working day for our LEA to tell me I could apply the day before we landed in the UK, which schools in X town had places, accept my application, and that we had been offered places at second choice school. We started 2 weeks after that - and school would have taken us earlier, but I delayed, as the kids needed a break (we were putting them back in to do the last 6 weeks of a school year they had already finished). I cant fault them - but I don't know how long it would have taken if the schools had been full.

Hi,
I am interested to find out what happens to your kids. I am in a similar situation. I may be relocating to the south of Manchester (Didsbury, Cheadle Hulme) from overseas, but the school situation seems very complicated, especially for secondary schools.
I talked to the LEA in Manchester and they told me that schools are full and you can be told that you need to go to a school in the other side of Manchester or a school that is not so good (basically, the ones that still have places). Because we don't have an address in Manchester yet, no one can tell us where we'll get spaces.
So the options we have is to risk renting somewhere near the school we want, take kids out of our country (and their good schools) to relocate them and hope for the best or to go private. However, I've discovered that private schools are full and have waiting lists too. So we are stuck and it looks like the school situation may define whether we stay put or come over.
That's why I'd be curious to see whether you get the school you asked for... Thanks!

My DS1 was out over a term as no high school places y8 also Manchester area plenty of choice for the primary school ones.
however this was some years ago.
Hope you get a place sooner and it’s just guidelines

Mine started school 24 hours after moving in but this was primary. I contacted the school (who had space) filled in the registration forms and emailed to both the school and council, got a call 2 hours later to say bring them in the morning. This was Cambs though

Unfortunately there has been so many new houses built in South Manchester that many schools are full so I guess it does take a while to find places. Most schools use the LA admissions policy, even academies, so it’s no use approaching individual schools.

Two new secondary schools have been built in Chorlton in the last few years and one appears to take in children from some distance away as it is linked to a Cheadle Hulme school - might be worth a look? The other one is part of Chorlton High School and has a new building in Withington.

Not Manchester but a different city we contacted admissions with our new address before we moved, and they told us which schools had places. We then visited the schools and chose the one we liked, and made a formal application as soon as we could (you can only apply for a school place a certain number of days before you need it, which was around mid-November to start after Christmas. We got confirmation of the places within a few days. One child needed to go to the Fair Access panel as they have SEN and the school who was keen to take them was full in their year, but that was convened for a special meeting within days and signed off then. They follow the same process for secondary and primary, but there are lots of schools in the city that are not oversubscribed so places are much easier to get.

12 weeks sounds very long but did they expect you to apply before you actually moved as I think most people do that?

Not in Manchester but took 8 months to get DSD into a school as the secondaries where we live are rammed and that was with the fair access protocol.
If you're able to find admissions info for secondaries in your area you will get an idea of which ones might have space so for example a school that had 5 times more applications than spaces at year 7 is less likely to have room than a school that didn't meet its published admissions number (PAN).

If this is of any help, 6th forms are much easier and don't need a Manchester address - which means DD1 started earlier this month.

It used to be like this (we've moved a few times) so I was really surprised when they said 12 weeks. I'd assumed about 3 weeks tops.

@LoveJaffaCakes unfortunately I need year 5 and year 7. Year 7 seems to be practically impossible... and when I call the Manchester LEA there's a message saying they have too many calls, so call later... Trafford and Stockport LEA at least were open about the availabilities straight away. Manchester is a bit of a black hole...

Hi, I am exactly in the same situation with you two years ago. We have moved in Manchester and applied for my daughter's entry into Year 8. May I know how you have dealt with the situation? 12-week waiting time is bizarre.
Thanks a lot!😅

Part of the problem I suspect is the time of year. Schools have only just gone back and it is very possible that some children haven’t made an appearance yet, either because the family have moved, are on holiday, have decided to home educate, go private or many other reasons. Until the schools/LA have investigated the reason for the no show , hopefully tracked the child down and had confirmation that they no longer need the place, then they can’t offer the place to another child.

I hope your problem gets resolved quickly. In the meantime I suggest that you make your child keep regular study hours for several hours a day using Oak Academy or another online resource so they keep occupied!

@Irene278 Welcome to Manchester. My daughter, in the end, only had to wait about 9 weeks. We got our 4th choice of school and she is very happy there. I did chase the application with the council to ensure it was logged and had the correct details. What area of Manchester are you in?

Thanks a lot!

Thanks for your prompt response! I am currently living in Ancoats (there are very few options). Did you chase the council via email or phone them?

Cheers!

Yes, Ancoats is tricky. I think one option that's meant to be a great school is Manchester Academy https://www.manchester-academy.org/

We used to live in Ancoats (many years ago) so still have friends in the area.

We're not religious, but there are more options if you are.

Thanks a lot. May I know which area and school did your kid attend if you dont mind?

We now live in Fallowfield and my daughter is in CHS South.