St Mary Magdalene Academy (London, Islington)

[Fogwisp]

I know the school's been mentioned here before, just wanted some recent views.

Firstly, how many children do the governors' test? And how much movement is there? Just got a letter today and DC did ok but not near the top 21. We decided not to tell DC until March as we're focusing on praise for coping with all these school tests so well, rather than results.

1);I'm very brain foggy and finding the waiting list system confusing: is there a governor's place list and a separate waiting list, or just one waiting list? How likely is the governor's place list to reach no.100? (DC' result is in the top 100, but not far in.)

2. I haven't actually made it to an open day due to work commitments, so: please tell me what the school's like just in case, particularly in terms of suitability for a quiet child, how much parent involvement, how strict, how happy are the teachers (rarely asked, that!), how's the school on bullying?

3. How does it work in the application form, as we don't live nearby and won't be putting it first: would we still be offered a place if by chance the governors' list did move that far, even if we put the school low on our choices?

Sorry a lot of questions, anyone who can answer just one that would be great!

I'd like to know as well 😀. We also got our letter today. A friend says offers go to 100+ but I reckon this year will be lower because of the risk of VAT fees on private and also the school's recent Outstanding Oftsted.

Ah, hadn't thought of those potential factors!
Do you know how many sit the test? I heard it's getting more popular.

You will be offered a place at the school highest on your list that can offer you a place on offer day; if one of your higher choices offers you a place, you will be offered that and no other - so if this would be your first choice, put it first. You won't get to choose between multiple offers.

Last year, someone on this thread said around 500 sit. Again, I'd say it was more this year.

Doesn't it work differently with schools with separate places allocated according to test results?

We have no chance whatsoever of an offer other than by the test results (for most schools, as we're not near enough to or don't meet admissions criteria for many), so it's confusing!

@Fogwisp Not in terms of which place you will be given on offer day, no. It means you stand a greater chance of being high enough on the criteria to be on their first offer list - BUT if you also qualify for an offer from a school higher on your preferences, that is the one you will get.

The system will assume that you have put the schools in order of preference. If you qualify for an offer from more than one school, regardless of what criteria it is offered under (distance, test, aptitude, etc) the system will give you the offer from the school ranked highest in your list, and the other offers will disappear.

Always put schools in genuine preference order.

I thought that the governors' places waiting list was separate from that, so, for example, if you put SMMA third or fifth on your choices list, were given an offer for your second choice school, but then later in the spring you moved to number 21 on the governors' list, you would be offered the chance to take up that place at SMMA instead of your 2nd choice school.

You are talking about places on a waiting list after first offer day, so yes, if you go up to the top of a waiting list from another school later, then yes you would be offered that place - but that's the same with any school's waiting list. Waiting list places can of course come up at any time.

In Islington, you are automatically placed on waiting lists for schools higher on your list that you don't get offers for, but not on ones lower, so you would need to make sure you stayed on the waiting list after offer day if you get an offer from a higher placed school.

Honestly, the best policy is to put the school first, if it is your first preference. This will have no impact on your chances of getting a place elsewhere, and will mean you don't have to faff trying to ensure you remain on the waiting list.

Hello, I wondered if anyone knew how the marks are determined rank-wise for MM? Given the large number of children, doing the test, surely some must get the same score. So how do they then differentiate between marks (and consequently ranks) if the test is purely verbal reasoning?

Also, does anyone know how many Sat the test this year?

If there is a tie, children are ranked in order of distance from the school.

I don't know, but would be interested to hear if it's going up and how they manage that.

Ah! I didn't realise that. That's very helpful as we are quite far away but I know a few people got around the same ranking as my DC. Thank you - I didn't see that on the website anywhere.

I went to the open evening and really loved it. Unfortunately we’d only get in based on governor’s exam. The turn out for the open night was huge so I’m guessing a lot of children took the test. DD is only Y5 so probably will be even worse next year!

I believe I am second on the open list for SMMA, has anyone experienced this. Im
wondering if they even take children from the waiting. has anyone experienced the waiting list wait 😁

What is your distance from the school? Do you fall under any other admissions criteria?

Won’t there be people who put the school as their first choice but are going to take a private school place instead, so will be turning down the SMMA place this week?

The stats say you’ll be offered a place. They went to rank 90+ last year. Presume you’re around 40?

I am 0.38miles

@BeSparklyHelper If this is an open place, then last year's cut-off was 0.326. Not clear though whether this distance was on allocation day (March 2023), or in September. If it was in March, then the cut-off probably went further, since some parents would have declined late or not turn up in September. So you should check what the furthest offer of an open place was in September last year. Primary school catchment in Islington has definitely grew bigger recently. It does seem though that Mary Mags will be more popular this year, after the outstanding ofsted and the VAT possibility on private school fees. I hope you get the offer - Good luck!

The letter we had last week said that, so far, we he open place cutoff is 0.38miles, so, larger than last year.

Hi there, just wondering if anyone knows how far down the rankings for a governors place the school got to for 2025 entry? Thanks

My DD was around 90 on the list. We didn't hear anything, but we put another school higher that she was accepted into on National Offer Day, so I think that means we wouldn't have heard anything regardless?