Urgent Help - Year 9 school places for six children required asap

[2010louises]

I'm posting on behalf of a friend who would prefer to remain anonymous, could any one help or offer her advice please ?
"Do any parents whose children are in Year 9 know of any local schools whose classes have room for 1 child (or up to 6 kids) ? My son is being forced to change schools at short notice , he is one of six kids in his year who are in the same situation, all the parents are now scrambling for a school that has spaces available. I have contacted my Local Authority (Bromley) and been told despite classes being full , not to worry as by law the local authority have to find him / them a place, so in the meantime we have to join the waiting lists "

Again a very judgmental post .. this in my friend of 30 years, we are friends , we talk

over invested in peoples lives .. again she is my friend of over 30 years and I’m doing what I can to support her when I see her broken down , in tears

if you don’t like it , just don’t comment .. please can all the trolls on this thread just go away

Family is different to a woman you know through your child’s school or just a friend. Does she know what husband is on too? Electricians can earn quite a bit.

A general question and observation isn’t being judgemental. You are being very OTT about being judged and “trolls”. You surely knew it would be a divisive topic and as such must be prepared to hear a variety of opinions.

She asked about school places in a particular location for children moving schools. Plenty of people do that. It is not in the least divisive.

You, and others, have jumped on this as if she posted “VAT on school fees, what bollocks, eh?”

Anyway, OP didn’t come on listing salaries, a poster suggested a (high) number and OP’s reply was that it was less than half that. Then you got rudely up in here face accusing her of being over invested in people’s lives - when she answered a question - and then doubled down by speculating about her husband’s wages, which she hadn’t mentioned at all.

If you want a VAT fight, there are a bunch of threads explicitly about that. If you think the OP isn’t genuine, report it and go about your day.

I think if the OP hadn't mentioned 6 children, it would have stayed as a helpful thread. Thats not her fault though, it was a truthful statement.

I’m not having a VAT fight 🤷‍♀️ you’re the one whose quoted me twice, if anyones looking for a fight out of the two of us it sure ain’t me. It is unusual to know the ins and outs of others finances. Like I say, sparky’s usually make a fair bit so only factoring one persons income in a two person income household is a bit disingenuous. I also think coming on here and posting about 6 kids that aren’t your own is too. As has been explained, they have places until the end of Xmas so it’s not an urgent placement so there’s no urgency for the LA and posters have rightly pointed out the parents should be phoning / contacting the local schools themselves. What do they expect a bunch of randomers on MN to do beyond what they can do themselves?

completely agree.

I'm no advocate of private schools but this poster was just asking for help and only mentioned it because she was asked... and it only turned into a debate because people were berating her for her friend's choices.

Utterly bizarre!

Lots of good advice here though in amongst the aggressive replies though.

I took the question to mean that she thought local mumsnetters might have inside knowledge about whether local schools have places available.

Most of the replies are irrelevant to that question.

It's weird. I would expect this type of response in AIBU but not in Secondary Education.

My first post -/ question to mumsnet wasn’t asking for a debate on guessing how much a nurse or electrician earns .. why keep banging on about how much they earn .
my friends salary is fixed and the dad can earn overtime But he’s already doing all the overtime his employer can give him , I’m guessing he’d need to earn an additional circa £650 gross a month extra so after tax , NI deductions etc he left with £450 net .
THEY DONT HAVE THE EXTRA £450 A MONTH .
Please , we dont need to debate salaries , it’s totally irrelevant to why I was asking for advice about state schools in bromley .

Hope you've got some useful advice for your friend. pls update us when the boys have their school places. I'm sure it will all work out!

I am sorry you have been flamed, OP. Most Mumsnetters are not able to distinguish between making sacrifices to enable your child to enjoy a good standard of education or buying privilege. On the one hand we have your friends scrimping and saving, on the other, for example, Lord Alli buying clothes, glasses and nice stuff for our esteemed PM and his cabinets of little piggies.

What do they expect a bunch of randomers on MN to do beyond what they can do themselves?

Well, @PuddlesPityParty a few “randomers on MN” have provided thoughts on various schools in the area, from
personal experience and local knowledge. And one provided a very helpful list of schools and PAN etc.

And others have provided sympathy and support, by parents, for parents - you know? The actual point of the site?

You, on the other hand…

Well, I will leave it there - I have no wish to play pigeon chess today.

All of which the parents should have access to themselves? From OPs post it reads like all they did was contact the LA then give up. Ridiculous.

Do you go onto every post on the primary and secondary education board and point out that information about schools is publicly available, so why are people asking questions?

What about when people are asking for recipe suggestions or where to buy a nice party dress or a good moisturiser, do you jump on and tell them they are ridiculous, they could find it out themselves?

If so, you have rather missed the point of a discussion forum. Perhaps you should Google the definition?

As it is a discussion forum, am I not allowed to give my opinion? Hmm.

Your opinion was... that other posters were ridiculous to give useful views, support and information to the OP.

It doesn't seem a very life-enhancing way to use a forum, IMO, but you do you.

I'll really will leave it there this time; got some paint to watch as it dries.