Secondary School Admissions

Gingham_Ribbon

Smi1er wrote: »

Yes, all very well, but Children don't just go to School to be educated. They also go to develop socially and grow as people. Something you can not teach at home

What on earth are we all doing with our preschool children then? They aren't in a bubble because they don't go to school you know. There are only 2 downsides that I can see to a capable parent home schooling. (And they are significant downsides so it has to be weighed up.) They don't learn to be little robots and conform with the structure of school should you wish to send them there later. And they are heavily reliant on the parent which would make it much harder for them should the parent die.

Smi1er

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

What on earth are we all doing with our preschool children then? They aren't in a bubble because they don't go to school you know.

Please don't compare the social development needs of a preschool child to that of a teenager.

I've seen the result of home schooling, and whilst both the young adults were quite clever and had very good grades, neither of them responded to authority at all, and both had major social skills problems.

scat

Just received my letter. My son wasn't offered a place at the school I requested, which is literally a min's walk from our house. They have offered him a place at the 'local' failing school. I'm not going to panic about it yet but it is mildly irritating that the admissions officer is 'unavailable' having knocked off work at 1 pm today. Ruddy pain to have to go through the appeals procedure.

scat

Smi1er wrote: »

Please don't compare the social development needs of a preschool child to that of a teenager.

I've seen the result of home schooling, and whilst both the young adults were quite clever and had very good grades, neither of them responded to authority at all, and both had major social skills problems.

that would be more a reflection of the type of person who opts for home schooling quite frankly - I know several parents of that ilk!

carolpinkdreamer

We've been allocated the local dump for our lad. Don't know what to do next. No point appealling because his 2 preferences are massively oversubscribed.

scat

I would still go through the motions of appealing even if you don't hold out much hope - nothing ventured and all that.

I was hoping all of my son's classmates had got in, would have been helpful for an appeal!, but would appear this was a bumper baby year or something as quite a few were sobbing in the playground after school today.

Has also sparked a fierce racial backlash as all of the Muslim children have been placed. The school we were applying for is a C of E school and have a policy of placing those practicing a religion first.

Gingham_Ribbon

Smi1er wrote: »

Please don't compare the social development needs of a preschool child to that of a teenager.

I've seen the result of home schooling, and whilst both the young adults were quite clever and had very good grades, neither of them responded to authority at all, and both had major social skills problems.

I was talking about home school for the early primary years in my case. I hope I won't have to home school for 14 years. However, if you don't know any young adults with major social skills problems with poor attitude to authority who HAVE been through the school system, you're very lucky indeed. I know several. LOTS in fact.

cazziej

Sympathy to all those not getting their first choice school. I can't believe I was going through this a full year ago with my youngest. Luckily, he got into a school, which was not in our area and that did not have any feeder schools in our area. It is a very good Catholic school and the only thing in our favour was that he is Catholic. He enjoys the school and is doing very well there.

A friend at work has just heard that her daughter has not been allocated ANY of her 2 chosen schools. I rang up to speak to the Allocations Officer for her and was told that her 2nd choice school (which is the school my son goes to) has had 426 applications for 150 places :eek: . Makes me realise how lucky my son was.

Hope all your appeals come good for you.

Best wishes

Carol x

Jaiden_2

cazziej wrote: »

A friend at work has just heard that her daughter has not been allocated ANY of her 2 chosen schools. I rang up to speak to the Allocations Officer for her and was told that her 2nd choice school (which is the school my son goes to) has had 426 applications for 150 places :eek: . Makes me realise how lucky my son was.

The school that i wanted for my daughter had over 1500 applications for just 210 places! Its brand new and only opened last September and the only other good schools round here are the faith ones. Seeing as my kids have only seen the inside of a church for other peoples weddings and christenings i didnt hold out much hope and when i read that we needed a letter from "our priest" i knew not to bother

In the end we only put down 2 schools and luckily for us, our first choice gives priority to proximity to the school and we live about 10 mins walk away so she was able to get in. I've got a years breathing space, then have to do this all over again with dd2!:eek:

scat

Found out today that places at our school were allocated by pulling names out of a hat. My son is 20th on the waiting list. If it had been on proximity to the school he would have got in as we live opposite it. Apparently a lottery is considered fairer.