Moved house and missed third allocation round - Buckinghamshire

[Alexa0909]

Hi I’m wondering if anyone has experience with the following

we bought a house that completed later than planned and missed third round of secondary allocations by a few days.

we had in our previous address before we moved here applied for a secondary place and had it accepted but now that we have moved we will be 1 + hour from that school around 20 miles away 1 way. We have since updated our preferences but now concerned that daughter will have no secondary place near new address. Home schooling isn’t an option as we both work and I am also unable to travel that far away consistently due to chronic medical condition.

she's bright and has passed her 11+. We’ve moved from one end of bucks to the other.

the council has just said there are very few spaces at this stage. What on earth happens now? We won’t hear until mid-end of July.

naturally quite worried so any experience with this or advice would be helpful.

thank you

Ask the council which schools have places, apply for the one you like best and accept it.

Also apply for any other schools locally you prefer. If rejected you can appeal I guess.

Is passing 11+ but not being given a grammar place grounds for appeal?

No idea but thank you for your thoughts. We’ve no spaces accepted for her and she is high in the waiting lists as in many before her

No, I can't imagine that it is grounds for appeal at all. The fact that she has qualified doesn't mean she's guaranteed a place, and unless the LA made a mistake (which it hasn't), then the waiting list is the only viable option.

@Alexa0909 whereabouts in Bucks have you moved and was the allocated school a grammar?

The places are competitive, but mainly due to out of catchment children taking places.

You are (or at least should) be high up the WL as you live nearer than any others on the WL, so have a fairly high chance of getting a place, as the others will be qualified children out of catchment.

The only problem is that places are rarely surrendered, usually only for moves,cas no one is likely to give up a grammar place unless they move.

Depending on where you live, there may be more than one grammar close,cos that gives you more options.

Would the council pay for transport to the original school in the interim? I know the rules say that they pay for transport only to the nearest school with places, if it is over a certain distance, so usually you.wouldnt be eligible if you choose a school further away and there are closer ones, but when you applied you were within catchment, but have moved and they now have no spaces nearer, so it's worth enquiring.

Even a move into Y8 isn't a disaster, several girls moved into DD"s school in Y7 & Y8 (in Aylesbury), so there is movement.

I cannot imagine they would provide transport. It’s to the nearest school and the OP moved. I’m afraid this is her fault and frankly not a sensible thing to do given that Bucks grammars are full. Therefore risking this place was a big risk. This DC isn’t a special case.

There are no grounds for appeal. The LA says it cannot always ensure all dc who qualify get a grammar place and you were outside the dates for allocation. It was always a gamble. There will be secondary schools with spaces, so there will probably be a school, just not a grammar. The LA knows where vacancies are so can advise. Few dc get into grammars at 12 plus either. I’m not sure waiting lists move much as the dc going to private schools will have paid the deposits now. We gave up a grammar place in March/April years ago as we decided on private. So who is coming out of a grammar now?

So who is coming out of a grammar now?

Those who forget, in the warm glow of the lovely indie offer, that their DC is also holding a place at that state school they won't be going to in September.

Or who 'forget' to turn said state school place down, either because they are still genuinely trying to work out whether it would be better to write off a term's fees than to risk having to remove their DC from the indie at an inconvenient moment, school-transfer wise, others because,well, everyone's entitled to a state school place, aren't they? Even if they don't want it.

I have no idea about Buckinghamshire, but places do come up at schools in the first week of term, as soon as the school has established that a first day 'no show' is due to the pupil having started elsewhere, not just a badly-timed illness.

@MarchingFrogs No you don’t have any idea about Bucks! There might literally be a couple of odd folk who have not decided on, and paid for, their independent school place and given up the grammar place. There are deadlines for declining places so they can be reallocated. Bucks says by 1 March the grammars are full. By 1 July they will still be full. Even then, DC might not be top of the list.

Im also curious that the family has moved from one end of Bucks to the other, but is 20 miles from the allocated grammar. Bucks is around 50 miles long so I’m not sure where the family now resides. However no school in Bucks is 20 miles from anyone. Not even in North Bucks that’s pretty rural.

Also in Bucks, most parents give up the grammar place fairly early and decide a day place at Wycombe Abbey or other schools is the way forward. Others will be prep school parents who used the 11 plus to gain some idea about future schools in the Independent sector.Bucks isn’t like London with a myriad of options. People tend to know what they want.