Secondary schools admission data at end of continuing interest

[act1122]

Hello. I'm researching secondary schools for next year when we apply for our eldest, and I'm trying to get a picture of how places ended up being allocated at our local schools at the end of the CI/waitlist period which is traditionally at the end of July each year. On our council website there is plenty of data on each school, but it only shows up until the second Continuing Interest run which is in late April. However from what I understand places continue to be allocated as they come available up until the end of July, so it is the data as of this date each year I'm looking for in order to assertain the final picture. I rung the council but they weren't particularly helpful. Has anyone else here ever been able to source this data?

It all depends on the local authority and also the school but I’ve not heard of this info being published.

You could try asking the school(s) themselves - I know our local secondary school has provided similar types of info, but it was possibly in the context of preparing a school appeal.

No harm in asking.

Places can end up being allocated right until early Sep in some schools- in some counties you don’t have to positively accept a place that’s been offered. This means people may move away or decide not to take the place but not bother to decline it, and the first the school knows is when the child is a no show at the start of the school year.

That said, it’s dangerous to place a lot of weight on any previous years’ admissions stats as it can and often does change year on year. Where I live the initial allocation distance reduced by over 40% (!) compared with last year, and was still maybe 30% smaller by the end of continuing interest 2. Lots of parents were caught out, some having moved house specifically to be “in catchment” only to find themselves outside it.

This is a relatively unusual situation but even so.

In your favour though is that the birth rate drops quite sharply for the current Y5s and continues to fall after that, so the general picture be that furthest admitted distances will increase.

@act1122 in our area people used to put in Freedom of Information requests for it every year, so eventually the council just started publishing it routinely.

You need to ask for last distance offered by September 1st.

Many thanks all. It seems crazy to me that this info isn't rout only published by all councils, as it's the only overview of admissions as of 1 Sept each year that is the final picture and critical to decision making. The only reason I can think for councils not publishing it is that they don't want to encourage parents to hold out that long before accepting places.

@thameslink in terms of FOI requests, do you know if these should be sent to the school directly or do you need to send them to the government?

It's usually the local council that coordinates admissions, so start there. If they delegate it elsewhere they will tell you. Here's an example FOI: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/richmond_school_admissions_cut_o#incoming-1740203

Many thanks!

Haringey in London publishes the data. Very helpful. It’s the first additional document on this webpage.

https://www.haringey.gov.uk/children-and-families/schools-and-education/school-admissions/school-admissions-statistics