Help with School Places

LisaB1970

Hi folks

We have just moved into our new home which is in a completely different county.
My 2 daughters (one aged 11 about tostart high school for the first time and one aged 12 already in a high school just needs to change)needed to change schools so we applied to the nearest which is 0.8 miles away. We have had a letter for my youngest yesterday saying there were no spaces but they have allocated a place for her at anotehr school 4 miles away.

Im extremely worried about this. As far as we know there is no school transport to this school (its in another town) and none of us know these areas at all as we have just moved here.

My daughter is a tiny 11 year old (looks about 7!), and she is not at all streetwise. She would have to go to and from school on 2 buses possibly on her own as we both work so cannot take her. I feel this is not acceptable and im worried about what to do.
We havent had a letter for the eldest yet - it may be waiting at home for me.

Any advice would be great.

pigpen

appeal!!!

Say she can't get there.. I wouldn't let my 11 /o go on 2 buses unsupervised alone.. in winter it would be dark when she left the house and dark when she got back.. hangging about waiting for buses in a dark bus station... absolutely not.

LisaB1970

Thanks pigpen. Im waiting to see which school my otehr daughter is allocated. They need to go to the same school to be honest. I wasnt sure if i could appeal with being outside of the "normal" application times"
But thank you, ill definitely be doing that!

Plans_all_plans

If I were you I'd get on the buses yourself and take yourself off to the school using the route your child would have to. Then you will get a good idea of the look of the route, the areas the buses pass through, the look of the other bus users etc. I would also talk to your new neighbours to find out if any other kids locally go to the other school, as they could all go 2g and I'd be happier knowing others from her school were using the route. It may be that you'd be perfectly happy for her to use the route (particularly if the eldest is going to be going the same way) once you've seen it.

You may decide that you're not happy with the idea once you've checked it out, but I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand because she is not streetwise. Eventually she'll have to get used to being out and about, so high school may be a good opportunity for this.

I had to get 3 buses each way to high school and went every day from 11 (I'm 25 now so not too long ago really). Over the summer hols my mum took me once a week to get me used to it and for the first week she came with me every day. After that I did it myself and my sister came with me 2 years later when she moved to high school.

ETA: I didn't have a mobile back then but had a BT chargecard that only rang my mum's number so I could use a payphone without cash if I needed to get through to her. If your DD has a mobile it could give extra peace of mind.

pigpen

LisaB1970 wrote: »

Thanks pigpen. Im waiting to see which school my otehr daughter is allocated. They need to go to the same school to be honest. I wasnt sure if i could appeal with being outside of the "normal" application times"
But thank you, ill definitely be doing that!

You can definitely.. my friend moved towns and appealled twice to get her boy into the high school she wanted, they took him second time. it was mid-summer term too so not the beginning of the year

LisaB1970

Plans_all_plans wrote: »

If I were you I'd get on the buses yourself and take yourself off to the school using the route your child would have to. Then you will get a good idea of the look of the route, the areas the buses pass through, the look of the other bus users etc. I would also talk to your new neighbours to find out if any other kids locally go to the other school, as they could all go 2g and I'd be happier knowing others from her school were using the route. It may be that you'd be perfectly happy for her to use the route (particularly if the eldest is going to be going the same way) once you've seen it..

Thats a GREAT idea. Thank you!

Plans_all_plans wrote: »

You may decide that you're not happy with the idea once you've checked it out, but I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand because she is not streetwise. Eventually she'll have to get used to being out and about, so high school may be a good opportunity for this.

I had to get 3 buses each way to high school and went every day from 11 (I'm 25 now so not too long ago really). Over the summer hols my mum took me once a week to get me used to it and for the first week she came with me every day. After that I did it myself and my sister came with me 2 years later when she moved to high school.

ETA: I didn't have a mobile back then but had a BT chargecard that only rang my mum's number so I could use a payphone without cash if I needed to get through to her. If your DD has a mobile it could give extra peace of mind.

I understand what your saying and i know she'll be fine once she's been at high school a while, but right now she's still a little girl if that makes any sense?
I remember my eldest girl going through the same transition, but she seemed to grow up very quickly once she started high school.

babyb06

I think appealing is worth a chance - although have no experience to offer on that topic.

If you don't get the result you want though....my view is similar view to Plans-All-Plans.....I had to take 2 buses to school as I didn't get into the school of my choice. They weren't school buses and the first bus was a very busy commuter bus, the second tended to have more school kids on it. I had a 15 minute walk to the first bus stop, 30 minute journey, 5 minute walk, 30 minute walk journey, then 10 minute walk to school. I was a mature looking 11 year old (always tall for my age!) but not streetwise - I was a bit of a geek, who would grab on to my mum's apron strings given the chance. But it made me stronger and braver - I really grew up!

I too had a BT chargecard in the early years of high school and then when I was about 15 my parents got me a mobile phone.

Not sure how my parents felt about my journey - never thought to ask! It was such a non-event as it was just something that had to be done.

I grew from a timid girl into a confident teen - I know you will, but try not to worry too much about your DS

Becles

I second checking out the bus route.

My sons go to a school 12 miles away. They get a school bus, but if they stay back for after school activities, they have to uses buses to get home. They have to get a bus from school to our nearest town and get off on the high street, then walk to the market place to catch a bus to our village.

Before they started, we went and looked at the bus stops, and walked between the stops in town, so they knew exactly where they had to get off and on buses.

They've been managing fine since they started Year 7, even during the winter when it's dark.

LisaB1970

Thanks for all your replies and advice. We have checked out the bus routes and its 2 buses, the total journey time is just over an hour. This includes a walk of 15 mins at one end and a wait of 10 mins at the other. We got the letter yesterday for 2nd daughter and they have allocated her to the same school. Its my scheduled day off on Monday so im going to take these buses and see what the route is like. I feel a little better about it now the eldest has been allocated a place at the same school, although I really want them to go to the nearest school, I have to take on board the fact that even if I appeal it may not be possible. Thank you all again :-)

Spendless

Think it'll very much depend on how full the preferred school is as to whether an appeal will work. The Secondary my eldest will attend in September 60+ kids haven't got in, despite many of them being at the feeder Primary schools which is the 3rd main criteria here, after catchment and siblings. When you're at that level of oversubscription already, I don't know whether someone new to the area would stand a chance of a place, sorry to say, unless the school had messed up in their allocations.

Have you asked admissions if there's a school that has places for both children so they could travel together?

I also agree with the comments about bus routes and doing a dummy run.

ETA- Just seen your above post, glad they've both got in same place.

onlyroz

If they're both at school together then a 4 mile bus journey doesn't sound too bad. My secondary school was about 6 miles away, but we had a designated "school bus". Before rushing out to appeal, I'd try out the journey with both of them to see what it's like, and also visit the school to see what you think of it.