State secondaries: how do in-year and Y8 admissions work? Same criteria? Data on Wandsworth and SW London?

[PForParent]

Most councils publish data (eg on maximum distance) on admission to state secondary schools.

Is there any data on in-year admissions and admissions from Y8 onwards, for state secondary schools?
I am interested in the areas of Wandsworth, Merton and Fulham in SW London.

In other words: say we don't get in our preferred secondary schools, so our child starts Y7 elsewhere.

Is there any data on how many students the other schools admitted during Y7, after the term started in September, and on how many in Y8 and Y9? I have not been able to find anything.
Would this data show things like distance?
Would the criteria be the same (ie mostly distance)?

Eg if it shows that school X admitted 20 Y8 students living up to 2,000 metres away, then we have a decent chance. If it shows it admitted only 2 students living up to 300 metres away, then we don't.

Also, what little information I found always mentions that one must speak to the head of the current school. Does this mean that the head can block a transfer? If you already have a place in school X but want to move to school Y, can the head of school X really block it?

Yes, in year admissions use the same criteria.

I don't think you will find the data you are after. Things like distance don't tell you anything for in-year admissions. It isn't some kind of cut off the way it is for the normal admissions round. The fact that a child living 5 miles away was admitted to Y8 last year tells you nothing about your chances this year. The only way to find out your chances is to apply and ask what position you are in on the waiting list.

You do not need to speak to the head of the current school about an in-year transfer. The head of the current school cannot block a move to another school. If the LA allowed a head to do so they would be acting unlawfully.

I am Croydon so not exactly the same but I know that our name was mud for a bit as due to circumstances we moved 2 DCs in year 8 to 2 different secondaries due to issues with their then current ones, and we jumped up to the top of the waiting list both times leapfrogging people who'd been on the list since year 7 allocations and believed was 'their' turn. This was due to both being closer to these schools than the next on the list (and no other higher criteria applicants).

What was 'tough' was that we enquired, told to put in applications both times, then almost immediately got phone calls telling us they could offer us a place and we had 2 weeks to decide. We did both times and the Dcs did so much better at their new schools . And another DC then got a place as a sibling when otherwise for year 7 allocations we lived too far away (though turns out she also got an academic place but that no longer exists at the school).

In-year admission follows the same criteria for most schools but not at Graveney, for example. There is no selective option for in-year places, so it will be based on distance (or other factors relevant to the criteria). We have experience of this (applying for in-year in Year 8) and it was much harder than for Year 7. We would have been well within the St Cecilia's catchment for a Year 7 start, for example, but somehow were around #35 on the waiting list based on distance in Year 8/9.

Very few spaces seemed to open up and there are always additional families moving into the borough or candidates who want to / need to leave private schools who might overtake you on the waiting list.

Our experience was that it seemed much harder than for Year 7, at least for the most popular schools.

Interesting. So it seems there is less movement in secondary than in primary schools, after the first year, right?

Possibly because families with primary school kids tend to move when another child arrives, or in light of secondary school options, but once they start a secondary they are more likely to stay put

@PForParent absolutelty. I think we were #500+ on the Graveney waiting list based on distance and that was still in Wandsworth borough, albeit far from the school. #35 for St Cecilia's and we're about 1km from them. The only schools that had availability were ARK Putney, Southfields Academy and perhaps Burntwood.

Once in secondary the focus is moving to exams, woth a specific curriculum/ exam board, so I imagine families will do their best to stay put until the next natural break point if at all possible.