Birmingham Preference application form?

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Birmingham Preference application form?

Post by um »

Hello, Like other parents in Birmingham I've now received my secondary schools preference guide.
I'd regard myself as pretty literate but even so, I'm overwhelmed with all the different dates, arrangements, forms etc for all 6 different schools I'll be putting on my list.

There is a seperate form included for Bishop Vesey, which will be choice 3 for us - this form has to go to the LA Admissions, and the deadline is 25 September which is earlier than the preference form deadline.

Now unfortunately many schools' open days are around 25 September or even later -and we want to go and see them before making our final decision of the order on the preference form.
I also want to apply online but the Bishop Vesey form does not appear to be online.
Should I post Bishop Vesey's form right now so we're in plenty of time and then fill out the online preference form when we're ready at the end of September? Or do both forms need to go in together?

I know the KE schools have seperate forms - deadline 2 October - but they are seperate from the LA arrangements anyway so are not a worry.

Hope this is clear! Many thanks if anyone can explain!
fm

Post by fm »

From memory I filled in my Sutton form almost immediately, and sent it away. If you do this, you are more likely to have the school as a venue for sitting the exam.

I think I filled in the KE on-line next.

And finally, I filled in the LEA one on-line the day before deadline.

Until you apply for the KE schools, you will not get your sampe sheet of the exam -- not that it will tell you all that much.
mike1880
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Post by mike1880 »

I agree. Send off the BV form as soon as possible; do the KE online application soon because it's incredibly easy (remember you have to send off a photo afterwards) and do the online LEA application when you're ready.

Open evenings are a nightmare; we spent virtually every evening for 2 or 3 weeks rushing home, stuffing food down kids and dashing straight out to a school - and the KE open evenings were h*ll, thousands of hopefuls shuffling shoulder-to-shoulder from one classroom to the next! :( I'm not doing that again next time! We'll try and get round some this September when young Miss 1880 is in Y5 (I've actually done the first one already - KEHS week before last - while she's still in Y4 :oops: - but I wasn't the only one! about 20% of the names on the sign-up form were for Y4 girls).

Mike
HodgeHillDad
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Post by HodgeHillDad »

I agree - send BV application off ASAP and then apply online
I have also sent you a PM
DIY Mum
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Post by DIY Mum »

mike1880 wrote:
Open evenings are a nightmare; we spent virtually every evening for 2 or 3 weeks rushing home, stuffing food down kids and dashing straight out to a school - and the KE open evenings were h*ll, thousands of hopefuls shuffling shoulder-to-shoulder from one classroom to the next! :( I'm not doing that again next time! We'll try and get round some this September when young Miss 1880 is in Y5 (I've actually done the first one already - KEHS week before last - while she's still in Y4 :oops: - but I wasn't the only one! about 20% of the names on the sign-up form were for Y4 girls).

Mike
Now, that's organized parenting... I have one in Y4 but I'll have to wait until next year to visit KEHS. :D
mike1880
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Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:51 pm

Post by mike1880 »

Not really, I happened to notice it was on and coincided with a day when I was picking the kids up from school - I expect we'll need to go round it again anyway so other half can see it. I've come to regret it since, of course, because Miss 1880 has decided that she would rather like to go there whereas I would rather have luxuries like holidays, meals and a roof over our heads...

Mike
KE hopeful
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Post by KE hopeful »

We had a meeting last night about secondary school admissions where a representative from Birmingham admissions department attended - he said there has been an amendment to the dates for online submission - you now have until 6th November to submit your admissions form. You can also make changes to your preferences by this date by writing them in a letter.

Not sure I would trust leaving it that late, but worth knowing.

I feel the procedures should start earlier - there are effectively 5 "school" weeks between receiving the booklet/forms and making your choices, of which open days seem to be crammed into a 2 week period. I visited the key schools last year, but only on the advice of parents who had been through the process before.

The booklet is overwhelming (although I like the depth of information it gives) - but at least the application form is very simple.
mike1880
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Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:51 pm

Post by mike1880 »

The closing date could be very much later; other areas manage to wait until after the 11+ results are in. (But I'm not arguing for that because it would make the grammar applications process even stressful!.

Mike
lindah162
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Post by lindah162 »

hello

I too am confused. Our primary school comes under Walsall and we have bee told that we do not get our packs until after the hols when our ds in yr 6. Surely this will not leave us any time to complete it ?
mike1880
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Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:51 pm

Post by mike1880 »

Honestly, it's a ten minute job to fill in the Birmingham online application form and I don't think it would be much different for another LEA's online form, or to fill in a paper form if you preferred to do it that way. You'll have plenty of time to do the form, the issue in your case is you won't get much warning of open days. However:

You can download this year's Secondary Admissions booklet for Birmingham here (open days for each school are given in each school's entry):

http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/Media/Q378 ... rybook.pdf

Walsall's booklet is here:

http://www.walsall.gov.uk/secondary_adm ... et_web.pdf

At the moment this still links to last year's, but very little will change when this year's comes out; in most cases open days are on the corresponding day each year, so if a school's open day was Tuesday 23rd September last year it will be Tuesday 22nd September this year (open days all listed together on p14-15 in this one - much more sensible!), but check the ones you're interested in on the school's web site to make sure.

Hope that helps.

Mike
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