Hi All,

Please share your experience if someone has recently moved into Langley area and has been allocated space in primary school of your choice and if yes, then how long did you wait?

yes Please.

Not from your area but it will be almost impossible to compare one person’s experience with another. For example my neighbours moved in and needed primary places for two children and lived 0.2 miles away from their desired school. Due to proximity they went a long way up the waitlist potentially dislodging others who’d been on the list longer but lived further out. Likewise others who were in higher categories like LACs etc would move them down. It totally depends on a complex combination of churn, oversubscription criteria, precisely where you live in comparison to others and movement in and out of area. My neighbours had minimal choice but to have their children in a less desirable school 1.5 miles away for two terms before a space came up for one child at the nearby school and then the second jumped to the very top due to a sibling link and also got a place.

Good luck

Thank you for your reply Fiona.

My DD is in year 4 now. We are thinking to move to Langley in 2020 by April time so she will be in catchment for LGS from May 2020 to sit in exam in Sept 2020.

Becuase it is difficult to get place in desired primary school, we may continue her old school for the rest of year 5 and year 6.
if she clears 11+ test:-
could there be any possiblity that she does not get space in LGS:-

becuase- we have recently moved into Langley and
- we still choose old school becuase changing to new school during year 5 and for year 6 is not a good idea, we think!.

Any suggestions please, this will help us to decide quickly best for her!

The crucial thing is the address, not the school she attends . However if you are keeping her at her old school, then you may have to justify that it is genuinely a new and permanent address and that you are really living there permanently and not back near her old school. This is from the admissions policy:

Can I ask - is it the fact that it is difficult to get a place, or becuase (excuse the pun!) it is not at the desired school?

If you have already moved in Langley area and this will be a permanent move then shouldn't this include local school, local friends and local social activities? Therefore, surely it makes sense to move the school as well?

Otherwise you risk problems further down the line when your child starts secondary school and is the only one with few local connections.

The admissions rules will be clearly given in the admissions criteria. Unless it mentions primary schools the primary schools are irrelevant. It will also state when you have to be living in catchment etc.

Not in the same area but we moved with primary school kids then in year 5, 3 and reception and we were initially allocated 3 different schools over a 6 mile radius so we drove them back to their old primary school for half a term which was a killer. They then ended up in 2 different local primary schools. If you only have 1 child it should be a lot more straight forward. Also if primary is not an admissions criteria and it is feasible to take your child back to their current primary that might be the best option.

I wouldn't be concerned about them moving to a secondary school where they are the only child from their primary as they will quickly make new friends and friendships change at that age.

What is your “desired primary school”?

Some parents are only “interested” in Ofsted Outstanding schools...

In Langley there are two, Castleview (not inspected by Ofsted for 15 years but every parent seems desperate to gain entrance, it’s a self fulfilling prophecy, because only the most “motivated” parents are willing to pay the £50k extra to buy a house in the small cachement area). I have known parents be on the Castleview waiting list for four years without a place becoming available. It’s a nice school but cramped even with only two form entry and the outside space is tiny. However the parents there are rich and the tutoring culture well known, so of course the kids all do well. There is a Ofsted “good” comprehensive (Ditton Academy) up that end of town in case (heaven forbid) your child doesn’t pass the eleven plus after you have relocated the whole family. It’s quite new but well thought of by locals.

The other “ outstanding school” is Langley Academy Primary. this has a huge waiting list that materialised overnight after the school was inspected and deemed outstanding. It’s on the grounds of the other local comp, also Ofsted “Good” , Langley Academy, which is also oversubscribed and so has a very small cachement (0.5 miles last year if you aren’t at their Feeder school, currently Parlaunt Park primary) But Langley Academy Primary is a newish school so only goes to year 3 at the moment (it will become a through primary eventually).

Where do you live now, and are you happy with your child’s current primary?

So your options include:
1) don’t move.
2) Move and consider a “good” primary . or even an “okay” one that’s a feeder to the comprehensive that will be your local backup. Unless you’re planning on moving OUT OF LaNgley if your child does not pass.... with stamp duty this could get expensive!
3) consider that because of the many, many “school tourists” who come
into Slough schools each day, the comprehensives for the local children whoncan’t pass the grammar test are all oversubscribed and getting a place for your non-passing child can be difficult. Some children have a comp around the corner and yet must get a bus put to Datchet or across Slough.... this could be YOUR child....

PM me if you want info on other current Langley Primary schools. I can’t promise to know their waiting times though!

Many thanks for your reply Herman. I have called up school and they have clarified me that home address they consider but not primary school. Thank you.