Accept place or go on waiting list - local school vs what we know!

[WeBuiltThePyramids]

Hi, I’m looking for help in deciding whether to accept the offered local secondary school place for DC3 or go on the waiting list for a school we know well. I did post about this in Sept when deciding on applications but a few things have changed.

School 1 is a faith school, we are of the faith and DC1 and 2 went/are there and are doing or have done extremely well. DC1 now Oxbridge. DC2 who is a complex character surpassed all expectations at GCSE and is doing really well. Never doubted that we would send DC3 there until huge issues with the school bus (cost/viability) last year which in the end meant we put this as our second choice. School bus situation has now settled down somewhat - it’s affordable, but would mean her leaving home 7.30 and getting back at 4.20pm.

School 2 is our local school, about 10 mins walk from home. It’s a good school, good results, although some recent murmurings on social media about behaviour. We eventually decided (but it was a knife edge decision) to put this school first because of the bus issues and because it would be better for DC3 to have more local friends when siblings are at uni. Liked it at open evening, loved the head who current parents all think is great.

So offers came out and we got our first choice, school 2. Then it was announced the head was leaving, interviews being arranged but no info on incoming head. This makes school 2 feel more of a risk. Also, as above, school 1 transport is looking better. I feel like school 1 is now the much safer bet academically but wonder if the advantages of being local outweigh this? Added to that I want DC3 to feel they have had the same opportunities as the others and don't want to regret this if they don’t do as well for some reason.

DC3 is bright but also a complex character (some issues have been flagged by school - may be something there but floats above the radar because doing ok). Both schools are known for being good for academic, “round peg in round hole” kids with not so much patience for the square pegs. However I did raise some potential issues re DC2 at school 1 and it was picked up and looked into straight away.

We would have to go on the waiting list for school 1 but as DC is of the faith, at feeder school, with sibling priority they would pretty much be top, so we would need to be sure before putting them on it. If a place were to come up, her place at school 2 would be automatically withdrawn so there is no scope for deciding later.

Any feedback welcomed - feeling very unsure!

Don't reject a place yet!
Accept the school you are (were) happy with.
Look carefully at the faith school, and see if you want to go onto the waiting list. Are you sure you would default loose the current place if a space opened up? Surely it would be offered to you and you could accept/decline at that point?

Accept the school offered and go on waiting list for the other school. If/when you get offered a place post again and then decide what you want to do.

Can you not accept the place and go on wl. That should give time for new head situation to resolve.

Sorry, just to clarify - I’ve spoken to 2 separate people at the council and we definitely can’t decide later (ie when the place comes up). We would effectively be changing our preferences for the second round of allocations so if they can then offer us our new first choice (waiting list school) that’s what we get and the other place goes to someone from their waiting list. But the place we have now is held for us until that happens - so if no place comes up, we have not lost the one we have now.

Agree if we could go on list and decide later that would be ideal, but definitely not an option unfortunately

I'm not sure I understand.

Are you saying that you can't accept the place at the offered school?

If you don't accept that and no place comes up at desired school then no place surely?

It is normal (and recommended) to accept place and then go on waiting lists for other schools.

That way your DS should be OK whatever way.

Just to say, I was concerned about our primary because head left just after DC had started. More inexperienced person took over and she was amazing. She has now went on to higher things in academy trust and we have another head. So 3 heads in DDs time at school , and all that time school has went from strength to strength.

Some of your other reasons for choosing school 2 are still valid.

Are you able to share which LA you are in OP? Unfortunately this practice of automatically losing your original place if a waiting list place comes up seems to be getting more common, although it is awful practice and @prh47bridge has said it goes against the Admissions Code on another thread. Most LAs allow you to accept your place and go on waiting lists, and then give you a few days to make a decision if a waiting list place comes up.

Regardless of whether you decide to go on the waiting list for the other school or not, definitely accept your current place to make sure that your DC has a place for September.

I'd stick with the school you've got. 7.30-4.20 is a long day, and buses have a bad habit of being delayed. I'd also say that if your child already there is past GCSE stage, there is no guarantees that your DC will have the same experience - my DC are just 2 school years apart and the school changed significantly between their times there. So in that respect it's no more "known" that your other school. And the benefit of such a close school shouldn't be underestimated - this is great both socially and in terms of freeing up more time to do other things.

You don't mention which your child prefers? do they have a preference?

Re the murmurings on SM about behaviour - read some of the threads in education behaviour is an issue nationally in most schools. My easy to manage students when I first started 5 years ago school, now has a lot of behaviour issues.

I would go local

the way it was explained to me was that we currently have our first choice (so not being considered for any other schools). If we want to go on the waiting list my we have to effectively change our order of preference to put school 1 first. Then we are in the position where we have an offer for our second (previously first) choice school and are on the waiting list for first choice. If a place at the new first choice comes up before the second round of allocations we would automatically be given that place and our second choice place would be removed.

To be honest it’s the first time I’ve come across it operating like this but can see from other threads our council is not alone. I suppose it speeds things up as they don’t have to wait for people to make up their mind before offering out places but not surprised to hear it’s against the Code.

@redskylight we did mention the possibility to DC3, and she said she would feel more excited to be going to school 1 like her siblings did, she knows it and it’s all familiar, friends going there etc. However when she’s thought about it she said she might prefer to walk to school. Both valid opinions!

I can see why they do this. There's a lot of movement on the lists at this point, as those with private school places turn things down. To get things sorted out as efficiently as possible, they want to be able to move people according to the preferences they've already named. If they wait for them to decide whether they've changed their mind, then that's another round of moving people about once those decisions are in, and so it goes on.

Once it gets to late June/July, and transition activities have started, then I think it does make sense to ask people if they want to stick with what they've got, but until the end of May, it makes more sense to assume people will stick to their named preferences.

In this instance, I reckon it's better to stick with the original choice. School 1 may get a new head next year, and might change their transport arrangements again in two years time. (At a guess, they have decreasing numbers from a distance, meaning that the original bus routes would run half-empty and make a loss. The choice is to put the fares up, or merge routes which means they take longer. If so, the problem could get worse if there are ever fewer pupils from a distance.) School 2's new head could well be excellent. And 10 minutes walk is a huge advantage over leaving home at 7.30.

However when she’s thought about it she said she might prefer to walk to school. Both valid opinions!

I think being in walking distance/having local friendships is very important for social development. As she gets older she'll be able to do things spontaneously after school - go to shops or library, go to coffee shop with friends, pop round to a friend's house - which she wouldn't be able to do if reliant on a bus.

Interesting to see most people saying stick with school 2.

Other factors that might be relevant: school 2 keeps the pupils in mixed ability classes for everything until year 9, then does a 3 year KS4…so, an extra year for GCSE work but the downside is choosing options so early (year 8). School 1 puts the pupils into broad “streams” after October half term in year 7 and does the traditional 2 year KS4.

School 2 has generally better and more varied enrichment activities, but school 1 has an amazing (much better than school 2) music and drama department (DC plays 2 instruments so may be relevant).

Head at school 1 unlikely to change in near future, and is a good guy. Issue with the bus was the provider suddenly increasing its prices (more than doubling it) over summer which meant less people took up that option. Now petrol prices have settled and the routes have been jiggled/merged it’s looking a lot more reasonable. I’d love her to go there but on the other hand would love her to be local, so am going round in circles with it!

I think there's a huge amount to be said for sticking with tried and tested

Regardless.

Accept offered school.

Then think more about the two schools and decide if you would prefer the other or not. If you would prefer the other then ask to be waitlisted.

Personally I don't like mixed ability for everything (really? even maths?) or a 3 years KS4, so I'd go with school 1.

Mixed ability for everything is one of the reasons we didn’t pick this school for DC1 tbh.

I can’t accept the offer and go on the waiting list, it’s one of the other (but I won’t lose the offer while waiting). Unless I wait until after 2nd round of offers but then we are reliant on drop outs to get a place and potentially mess DC around even more at a later date. FWIW I’m pretty certain we would get a waiting list place if we put DC down now.

OP I think the fact that you keep coming back with arguments to switch when people say "walking to school is great" is an indication that you do actually want to switch.

I think they both sound like good schools so reassure yourself that there you can’t make a bad decision here. You’ve already decided on school 1, and received an offer so I would trust November you, who thought her decision was final and did all the research and had all the recent contact with both schools. The fact that you are worrying away at a decision you already put so much thought into would just strike me as feeling a bit anxious/second guessing and I would imagine it to continue no matter what you do until DD actually starts at whatever school.

I would go for school 1 - the known quantity. A good head is a big deal.
My kids aged 11 and 7 leave home at 7:30 and return at 6pm . It’s fine.

Stick with original choice. Far safer bet to me

I would go with local.
With the exception of maths, mixed ability groups result in better outcomes for all, including the top ability range.

You need to accept the place offered, then decide whether to join the waiting list for the other school. If you don’t accept the place offered you could find yourself without a place at all if the waiting list doesn’t yield a place. If you turn down a place then the council have done their job and if you decide you want a place after all it won’t necessarily be at a school you would like or is nearby,

Is it mixed ability all the way? Our school phases sets. Not all are set early but most are by Yr8
Another local school is mixed ability until year 9

@TwilightSilhouette could you provide evidence for this? Very interesting

I don't have much advice about this, but I do work at a school that is having issues with busses right now.

Although petrol prices have settled, our bus company are still talking about renegotiating agreements reached this year- it's not just about petrol but the overall cost of running.

If e.g. a further increase in the cost of busses would make it not viable to send your child to this school, or if there's any chance of bus routes being removed entirely, I would be very, very wary of committing to the school.

I really hope your School 1 have managed to get their busses sorted for September because it is a nightmare BUT I think it's very likely things would unfortunately change with busses further in the next 5 years.

It's clear you prefer school 1, so I would suggest going on their waiting list (don't decline your place at school 2, you don't need to do this). However, I would only do this if there is a plan B for your child to get to school if the busses suddenly become unaffordable again or get cancelled.

It's so rubbish you have to make a decision because of a factor like this, and I'm sorry.