south west London secondarys

[Tilly409]

Hi everyone! I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for secondary schools in south west London? My is in year 10, but in a different school system and we would preferably like her to transfer for after the February break.. she’s great academically, so I think with a little bit of extra help and a tutor she should be pale to catch up, but we have tried Merton and have been informed that all schools in Merton are oversubscribed… I’m also worried that some schools don’t even allow mid year transfers this close to gcses, so I was wondering if anyone knew if this is true? if anyone has any ideas let me know!

Have Merton told you their schools are oversubscribed, or is this based on responses on your other two threads? I think you are still missing the point a bit. At this stage (in year admission at a stage where very few children move and wanting a place very quickly) you will have to take what you can get. There are lots of great schools in SW London that will likely be full. The less popular schools are more likely to have places.

One possible option would be to look into Central London, as inner London boroughs (Lambeth, Southwark etc) are seeing falling pupil numbers and may have spaces, although I think this is happening more at primary level. Sutton LA publish which schools have spaces on their website.

I still think this could be a bad plan for your daughter. If your only motivation is so she can do A-levels, I would seriously consider waiting. She will have missed about a third of the teaching most likely, which is huge to catch up on.

I think it would be very tricky to move.
I work in school where they occasionally have pupils joining in the middle of year 10 but they're usually from abroad, often refugees etc. The odd person also joins at the beginning of year 10 in DCs private school but again, it's very unusual.
I'm not sure any school would willingly take a pupil half way through year 10.

As others said, all good secondary schools in London are oversubscribed. There's usually a bit of movement in Year 9, but Years 10 and 11 are more stable. Families do occasionally move away, leaving spaces which will go to children at the top of the waiting list (ranked according to the school's oversubscription criteria - usually by distance, but not always). So your options are:

1. Contact borough admissions departments to find out where there are current spaces. If lucky enough to find one in a school you like, keep your fingers crossed it will still be there when you move. Or ...
2. Find a school you like, check its admissions policy and, if distance based, move as close as possible. Then apply, go on the waiting list, and keep your fingers crossed that a space will come up. In the meantime, either home-school or send them to whichever school the local authority offers you (they have to offer you something, but it doesn't have to be in a preferred school).

It will be difficult to transfer in year 10 as the good GCSE option blocks at most schools will be full, and your child has missed a good chunk of the GCSE courses. I work at a SW London secondary and don’t know of any schools that have space. We have closed our waiting list as there is so little movement in Year 10. Your child would be better off staying put and moving at sixth form.