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 🙈

Ah but that would involve my friend being identified as the source of the report, which she doesn’t want!

@LilySLE she could set up a new email or similar in a false name. It's all confidential anyway and would not be disclosed, or no one would ever report stuff. Depends how much she cares. In our area people were furious as they missed out on Yr7 places as a result

We have to physically email the authority with our child’s name and DoB, with no deadline given. Very odd. I’m sure lots of people missed that in the small print. I suspect they assume acceptance and perhaps chase you up in a fortnight.

Any suggestions ? We didn’t get any of the schools on our list and got one the I did not want to send my son to and is too far. I can’t believe I added 6 and they couldn’t accommodate any - yet my neighbour got the one near to home which was also on my list as third. Totally confused where to go from here. Any advice would be appreciated as reaching the school they have offered will be impossible and would mean him catching 3 buses as I won’t be able to drop and collect with my little one starting nursery.

I've sent an email to the admissions team . Does anyone know the wait lists work ?

Exactly

If your neighbour got your closest school then it suggests you could be near the top of the waiting list for that. Are they slightly closer as the crow flies or did they have special circumstances eg sibling already at the school

totally depends on where you are but where we are you are automatically put on waiting lists for all schools you chose above the one you were allocated. You should have an email from the authority explaining?

Thank you. There is no sibling and no priorities for the neighbour, just they put it as first choice and we put it as 3rd- the school is walking distance (1mile) the school they have given us is (4.5miles) and totally on the other side of town which is a nightmare to reach in the mornings and unfortunately is undersubscribed and has lots of spaces. The schools we wanted are now full, do you think there’s still room for movement etc , I’m hoping he will get into one of the ones on our list but I am quite tempted to decline the offer given as it just feels unrealistic and unfortunately the school as a poor reputation within our area hence it being undersubscribed

The neighbour putting it as first choice and you putting it as third will make no difference to you getting a place if you didn’t get your first and second preference. Schools don’t give priority to people who put them first- all preferences are treated equally. If they definitely don’t have any circumstances that put them in a higher category to you then it is very good news as it suggests that you will be very high up on the waiting list.

Definitely do not decline the school you have been offered though unless you are prepared to go private or home school. Accepting the place you’ve been given won’t affect your chances of getting into a school you prefer by waiting list or appeal, and will at least give you a ‘worst case scenario’ backup. Best of luck

dont decline the place. You accept it as a worse case scenario and go on waiting lists for some/all of the others. There will be movement for example some parents will take up private places in the next 1-2 weeks.

the fact that your neighbour put the closest school as 1st choice and you put it 3rd will be almost certainly irrelevant. But if they got in you could be the top of the waiting list.

@Nicky198 it depends what alternative plan you have... private school back up, home education etc. Is this school worse than no school.

Its worth checking no mistake has been made. Similarly there may be something you don't know, like your neighbours child is adopted or has SEN.

Please don’t decline your place; you could be left with no place at all. Accepting this place shouldn’t affect your chances if you go on a waiting list for a school you listed as a higher priority, as has been said higher up on this thread. Local authority communications should explain how to go on a waiting list.

The neighbour thing is odd. At least where I live, where you rank a school is not a factor which determines whether or not you are eligible for a place. Either something has gone wrong here (have you considered appealing?), or you must be very very near the top of the waiting list. Definitely worth investigating further

This is a very good point. Could there be circumstances you are not aware of? SEN by themselves usually won’t make a difference but if the child has an EHCP that names the school that will. they would normally know where they are going before 1 March though.

I couldn’t understand how a family near us had got into a school as all my research showed places were never allocated out this far. Turns out the child was eligible for pupil premium (single parent family), and for this particular school that was a higher priority criterion.

@LilySLE Just to clarify, what you said about where you rank a school not being a factor in whether you get a place is most definitely true across all of England, and is not dependent on area. This has been the law nationally since about 2007 and even in some areas for more than 20 years

As you were saying earlier though, the admissions process is very widely misunderstood and people thinking that those who put a school first get priority is a very widely held misconception, even though it is almost 20 years since this was even legal.

Thanks; that’s interesting and good to know. I was just cautious because there appear to be so many other geographical differences!

I have been to at least one school open evening where the headteacher was saying “if you want us, you need to put us first”. It made me really cross as I knew that wasn’t true.

I was wondering if I have grounds to appeal? The school we were given is too far away, it would not work with my work situation - I work full time. How these appeals work? I'm a single parent working full time and need a school my kid can walk to, or walk to his childminder for food when I'm in the office all day. He cant be at home on his own.
I'm kicking myself for putting this school on the list, what an idiot... I was hoping my work would be ok with me taking him, but I got promoted so no chance now.

Yep, that’s also something I’ve come across and also find very frustrating! It misleads people even more as of course people will understandably trust what heads say. I think sometimes what they mean is that if you put another school first you are saying you prefer that school so will get offered that if you get in rather than their school, so if their school is your favourite you should put it first (very badly worded but hopefully you can follow what I mean!) but it isn’t clear at all!

Transport arrangements are very weak at appeal, unless they are truly unreasonable. How far is too far? What’s public transport like?

35 minutes on the bus plus walk. The problem is my son cant use bus by himself. I was hoping at the beginning of the year (when I made the application) that he will get to the point of being more independent, but he just cant do it, he's not mature enough. He can walk if not too far, but cant be home by himself or cant use the bus.

35 minutes on the bus plus walk.
not bad at all. Many kids commute for 1h-75 min one way

Your son will have buddies that will go via bus with him

I know two people with exactly the same predicament and they are from London. They got an offer from a completely different school far awayfrom where they live. And that school is Below Average results-wise ( not a common case in London).

The reason why it happened is that they applied to several schools with the very small catchment and they are nowhere near these schools. One of them applied to an oversubscribed catholic school...not being catholic.
I think that one of them will get one of the schools from they list but as a result of waiting list. Historically, a lot of kids went private from that school and the offer including waiting lists was 14 km in the end.

So you are not the only one..It is quite common

What is an EHCP out of curiosity? I feel like I’m fighting a losing battle here and can’t believe that non of our options were taken into consideration, there are so many close to us that were on the list, yet they chose the one undersubscribed and the furthest. Can’t seem to understand the logic, despite me having 6 choices- just seems so unfair

An EHCP is a legal document that sets out what a child's SEN is, what provision they need, and where it will be provided.

If the allocated school is more than 3 miles away then the LA will have to provide transport. Sometimes that can be a bus pass though.

All of your options will have been taken into consideration and it will be logical. Unfortunately it means there were children who were higher up the criteria for each school than your child. The LA haven’t “chosen” the school; you chose the school by listing it as a preference. They have to follow the allocation rules.

Have you looked at the data on the local authority website about how places were allocated in the schools you missed out on a place in? This might help you process what has happened.

I really feel for you and I know it’s tough, but it isn’t that someone chose this school for you. The admissions criteria of the schools you listed will have been applied by a computer and there is no logic or a person considering individual requirements. It does sound like you have a good chance on waiting lists though and there is often a lot of movement, so fingers crossed you will get one of the schools you listed before September.