Occasional places years 9/10 (North London indies)

[mangoesaretheonlyfruit]

Does anyone have any experience of moving a child in year 9/10 after gaining an occasional place?

DD has just started yr9 and is desperately unhappy for reasons I won’t go into here.

At 11+ we had considered small, nurturing single sex schools like Queens College and St Margaret’s (Hampstead). The problem is such schools rarely have occasional places.

I would be grateful for any tips.

I'd be surprised if occasional places don't come up. Quite a few children joined my DCs school in Y9 in particular despite no formal entry point.
There is a lot of movement in London- families travelling abroad etc. I'd ring round now- they may well have spaces.

Try Mount House

Many new kids joined in my daughter's Y9 (Mount House)

I think if you want to move, do it in Year 9. Year 10 will be much harder to move and then you're stuck

Aldenham or Mill Hill? I know someone who moved to FHRP to start year 9. I would also look at St Margarets in Bushey.

More House Knightsbridge?

Yes, we did (Y9 at St Margaret’s, Hampstead). Do give them a call - though their space limitations mean that once they are full they can’t stretch to another place.

St Margaret’s in Bushey is a good call by a PP as they are increasing capacity, so there are good opportunities for occasional places. They also now have coaches running into North London (starting at Belsize Park/Hampstead). Definitely worth a phone call.

Thanks all

It may just be luck of the draw. I will follow up on some of these suggestions.

Northwood College?

Just ring the Admissions teams & ask

Just wondering whether you were able to make any progress @mangoesaretheonlyfruit. I do empathise - when DC are miserable it’s so hard. We found that changing schools was transformative.

By the way if you're looking for an all-girls school, I have only heard good things about Queenswood (my daughter's best friend from primary is there - funnily enough in Year 9)

@XelaM Queenswood would be too far from us, we need a London school. @GasDrivenNun Northwood looks great, but again a bit far. Thanks for the suggestions though.

I've called and emailed a few schools and so far all are at capacity 😢

It could be worse I suppose, DD is not being bullied and she is talking to me about how she feels. I just wish I could change things for her.

Not sure where in north London you are based, but St Edmunds in Ware run a coach service from Finchley.

Have you spoken to Mark Webster at St. Margaret's - he often does have flexibility, if there's e.g. an empty space in one year he can fill it with a pupil in another year.