Online admission problem

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PaterGloucester
Posts: 152
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2010 10:53 pm

Online admission problem

Post by PaterGloucester »

Is anyone else having problems with the online admission system ?

I've been trying to tweak the details on our form since last Friday, but all I get is the message "System currently unavailable, please try again later".

The rather defensive person on the phone at Shire Hall told me to send an email. When I replied that, in light of their computer failings, I didn't really trust their email system, said person got quite shirty.

I think it's going to need a recorded delivery letter to Shire Hall to put my mind at rest. But has anyone else experienced problems ?
Simps
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2012 2:23 pm

Re: Online admission problem

Post by Simps »

Not quite the same but I registered first thing this am to submit mine and had to wait a ridiculous amount of time for the registration link to be emailed back to me.
stroudydad
Posts: 2246
Joined: Sat Oct 08, 2011 2:25 pm

Re: Online admission problem

Post by stroudydad »

Did ours last Wednesday with no apparent problems
Spiderling
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2012 10:58 am

Re: Online admission problem

Post by Spiderling »

Tried to register last night. No email ever came through. Tried again this morning, even more tangled. I too phoned, as going away tomorrow morning and wanted it sorted.
An hour ago, I started all over again with an alternative email address and it worked sweetly.

Done and dusted now, but wish there was some way we could pressure on County/ Schools to get this whole process, from beginning to end, running better for everyone. Some kind of consultation/ Post Mortem really needs to be undertaken.

Any ideas who should be approached?
I'd be quite happy to feed in to it.
capers123
Posts: 1865
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:03 pm
Location: Gloucestershire

Re: Online admission problem

Post by capers123 »

Simps wrote:Not quite the same but I registered first thing this am to submit mine and had to wait a ridiculous amount of time for the registration link to be emailed back to me.
That'll be down to Capita's software being overloaded.

What actually happens is, to save money on expensive computer hardware, they use specially bred rats in a large maze. Each one has a simple job - gnawing the punched card, carrying the card to another section, nibbling the registration code onto the card...

At this time of year they get tired out, poor things. They need extra rest breaks for grooming, so have a care and give them a break.

It gets far worse just before allocation day in March. You may have seen the article on BBC Points West last night about 'super vermin' that are resistant to poisons - well - they're the reserve that are brought in to cope with allocating children to secondary school (for entry to reception they use mice as the children are smaller). As far as I know, the rats are each given a punched card relating to a child, run around the maze until they can get into a little enclosure for each school with a bowl of food to attract them. Each 'room' only has space for the PAN of rats, so once one is full, the rats left out have to find another room.

Of course, there are inaccuracies in the system. The rats teeth sometimes make extra holes in the punched card, so the wrong child is allocated a school....

And that, dear readers, is as accurate an explanation of how the allocation software works as you're likely to get from anyone. Try asking Shire Hall, and they won't tell you.
Capers
bobbym
Posts: 23
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2012 4:22 pm

Re: Online admission problem

Post by bobbym »

I went on at the weekend. It said that due to a software problem that had occurred since I had originally registered I needed to re-register. When I tried to do this it told me that someone was already registered under that unique reference no. Thankfully it turned out to be me! I then did the stuff, printing out every possible page as I went, just in case of further issues. My confirmation e mail came through about 16 hours later. Not good for the already stretched nerves.
PaterGloucester
Posts: 152
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2010 10:53 pm

Re: Online admission problem

Post by PaterGloucester »

Oh good god no, please tell me this isn't in the hands of C*apita, the world's worst IT company ?

Their blunders and multi million pound c*ck-ups across the nation are infamous, as anyone who reads Private Eye will know.

Might as well tear up the paperwork and start home tutoring...
Simps
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2012 2:23 pm

Re: Online admission problem

Post by Simps »

Do people still read Private Eye? :lol:
Amber
Posts: 8058
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Re: Online admission problem

Post by Amber »

Simps wrote:Do people still read Private Eye? :lol:
Absolutely. The only sensible way to find out what's going on. More truth in the Eye than any other newspaper, for sure. And the day we don't have it, or its equivalent, is the day to pack up and leave. Seriously.
capers123
Posts: 1865
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:03 pm
Location: Gloucestershire

Re: Online admission problem

Post by capers123 »

Simps wrote:Do people still read Private Eye? :lol:
I buy it for the cartoons. And the musicians gossip column.

I have also subscribed to Viz since the mid 1980's - the office manager of the magazine went to the same primary school as my daughters in the Stroud area, although a few years apart. We visited the offices once on our way to a festival in Sweden - very generous with the chocolate biscuits, though after my children attached the box, there were few left.
Capers
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