Secondary school admissions procedures
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Secondary school admissions procedures
I have just received information about the admissions procedure for September 2007 from my local LEA. It states that I have to send in my preferrences by October 25th. My daughter wont have taken her 11+ by then, so how will I know how to chose which school to put first?!! Can they do this?
Dougal
Dougal
Hi Douglas,
Unfortunately it is the situation everywhere and it is very stressing for parents. We have to go and visit lots of potential schools thinking 'this a good school, but will my child ever get a place there..'
Try to collect as much information before hand because the choice is not always straightforward.
Best of luck
Unfortunately it is the situation everywhere and it is very stressing for parents. We have to go and visit lots of potential schools thinking 'this a good school, but will my child ever get a place there..'
Try to collect as much information before hand because the choice is not always straightforward.
Best of luck
I don't know if it is the same everywhere, but in some instances the schools won't consider you if you don't put them first on your list. I think some LEAs don't tell the schools where you have put them on the form, ie, first or second or third. If they do, however, you need to think very carefully about the order on your form. It is really hard, I know, I am going through it all now. It is the system though and we have to live with it unfortunately. Our LEA doesn't tell the schools the order on the form, but I know that others do and friends of mine have been wringing their hands over whether to put the grammar first or not.
It seems the admission procedure is very much like it was this year (deadline Oct 21st). This is indeed incredibly early so the sooner you start the process of looking at schools the better. We began when our child was in yr 5 and we still felt the pressure a year later.
Do not feel obliged to list six school preferences unless you are happy with those 6 schools. In other words, do not put down schools just because you feel you have to. If it's only 1 or 2, so be it. I felt obliged until I spoke to an educationalist who gave me real food for thought i.e. dont give the LEA too much choice, list the schools that you REALLY want!
One school we listed contacted our LEA to find out what order of preference they were. They wrote and told they had done this!
Good luck!
Do not feel obliged to list six school preferences unless you are happy with those 6 schools. In other words, do not put down schools just because you feel you have to. If it's only 1 or 2, so be it. I felt obliged until I spoke to an educationalist who gave me real food for thought i.e. dont give the LEA too much choice, list the schools that you REALLY want!
One school we listed contacted our LEA to find out what order of preference they were. They wrote and told they had done this!
Good luck!
In Birmingham the deadline for putting in forms was something like 26 September (I can't remember exactly). We put 6 schools because, although we don't really want option 5 or 6, there are some schools in Birmingham that you wouldn't send your dog to. I know of people who have only put 2 or 3 options and then got the most terrible school of all. You need to be very careful and perhaps talk to people in the area that you are applying to.
I would agree that you should start looking in Year 5 if at all possible, as there are so many schools to look at you can't get round them all in Year 6.
We are getting close to the 1 March deadline and I have to say, that I think the stress is worse now than it was in October/November time. I won't want to open the envelope!
I would agree that you should start looking in Year 5 if at all possible, as there are so many schools to look at you can't get round them all in Year 6.
We are getting close to the 1 March deadline and I have to say, that I think the stress is worse now than it was in October/November time. I won't want to open the envelope!
Thanks to everyone who has replied. It seems that we just have to live with the situation as it is. I did hear that the government were going to change it after a legal challenge by someone in Kent. This obviously isn't the case, so I will look out for the open days at all the local schools. The problem is that where we live it is virtually impossible to get into the only good secondary modern in the area, especially if you don't put it first. So the question is, do I gamble and put the Grammar school first or not?
Dougal
Dougal
Note: LEA’s make you aware of 1 school offer only, based on your order of preference – or so say. I cannot speak for elsewhere in the country but here in London an alarming number of children are left without a school place each year. The LEA/schools have to juggle the numbers somehow.
Who’s to say that in some cases order of preferences are ignored to allocate places to as many children as possible? Listing only a few schools is a gamble I agree. I took it and listed only 3. Am a conspiracy theorist. I don’t think so.
Who’s to say that in some cases order of preferences are ignored to allocate places to as many children as possible? Listing only a few schools is a gamble I agree. I took it and listed only 3. Am a conspiracy theorist. I don’t think so.