Secondary school place allocation - 1 March

[LilySLE]

How is everyone feeling about the fact that we find out tomorrow which secondary school our Year 6 children will be going to?

I am wondering whether to stay up till midnight to wait for the email 🙈

Catchment is a distance established on designated points e.g. distance where you live from nodal points. Or a parish catchment etc if you don't live in catchment then you don't live within the distance the school even considers.

No, it doesn't need to be the closest school but a designated area within which they give spaces randomly or based on other principles like distance within that catchment from a point they nominate

I know. Just saying what it looks like here. i do realise that there are many other ways the schools use 😃

I logged onto the portal at 6.30am and luckily DD got first choice school. Finally got the email round 9am.

@Gobbolinothewitchscat We got a grammar place this morning but I have already rejected it. We live out of county and the last four years wouldn’t have got a place so it was a super long shot and came as a huge surprise - we had literally written it off as an option.

She had offers from three private schools including scholarships and has definitely been “wooed” into the sales pitch of being able to do lots of extra things in her scholarship area.

We all LOVED the grammar she was allocated and it was really hard to decide, but one independent made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. So yes, people do turn down grammar places.

I hope it all trickles down and you get an offer in the second round of allocations.

We got 6th choice. Kind of as expected. There is likely to be a bit of movement on our higher placed schools so I guess now we accept and go on waiting lists.

I feel quite deflated but also relieved we got a place on our list. A colleague's DC got the same school and she is pleased so that's something.

The school which Ilickeditsoitsmine refers to has a very complicated admissions criteria. It did have 6 different bands, one of which had 3 sub bands. I see now it has changed slightly to be 4 bands of which 2 have sub bands. In any one band (or sub-band) if they have more children than places they allocate places on a lottery basis within that category.

Since my 3rd child was admitted, they are now part of an MAT which probably affected the criteria.

2 years ago DD2 was allocated a place at our second choice school, which was hard to understand as children I knew to be in lower criteria had places. By the time I spoke to the admissions office, they had already identified an error in processing her application and offered a place without forcing us to appeal.

I'm so pleased to hear you did that so promptly. I've been hearing horror stories of parents holding a state offer and a private offer until they don't turn up on the first day of one. Really glad to hear your DD has an offer she is happy with.

Anyway - it looks like it's a long haul and that things can change right at the last minute

I need to try and work out now what happens on 15 March. I think we just start checking with the school re waiting lists etc but not very sure. Any advice welcome!

The stats for Bucks grammar schools make for very interesting reading when comparing year on year. One school which has usually had last admitted distances of 2-3 miles went up to almost 10 miles this year. Lots of very surprised (yet happy) out of catchment parents and children.

That wasn’t the case with the grammar schools near us sadly

As I started this thread I thought I’d better say where we got to!

We were offered our second choice school. The school itself is excellent (we know we’re very fortunate to have a second choice that is as good as this), and on paper in fact outperforms our first choice school. But we thought the first school was a better fit for our child.

I’ve investigated the option of going on the waiting list for our first choice, and a word of warning about this - it appears that if a place comes up for you on the waiting list, you have to take it. You can’t go on the waiting list and then see how you feel further down the line, if and when a place becomes available. Worth bearing in mind for anyone else thinking of going on a waiting list.

We’re still mulling what to do.

@LilySLE
oh that sounds tricky.

it’s not the case here though. You accept what offered and you’re automatically put on waiting lists for all your higher choices whether you want to our not. If a place comes up you can choose to take it or not. This sometimes happens after the start of term so you don’t have to move schools unless you want to at that time.

That cannot be correct. What if your family circumstances etc have changed in that time period? You can't compel someone to take a school place. The original place will have been accepted. It can't be unilaterally rescinded and a child forced to go to a different school.

I would challenge that and ask for an explanation in writing re the policy. It doesn't sound lawful

@Gobbolinothewitchscat the advice is always to accept a school even if you don't want it. The LA's responsibility is to offer a school and you cannot force a different offer by not accepting it. If it's not right for appealable reasons, then that's the route you need to go down, but the LA have fulfilled their duty by offering the school and not accepting it may just mean a child has no placement lined up for September.

@LilySLE it's LA specific. In Manchester they put you on wait list for higher preference schools. But you can then decide as and when you get a new offer - bit it in Match April or even Sept.
I know loads that decided to stick with what they given. A very oversubscribed school was offering wait list places to no40 on list by Oct

That's my point. Always accept the offered school even if you don't want it as a back up.

So you accept the place at school one, which has been offered. Once that's accepted you have a guaranteed place at school one . Therefore, how can going on the waiting list for another school (school two) mean that IF you eventually get a place at that second school, you are forced to take it? That cannot be legal as you have already accepted school one place and that can't be unilaterally withdrawn without your consent just because a place at school two had been offered months later when your circumstances might have materially changed. But that seems to be what OP is saying. I can't think that is legal so I would be asking for a written explanation of this policy and on what basis it's exercised.

I am still blown away by how different things are in different parts of the country. We live near a county border. In our county, you have to make a conscious choice to put yourself on a waiting list. In the other county over the border, you get added automatically.

It’s also our county’s rule that if your place comes up you have to take it - although this does not apply once the transition day has passed and at that point they will allow you to choose (I guess because the child is so invested by that point)

@LilySLE
I see. But what if you say choose to go on the waitlist for schools 1 and 2, having been allocated school 3. And then if a space comes up at school 2 and you have to commit to that, can you theoretically move again to school 1? Or is it basically tough shit if a place at school 2 comes up before school 1.

It’s how it works in our LA at least.

Also the neighbouring county has a similar policy

It removes all element of choice from a parent. Is the policy written down? I can't work out how it operates because lots of schools are their own admission authorities - so how would it even be enforced as how would the schools communicate with each other to "withdraw" the original offer when the second forced offer is made?

I think I'm being really thick and missing something - what if you're on two waiting lists? How can they work out the "preference". Is it from the CAF?

That is also quite an "assumption"

"It removes all element of choice from a parent. Is the policy written down? I can't work out how it operates because lots of schools are their own admission authorities - so how would it even be enforced as how would the schools communicate with each other to "withdraw" the original offer when the second forced offer is made?"

It's highly questionable, as it goes against the admissions code that says places can't be withdrawn unless in very specific circumstances.

The LAs involved tend to argue that by going on waiting lists, parents have agreed in advance that they want to turn down the first place in favour of the newly offered one.

Interesting question. My guess would be that you accept the place at school 2, but can remain on the wait list for school 1

@Gobbolinothewitchscat Parents have to choose to go wait list or remove themselves.
The choice is there. Forced early.
In some ways it works as then the wait lists move faster and more accurately.
In our area .. wait list offer made, parents faff about deciding, then may decline it. That adds a delay for someone else. With hundreds of children on wait lists it slows it all down.

That’s a good point and an issue here. I just checked and here an offer is made in each round for acceptance. So potentially more faffing.

However that is interesting from @PatriciaHolm because it sort of seems a bit of a reach that could be challenged