* Daughter has not been offered a place at ANY of the schools preferred *

CharleneUK

I'm gutted. Can anyone advise me if this is a normal occurence? I don't know what's going to happen now, all the local school are carp, I feel so sick to my stomach.

I researched every school thoroughly before hand, went and visited on open days and normal school days so I could observe, and now, it was all a waste of time.

Any experience of this at all? The letter states that there may be positions coming up and to contact the schools directly for information about their waiting lists, has anyone had any positive outcomes of this?

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

What i would do, i know its cheeky, but enrol her in the better of the less preffered schools but keep options open for the acceptance in a better one - trust me many people do this and this is why you end up with placements becomeing available (eg, someone has been accepted in a few good ones, but obviously can only choose one so have to reject the other, thus open placement again).

Yes you can get good outcomes from this but i really suggest you get in contact with the schools and get on their waiting lists a.s.a.p because it will be a first come first serve basis - and you really want to be near the top of their list!!!!

Good luck - but go get on the phone now!!!!

Justie

there should be details of your local area's appeals procedure - appeals aren't bound by the same entry criteria as initial applications so if you have a good case because of proximity or educational requirements then you stand a good chance of getting into a school on appeal. Don't get too downhearted just yet it may be a bit of a fight but there are websites out there to help and your LEA should be able to guide you through the next stage.

CharleneUK

Thank you all for your comments!! I have been onto all the schools, some operate an automatic waiting list, others you have to write in and request and others they send a form, so that's all done! Now I'm going to call Croydon Council and see what vacancies there are in the area.

I'm also going to seek advice as to what the best time to put in an appeal would be and when you hear back for the second time if you still do not receive a placement after being on the waiting list. This is just soooooo stressful

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

Oooooh you are in croydon? me too! Are you looking at Coloma by any chance?

seven-day-weekend

When I was applying for my son (many years ago now), we wanted him to go to the Church school which had different admissions criteria to the rest. We applied for this; however we also put down the 'best of the rest' on our list in case he didn't get in.

He was offered a place at the Church school, so that meant there was a place vacant at one of the others on our list.

So don't dispair, you're already on the list, and appeal too, I know several people who got into the Church school that I mentioned above on appeal.

Good luck!

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

I now see what you mean about the not so great schools....but really it depends on your daughter.....I went to a school with an awfull reputation, so bad that a few major news headlines have been somewhat associated with the school,(silly me i got accepted at the best schools but because i was in care had nobody to guide me to the right ones even though i had applied off of my own back i still went to the one that my friends were going to).
I then changed schools when i came to croydon, went to Coloma (was amazed at some of the stuff the girls were up to), didnt like the snobbery so left. Then i went to Croydon college (yes awfull) but overall i have 11 a-c GCSE's and 4 As levels.

I was smart enough not to follow the crowds and kept my head down (yes i was very popular too but because i was a nice person not for following bad habbits). If you arent lucky enough to get her in to a great school dont worry too much...if she is smart enough and is kept on the right track she will still do fine!!!

Remember the so called great schools arent always so great....and alot of those girls acheived good grades because their parents could easily afford tutors for every subject....even tennis (!!!!). So dont worry yourself too much about it!

Good luck hun!

CharleneUK

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle wrote:

Oooooh you are in croydon? me too! Are you looking at Coloma by any chance?

I was, yeah! Have a write in a request to be placed on the waiting list. Is that school any good, or does it just 'appear' to be good? Exam results are excellent and the children appear extremely well behaved.

CharleneUK

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle wrote:

I now see what you mean about the not so great schools....but really it depends on your daughter.....I went to a school with an awfull reputation, so bad that a few major news headlines have been somewhat associated with the school,(silly me i got accepted at the best schools but because i was in care had nobody to guide me to the right ones even though i had applied off of my own back i still went to the one that my friends were going to).
I then changed schools when i came to croydon, went to Coloma (was amazed at some of the stuff the girls were up to), didnt like the snobbery so left. Then i went to Croydon college (yes awfull) but overall i have 11 a-c GCSE's and 4 As levels.

I was smart enough not to follow the crowds and kept my head down (yes i was very popular too but because i was a nice person not for following bad habbits). If you arent lucky enough to get her in to a great school dont worry too much...if she is smart enough and is kept on the right track she will still do fine!!!

Remember the so called great schools arent always so great....and alot of those girls acheived good grades because their parents could easily afford tutors for every subject....even tennis (!!!!). So dont worry yourself too much about it!

Good luck hun!

Thank you so much for this post, it's been so helpful and allowed me to see things from a completely different perspective! Thank you

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

CharleneUK wrote:

I was, yeah! Have a write in a request to be placed on the waiting list. Is that school any good, or does it just 'appear' to be good? Exam results are excellent and the children appear extremely well behaved.

Yeah it produces grades but i was more worried about some of the stuff going on behind all of that. The best peice of advice to you is to make sure your daughter is savvy as well a textbook smart when she reaches about the age of 14. You have a while to go yet but be warned, they were in to some terrible stuff (lol, just look at some of prince Harry's doings and worse)...if you do this though she will hopefully not follow a crowd. I know a few of the girls from there who had all a grades and because they are not savvy have only been able to get jobs in places like HMV and McDonalds. I mean this is ok for a part time thing but its not a career. So please dont be blinded by the fact everyone seems to come out well actually does well after. TBH more of my friends from previous schools have done better than what i know of the girls i knew from Coloma.

One thing i must say though is that its a good school to have on a CV when she does finally start uni hunting...but thats ages away yet!

Some lovely teachers there...very religious though if your ok with that, very pushy with it, too much so for me but hey im very want to believe what i believe not what people tell me to! As with any school it has its good and bad points....but also as with any school its not until they get a few years in that you have to worry!

Dont be too worried by it all, if she gets in great, if she doesnt its not that bad!

Good luck!

Ps. im 21, so left not too long ago - (about 4 yrs).

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

I know this is something not so great to bring up but a lot of the girls are very well off there so have personal tennis trainers, personal swimming coaches, swimming pools, and come in with the latest stupidly expensive accesories.....this is something that made me feel very uncomfortable as i wasnt into all of that - i was earning my own money with part time jobs at the time so i had a sense of budgeting which some of them didnt at all - everything was handed to them willy-nilly!

I am a little worried that you will take my posts a little too seriously though but you will come accross problems everywhere you just need to be prepared...so dont let it hinder you in applying! (lol, no doubt issues crop up left right and centre with teens anyway).