Secondary admissions quandary - stuck between two LEAs with different admissions policies

[Cornishmumofone]

Hi! I'm looking for advice ahead of secondary applications next autumn (closing 31 October 2027, for September 2028 entry).

Our situation: we live in Southampton (so Southampton City Council is our home local authority for admissions), but DD attends primary school in Eastleigh, which is in Hampshire.

• Southampton secondary admissions rely heavily on feeder schools. My daughter's primary is not a feeder school for any Southampton secondary, so she won't qualify under that route.
• Hampshire secondary admissions rely mainly on distance from the school, with a small number of specifically named "linked schools." DD'sprimary is not a linked school for any Hampshire secondary, and we live too far from any Hampshire secondary to qualify on distance alone.
• We are within 800m of a lovely Southampton secondary school, but because it is not a feeder route for us, we won't get in.

When we applied for DD's primary place, this wasn't an issue - the feeder-school policy was introduced after she had already started (it changed when she was in Year 1).

We can list three preferences. The usual advice is to include one "realistic" school, but neither authority's criteria works in our favour as we are bottom of the list for both authorities' admissions policies.

Has anyone navigated a similar cross-border situation? The headteacher of DD's school has been spectacularly unhelpful and I'm so stressed. D is on the waiting list for other local primary schools, but they are all oversubscribed, so we're really stuck. (Two local secondary schools accept 10% of pupils on specific criteria - music or performing arts. One tests them in early October, so we would know if that is a possibility; the other tests them in January after applying, so it might be a wasted application).

There is an undersubscribed school 45 minutes away (on the other side of the city). It is rated 'Requires Improvement' and has a terrible reputation. I won't put it on my list, but am assuming it is where DD will be allocated. Public transport to get there is dire and it would not be safe to cycle there.

If anyone has any recommendations for who can help us, I would be so grateful. We are not in a financial position to move house or pay for private education. There are no grammar schools in this area, so that is not an option either. I'm really stressed and sad as DD is a well-behaved and hardworking child who doesn't mind being separated from her friends for secondary school, but she really wants to go somewhere that will support her education.

Edit - ignore me, id misread the council page

Could you discuss directly with admissions? I’m sorry, it sounds really rubbish. We are facing moving house to move councils due to a related issue with secondary and catchments, luckily we are in a position to do so.

If you look at recent stats are there schools you would get into?

Moving primaries may help if you can (unless the links are being removed as per pp)

Would she eg qualify for Toynbee?

Presumably you are too far from either of the Romsey secondary schools? They used to take a good number from out of catchment, but I don't know the current situation.

I would ask the primary school head for help
ss you might be all in the same boat?

Thanks @RosecoffeecupThat only applies to St Marks in Southampton (there are no other VC schools here). We would be unlikely to get in on distance as we live 3 miles away.

I think you put the schools you want her to get to and include the one 800m away. What is your catchment school? Why do you say that you won’t get in to the ones you say you won’t? Feeder schools are not the only admissions criteria, and historical data isn’t always an indicator, especially in low birth rate years. There’s a school in our area that based on the last 15-20 years worth of historical admissions data we wouldn’t get into, yet this year I know of children further away who got in off the waiting list. I know the advice is to include one ‘realistic one’ but it sounds like you’d likely be allocated the one 45 mins away as a ‘last resort’ whether you put it or not so you’ll lose nothing by listing the other schools first. Then if and when you don’t get in you put yourself on the waiting lists. As a note on the transport, if it’s over 3 miles away the LA has to provide transport. (I know you might not want her to go there anyway but thought it worth pointing out).

Unfortunately there are places that end up in a bit of a 'black hole' for secondaries, and it can feel very unfair, especially when the criteria changed after you applied for primary. To be fair, there's not much your headteacher can do.

Given that you have just over a year, you may well get a space in a feeder primary school. It would be a shame for your DD to have to move, but it would mean getting to know kids she would likely go to secondary with.

Your other options are to explore any other schools that admit in different, as you have done with the places on aptitude. It might be worth asking locally for any other schools like this you have missed, or posting on here with the area in the title. You can of course appeal if you don't get a school you want, but that is a long shot and likely quite stressful.

Based on recent stats the schools we might get into are the three Oasis Academies (Lord’s Hill, Sholing, and Mayfield), which would each take 45-60 minutes to get to using public transport.

We’re on waiting lists for other primary schools, but there hasn’t been any movement. The ones nearest us are either hugely oversubscribed in an area with expensive housing (eg Highfield and Portswood), or their intake includes many children with challenging life circumstances who therefore go higher on the waiting list than us (Bassett Green).

Toynbee only offered 12 places out of catchment last year with the furthest distance being 1.02 miles (we’re over 3 miles away).

The schools in Romsey are now oversubscribed and we’re too far away.

I am aware of one other child with the same predicament (my daughter’s best friend). Their primary is a new school on a new build estate, so this year is the first Year 6 they’ve had. Virtually all of the other children live on the estate or further into Eastleigh. Another child who was facing the same issue was moved to a private school.

The head teacher just shrugged and suggested having a nice chat with the head of the nearest secondary school… it was as if she’d never heard of admissions policies.

There are no catchment schools here. The admissions criteria are generally looked after children, child protection plan, sibling, medical/psychological reasons, parents employed at school, feeder school, then distance (measured by shortest walking route). As all secondary schools within 2.5-3 miles are oversubscribed, they don’t go down the list as far as distance.

Thornden offered lots out of catchment this year.

What about Wyvern? That took from outside catchment and had some children allocated it.

Thanks @FookFookFookThe last distance offered was 1.74 miles away and we’re 3.68 miles away… so we might have got in in 2021 but it’s unlikely now. Falling birthrates won’t really hit school admissions in this area for another 4 or 5 years.

i was in exactly this predicament.

we put one in private school and moved house before the other one hit year 6.

we looked at renting for 6 months and seriously considered that option too.

I'd ring round all primary schools that you can get to that are linked schools to secondaries you could get to and see if any of them currently have spaces.

Any maybe broaden applications to primaries, you have a year.

Is moving out of the question?

What a nightmare. Trouble is, if you’re in an admissions black hole there isn’t anything that a headteacher can reasonably do to help.

How close are you to the top of the waitlists for the feeder primaries?

…and is your DD strong in the aptitudes tested for at the partially-selective options?

Southampton holds the sufficiency duty for offering your DD a school place as that is your home LA. Why is your DD attending primary in Eastleigh, did you move? Southampton can sometimes have a lot of churn in terms of pupils, so in-year places do become available. Have you checked the most up to date versions of the 2027 admissions policies for changes since the 2026 admissions?

The problem is some of the Southampton schools are (or at least were, I'm not up to date) dire. So Southampton can fulfill its duty to the OP by offering a school, just it may not feel acceptable to the OP.

According the council website, unplaced children - if your dd falls into that category - are either offered their catchment school (if there is space) or the closest school with space available . Given the policy doesn’t specify catchment areas as such, I’d ring the council to see where you stand. Can you make applications in both Hampshire and Southampton? Presumably these are separate application forms but I’m not clear if you can apply to both and effectively try for a school in one or the other?

You use 1 application form but can list schools in another LA. So the OP can only list 3 schools. She doesn't get 2 goes.
Her concern is she won't qualify for any so will be left with an undesirable school some distance away.
Moving primary schools this year may help her up the subscription criteria.
She us being sensible to think about it now.

We’re on waiting lists for all of the Southampton primary schools that we could get DD to. We’re a long way down the list on the nearest one (which has a lot of movement but a lot of children who meet criteria higher in the admissions list than us). We’re at #5 on another list… but it has very little movement.

We would struggle with moving. We bought our house, had DD a year later, and then exactly one year after that DH was made redundant. He found work, but is paid much less and property prices have rocketed. We could only get somewhere very small in an undesirable area now. I can easily walk or cycle to work which is helpful as we only have one car which DH needs for work.

DD plays a musical instrument (working on Grade 2), is in two bands, has had dance lessons since 4, loves singing, and enjoys acting. She has a reading age of over 13 (last tested a couple of years ago) and scored around 130 for all of the NFER tests at school… so I hope she might make it through an aptitude test for music or performing arts, but there’s no guarantee.

DD attends a school in Eastleigh because we live almost as close to it as the nearest primary school in Southampton which was rated Requires Improvement for all areas when we were applying for places. Secondary admissions at that time were based on catchments, and as we live 800m from a secondary school we had no reason to assume our primary school choice would be a problem.

Your fall back option will be to appeal after secondary allocations day.
So when looking at schools take really good notes on what they offer that would have particular benefit for your DD. (Eg extra curricular) . If you get some good points, coupled with being in a black hole (particularly if you apply to your 3 nearest schools) you could convince an appeal panel.

What are the criteria for the secondary?

I'm also a Cornish mum of one, but a few miles west of you in the Hants area. We applied for the school we wanted (Hounsdown) , despite being out of area and priority being given to anyone from the Forest above us but at a further distance. It worked.

I would go to your primary & ask for the destinations of the last 2 year groups to move up. Apply to those in order of preference, ignoring the Oasis Group schools. Then if you don't get any, Soton will allocate you a school and you get on as many waiting lists as possible.

What about St Annes?

I’d be researching the heck out of those aptitude tests and practising the format at home or with a teacher so far as possible. The music one is unlikely to include instrumental playing, and more likely to involve listening and responding to pitch, rhythm, melody and harmony.

Unfortunately the primary school that DD is at is quite new - this year is the first time it’s had Year 6. It’s not mentioned as a link school by any secondary schools for 2027 entry.

St Anne’s takes 10% on musical aptitude, so we might have a tiny chance there.