School offers day 2023

[UsernameOfMine]

So.... secondary school offer day is almost upon us. How is everyone dealing with the wait?

My DD is thinking about it far more than I would have hoped, is counting down the days and asking everyday if they will come out early. She's angry at the council that they can't sort the whole process out in a week. Apparently it's "not that hard to sort it out"🤔 I have tried to explain the process and that it's not just her it's every other child in the district (and neighbouring district as we've applied for schools there too), but she's just being impatient to know.

I'm thinking about it...but I thought I'd be worse with her been dc2 and wanting her to go to the same school as dc1. (No sibling priority at that school) but she's got a good chance of it so trying not to stress.

So how about everyone else?

@UsernameOfMine I agree that a lot do put down unrealistic choices. I'm often surprised when people tell me their choices. Before we even went to the open days I called the council and they told me over the phone what the local schools were, how many metres we were from any given school and how far the distances went for the last 3 years. I then only went to the open days that I knew DD had a realistic chance of getting into. The first choice we would of secured a place in 2 out of the last 4 years so it was worth a shot. The second choice is round the corner so we will definitely get that. If Birth rates are high I'm guessing she'll get the second choice.

@PatChaunceysFruitCake I just came here to say I'd read the same thing 😭 . I'm over on another state 11+ thread too but need more places to stress hang out as the day gets closer, hope you all dont mind me joining in. We have 1st choice as super selective grammar which is by no means a done deal, 2nd choice is our closest, but not catchment school so that is a bit scary. Last year all sorts of stupid situation arose in our area such as twins being allocated different schools etc. which is definitely not supposed to happen so I don't hold out much hope. We have catchment school down as 4th and I'm dreading the possibility as daily horror stories come out of that one.

We can only put three choices down.

I agree people can be unrealistic with their choices and I did only put down schools she had a good chance of getting into based on data. She'd have got a place at #1 in any of the last five years but the distance criteria had definitely shrunk considerably in that period.

Now i've read the article I really don't think she will get a place. 🙁

I can't read article without paying but are they just saying high birth year?
In some cities Brexit has meant a lot of families leaving although in Trafford a large number of HK families have moved in. Must say that cost of living doesn't seem to be effecting families round us with massively increased applications (50% up) to privates as people are so worried about education cuts.

We're in outer London and definitely have the Brexit effect, plus a lot of people moved further out during lockdown to get a bigger house/garden etc. To some extent they've been replaced by people moving from inner London but not entirely.
Last year some children didn't get anything at all on the initial offers day despite some schools adding a bulge class, so really hoping that doesn't happen to us! We should be fine as we're easily in catchment for our 5th choice.

We can only put three choices down

I have a 4 year gap between my youngest two, for him we only had 3 but we had 4 this year. They have also changed the admission zones and half the area is no longer covered by a particular school.

One advantage of applications being online is that people can no longer do daft things like listing the same school numerous times, happening to get a place anyway and then for evermore telling people it was because they only listed the one so that had to be given it.

I think the key sentences are:

A record number of pupils have applied for places, with the number of children looking to start Year Seven in September rising by around 40,000 to 640,000 in four years following a spike in the birth rate 11 years ago.
Prof Alan Smithers, the director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research, said the success rate could fall below 80 per cent for the first time this year because of the spike in demand if the most sought-after schools have not expanded.

It's creeping me out a bit to think that dds teacher may well now know (or know by tomorrow) where the class are all going but we all have to wait til Wed's.

Oh gosh, that is s weird thought, I kind of assumed that no one knew until Wed!

Anyone know how long after offers day you can find out places on waiting list if you don't get 1st choice? Or will that differ from place to place.

Not before the deadline to accept places has passed, which I think is 15th March.

I'm sure we phoned our local authority on 1 March last year and was told where on the waiting list DD1 was for our first choice. At the time she was No. 50, at last check about a month or so ago she was still on the waiting list at around No. 20. Not sure she would move secondary schools now anyway.

The wait for DD2 seems far worse this year. Different first choices, same second. So as long as she gets either first or second we will be fine.

It's depends on your local authority. Wandsworth runs lists from the beginning which are accessed online. But it is a moving feast. On offer day mine was 38 or something and then after all late applications considered she moved to 44. Despite only 70 places she got in on the first day of term. However this was for an academic stream. The distance places hardly moved at all.

My LA does not tell you where you are on the waiting list. I do get why as it can change all the time. Here there is also no date to accept, they just assume you have unless you tell them you dont. I am not a fan of this as it means come September there are always spaces available as people do not turn up who were never going to go i.e always going private but have not told the schools. Here also they do not start to award places from the waiting list till about a month after NOD, even if someone rang up and said no thanks. So I think every LA is so different in how they handle things.

If it's the same as primary my LA don't release waiting list positions until after the acceptance deadline.

My borough had an online waiting list checked that launched in April, so after all the initial flurries from acceptance day. I think you could probably ring before that and ask but I didn't.

It's actually not massively helpful knowing where you are at any one point as it changes so much. We went down 10 places and then up 15 in a few weeks. Still didn't stop me checking constantly!

With Ds it was so heartbreaking when we called up and he was 9th on the waiting list. Knowing he had passed the entrance exam and gotten so close but he was still so far away. Turned out well in the end.

Just hoping dd this time gets the school she wants. She was saying this morning that it was only 3 days. I explained it was actually 2 as less than 48 hours until she could find out. (Even less if I can't sleep and look at the application website through the night)

Im so worried about offers day, we’ve already had tears as DD doesn’t think she’ll get in and she’ll be the only one out of her friendship group who doesn’t.
Doesn’t help all the chat at school about it, makes her worry more as all her friends are in catchment with a sibling so fairly assured they’ll get in.
I know our council emailed out the day before last year, fingers crossed we will hear tomorrow

My DD says noone at school is mentioning it. Though think that's making her more nervous because she is thinking about it.... constantly!!!!

I think it’s more her mentioning it and them replying with “oh I’ll get in because xyz” not malicious or anything - but panics her more because she doesn’t have a sibling and isn’t in catchment

It's not just about travel to and from school tbf. Having had two children in two schools (and in different counties to boot - we are right on the boundary) it's different term dates, and school procedures, different rules about footwear and meals/art supplies/trip payment systems, and different apps to follow their progress. Bloody nightmare.

Anyway, I'm a great fan of sibling preference. Saves on uniform too.

Last year our council sent the emails the day before - anyone else expecting it today?

Ooh I don't know - if I start checking emails today I'll not get any paid work done

I'm not expecting it today, never heard of them sending it early but I don't think I took much notice when it's not us applying lol
if it comes it will be a pleasant surprise.

A friend did say she got her letter in the post before national offer day, last year, but I didn't even know they did paper replies so maybe it was just a one off last year they did them.