How to choose a secondary school in 12 hours?

[Ooopsies]

We have lived abroad in a foreign country for several years. 5 days ago we landed back ‘home’ in the UK. Enrolled the DC in the closest school this afternoon after a lot of ringing around. DS has gone into Y6 and I was informed by the school I need to complete a secondary school application form by tomorrow. School have provided the information booklets and the form but I have no clue how to choose a school so quickly. The primary I can cope with, DS won’t be moving but I am going to be looking around and getting DD on some waiting lists for other schools (assuming I want to move her after I’ve thoroughly checked this one out as well as the others).

Before anyone says anything, I miscalculated and we though DS would be in Y5.

What am I after?

• How to assess a school without looking at a school?
• What are the most important things to look at?
• What areas of a website should I focus attention on?
• What should I look out for that signals a good school?
• What should I look out for that would be a big no?
• Anything else?

Im also going to thank in advance as I am very stressed right now. I will definitely be taking any and all advice on board and acting upon it immediately. I will try my best to provide details if they are asked for.

similar progress measures used to be call ‘value added’ then ‘distance travelled’ which are perhaps clearer, so if a school does really well by students who come in with relatively low achievement and their progress is more than might have been expected then their progress measure will be high, but the students overall achievement eg % getting 5 GCSE passes (4-9 I think) might still be lower than the national average. But actually the school generally doesn’t make that much difference to an individual student’s level of achievement (and there are often not huge differences between schools), a supportive family goes a long way. If possible, having local friends is often really good for the teenage years as they do more independently.

Yeh looking at that list Cockermouth and Keswick are the ones eh. Are you close to either op? Remember it’s a preference only not a choice at the end of the day

A quick way to work out where local kids go is to do some uniform spotting at 8ish in the morning tomorrow.

Thanks for the explanation @clary, really helpful.

@Russoooooo and @Takeachance18 thanks for the offer of the local knowledge. We are in Whitehaven at the minute if that helps. We are just renting for the minute as it is close to where DH took a job so we have the flexibility to move somewhere else later on as, all going well, we will be staying here permanently.

I’ve spent the last hour going over websites and reading about curriculum and getting a general feel for the schools.
I have narrowed the list down to 6 schools which are The Whitehaven Academy, St Benedict’s RC, West Lakes Academy, Workington academy, Cockermouth school and Keswick school.

Cockermouth and Keswick seem to do very well. I was reading i Keswick had become a special language centre, one of about 15 schools in the country, DS is fluent in 2 languages and has been learning a 3rd and a 4th so might work for us. I heard there a busses but looking at Google maps they seem quite a long way from Whitehaven, would we get a place?
The Whitehaven Academy seems good from the website, but the underlying in data is a bit poor. I’ve also read a couple of conflicting things about West Lakes Academy. Haven’t found much about Workington Academy? We are not catholic either so would we get a place at a catholic school such as St Benedict’s? As a side note, Catholicism doesn’t bother us in the slightest, we lived in a very catholic country for years. (Sorry for all the questions).

where are his friends going? he will make good friends within the next 12 months surely?

this should be up on the priority list too

The booklet should state how many were admitted in each category. So, for example, check if all Faith applicants got places and from how far away non Faith applicants were admitted. Then compare it it to the category your dc would be placed in.

@carly2803 I genuinely don’t know. He’s literally been in the new primary school once he was there for 2 hours after the council found us a place so we turned up, filled in the paper work and he joined the class without a uniform. He will make friends, but at this moment in time, we have none of this to go off. I’m doing this all completely blind and with very short notice. It was the school who asked me whether I had applied for secondary. I obviously hadn’t hence the stressy night I’m having.

Think about transport too. I've applied today and not gone for our catchment school as its the only one DS couldn't walk to so we are taking a punt on 3 schools we are not in the catchment for but will mean he can get there independently!

You should put your catchment school down someplace on your preferences. If nothing else, this will mean that you will have a place at a school that’s either close enough to walk or where transport to and from is paid for. If you don’t put down a banker, they can send you pretty much anywhere.

Is there a class WhatsApp group? Could you ask one of the parents in the class to add you to it in the morning? You could then ask where 'everyone else' is going, you don't have to abide by it, but it might give you an idea.

Hmmm Whitehaven’s data is very poor, 16% was it gaining a good pass in maths and English? Of course that could mean a low-attaining intake but the P8 is also low which is not promising tbh.

How many slots on the form op? How far away are Keswick and Cockermouth? You could always put them down then move nearer if lucky enough to get a place?

Sorry I don’t know the area so no idea how ridiculous that suggestion is.

Every chance of getting a space at Keswick from Whitehaven, children have done the journey for years, Keswick has a high intake, for size/age of population in the area and with Cockermouth and QEGS as options either side and other schools in the South they regularly move out to the West Coast for admissions- being rural lots of children are reliant on school transport. Whitehaven Accademy has potential for improvement as has been through a rough time and the recent results probably reflect this.

Oh I see Keswick is miles away. If you only get three slots (we do where I live) then I don’t think I’d waste one on Keswick. Might be tempted to put Cockermouth top as a total punt, then two local ones - check out the admissions for the faith school and see if it’s feasible.

Ah @Takeachance18 has local knowledge I don’t so ignore me

We get three slots

According to Google maps:
Keswick is roughly 25 miles away! - kids really travel this far?
Cockermouth 15 miles!

This seems a very long way.
I like the look of Keswick had a good read through their website and they are offering a lot. There is a lot going on. I also think cockermouth might be alright. I think Keswick is talking to me more than cockermouth.

I also like the look of Whitehaven and what is going on seems good there from what I can find on Google search and FB.
West Lakes website is confusing and annoys me so it’s putting me off. (I know this is no reason not to choose a school). Although I am hearing some good things about it. Equally some concerning ones.

St Benedict’s and Workington both seem ok.

Sorry cross posted with you @clary. As much as you have been really helpful tonight, I might have to ignore you on this one (sorry). Although I agree, seem a very long way to me. Although it does look a very good school. I can understand why people want to travel to it.

Haha please do ignore! Or rather, I will revise - if dc go from Whitehaven to Keswick then Yy put that first, then Cockermouth then one in Whitehaven.

Finally got round to the admissions book.

Workington actually took more than their first preferences despite that (PAN 208, 1st 241, Offers 246) so wondering why? Is there maybe a reason schools do this?

West Lakes on the other hand didn’t (PAN 180, 1st 204, Offers 179). Will cross West Lakes off as seems a wasted choice.

I can’t work out St Benedict’s (PAN 186, 1st 186, Offers 186) it also doesn’t say how many were catholic?

Whitehaven, Keswick and Cockermouth were all undersubscribed so I guess @Takeachance18 local knowledge is spot on.

Op have you looked at GCSE subject options? Some schools offer a lot of btecs which are more vocational than academic. Some only offer one foreign language for instance so while I appreciate distance etc is important, have a look longer term and what subjects are on offer that might appeal to your family

I’ve just realised one thing I haven’t asked, @Takeachance18, I’m making an assumption here you have DC in local schools. You’ve already mentioned a few things, but do you mind me asking, if you have DC in local schools, which one(s)? (Please feel free to ignore if not comfortable with answering or to PM).

Last year was a bulge year and they had space further up the school and popularity (or more accurately lack) it gave people their first choice and Workington and Whitehaven accademy are in the same trust and have a joint sixth form.

It can be a risk with any school which has had issues and both Workington and Whitehaven have both had difficult times recently, but get in at the right time and your child gets a great experience with enthusiasm and keen for change.

Ahhh that makes sense. So possibly not going to be the same this year. Is it worth considering or should I go with a short list of Keswick, Cockermouth, St Benedict’s and Whitehaven?

I must admit. I do like the look of Whitehaven. The results look a bit dodgy (which difficult times would explain - yes, I have seen all the news articles on Google) but the ethos and the curriculum look good.

I can’t work out if I like that or Keswick best.

I think I will dig more into curriculum as suggested and ask parents/school in the morning as well as try and keep a look out for what uniforms the kids are wearing here.

@Ooopsies , I am now in the SE, but lots of friends/family I know with kids in the local schools across West Cumbria. I would send mine to Cockermouth or Keswick with no hesitation, but would move to near Cockermouth. I went to Cockermouth many years ago and some of those I was at school with now teach or have taught there and sent there children there. We looked to move back before mine started secondary as the support offered exceeded anything available locally for SEN in mainstream, so did in depth research into the schools a couple of years ago. But children from Workington and Whitehaven have travelled to Keswick for 40 years since the Grammar schools closed in the towns. Workington always was easier as the X5 provided a non-school bus option for after school or meeting up outside of school.

Facebook has a page called West Lakes Mummies - they might be able to help

Gosforth and Seascale local village groups will also be able to offer opinions from people more locally

(my parents live 10 miles away from you)

the locrating app is really useful. they aggregate all the publicly available information making it so much easier to see at a glance the schools you are in catchment for... the stats for the school, how many people applied for that school as first, second, third choice and whether offers were made to first, second and third choices...