Secondary School Admissions

bestpud

Hi Becles

That's shame about the LEA woman being useless - is it worth trying again and hoping you get someone with more about them? Good idea to speak with the head of the primary school, and I would contact the catholic school too, as others have said. May be better to take your son along so they can ask him questions.

I'll apologise in advance for my next line (I feel so strongly about this that I can't bring myself not to say it! ) I really wouldn't take a chance with the last school on your list. I can't say strongly enough how I wish I could go back in time and follow my gut instinct with secondary schools. It seems even more relevent given your son is a sensitive child.

It is just my opinion though and I promise not to say it again!!!

This school malarky makes me very angry as every state school should provide the same blimming education - idealistic I know, but parents should not have to agonise over things like this.

Good luck!

Spendless

Becles wrote: »

Most of the children who have attened the other infants and junior schools go to school D. There is a boy my son is friendly with starting tomorrow and a girl over the road going next Sept, so he would know those at least.

Ok the reason I asked is my sil had a similar dilemma, she moved areas when her daughter was 8, but kept her in her old Primary. When it was time to go to secondary school, she applied to the feeder comp, for much the same reasons as yourself it was a school with a better reputation, better results than her catchment area school. Like you she wasn't in the first category cos she lived outside catchment but was in a further down category for attending the feeder school. She got in on appeal, but neice was unhappy there. She couldn't mix with any school friends after school cos she lived elsewhere, she didn't know the children in her surrounding area cos she was at a different school. Eventually she became a target for bullies. After a couple of years her mum moved her to her catchment area school, the one with the worse reputation and exam results, and very soon she was a lot happier. She has just sat her GCSE's 1 B the rest A.

What I'm saying is don't totally dismiss school D without looking more into it, and think of all aspects of which school he attends.

good luck

Mumstheword

Becles wrote: »

It just feels very wrong getting him christened just to get into the secondary school he wants to go to. I know other people do it, but it doesn't make it feel right to me.

I can understand that.

It also feels wrong to me that a state funded school (almost completely) is allowed to select on grounds other than siblings, special needs and distance from school, leaving your little boy in the predicament he is in.

On the one hand, you dont want to offend anyone by allowing him to be christened just for this purpose. On the other hand your son risks being excluded from the school of his choice because he isnt christened.

I know which I'd choose.

Neither of us are religious. We havent christened our children. One reason was that we didnt know which schools we would choose, and if we wanted a school which was allowed to select on grounds of having been christened into a particular religion, then we didnt want to close that option by choosing the wrong one at birth. Another reason is that as we have no particular feelings on the subject, it wasnt up to us to choose for our kids. They can choose as they grow. Looks like your son has chosen. You might not agree with his reasons, but I dont think they are too bad - he wants to remain in the community he has grown up with - sounds like a balanced judgement by a young fella to me!

inkie

[QUOTE]
Most of the children who have attened the other infants and junior schools go to school D. There is a boy my son is friendly with starting tomorrow and a girl over the road going next Sept, so he would know those at least.
[/QUOTE]

My DD is the only one from her school going to the faith school - however, there are people that she knows from guides etc - she went yesterday and has found friends already.

Eagle_1

Becles wrote: »

Downsides: this school would cost the most in specialist uniform, and bus fares as it's 12 miles away and we wouldn't be entitled to a free bus pass as we're not Catholic.

I had the very same dilemma as you but when I sat back and actually looked at this part i realised that there was no way my DD was going to the Catholic School.
Catholics get priority over any child who wants a place on the bus so if there is no place then DD would have to get the normal service bus into school or parents have to take them daily.
I know friends whose children have not got a place on the school bus and for this reason we sent DD to another local school.
I have no way of getting my DD to school myself so she would have to catch the service bus and yes thats fine now because the weather is good but what about winter time ? she'd also have to leave the house for 7:20 am ish to get to school in time and also get home quite late and theres no way i was going to let that happen.
Id say go to the open evenings of the schools and get a feel for the school. We actually went to one of the secondary schools and immediately chose that school. fingers crossed we made the right choice cos this is her 1st week at the school

Becles

We went to school B this evening and it's very nice!

They had activities on in the classrooms, such as science experiments, examples of baking in food tech, play an instrument in music etc. We had a good wander round, and my son really enjoyed it. We both thought it felt right.

Last year they had 168 applications for 165 places, so he stands a good chance of getting into this one.

We're still going to see the other 3 schools at some point though, and hubby and me are going to make an appointment to see school B during the day when the pupils are working.

Feel more positive that this one would be an excellent choice if son chooses to go here.

Spendless

Just wondering if you had any more news yet Becles?

Becles

I forgot to update this!

We did visit all the schools.

The Catholic school was very nice too - on a par with school B that I described above. They had the 6th formers taking small groups of parents on tours and children in the classrooms demonstrating things and stuff. All the children were well behaved and helpful, and it had a nice atmosphere. They have loads of out of school clubs, and do things like the Duke of Edinburgh Award. It felt right too.

School A was my favourite on paper, but I didn't really like it when I got there! Again there were supposed to be children doing tours and demonstrations, except they were not. They were just running up and down corridors and shoving past me in doorways with no manners. It was badly organised, such as not enough chairs out for the headmasters speech and people had to stand in the aisles. It's a split site school so he would do 2 years there, and then have to move to another site for the last 3 years and 6th form. The building itself was very tatty and run down, and I was shocked as there were hardly any books in the library.

School D wasn't very nice either. Again there were children running all over the place with no manners, and the teachers didn't sell the school to us at all. They just seemed to go through the motions with little enthusiasm. It had a lot of graffiti on the walls and my son said the boys toilet he visited was "minging".

I would be happy if my son got into either the Catholic school or school B, so I left the final choice up to him. He put them in this order:
1) Catholic school
2) School B
3) School A

I didn't get him baptised to get into the Catholic school, so he's down the bottom of the criteria list.

The form has been submitted to the LEA now. We won't hear the final decision until March, so it's a long wait!

Savvy_Sue

Isn't it interesting how your pre-visit impressions changed when you actually got there? That's why I always think it's important to visit, even a school with a pants reputation, because the reputation (good or bad) often outlasts the reality!

Hope all goes well at the end of the wait. But I do also feel that parental concern and involvement is THE key thing in how well a child does, and just a few parents can make a big difference!

Becles

Just another little update:

I was talking to the parish priest yesterday morning as there was an Advent Mass on in school that I attended. My son did a reading in that.

I asked if he could do a letter of support even though we are not Catholic and he said he would be happy to do that. I've got it back this afternoon so I'll get it posted off to the secondary school.

This puts my son in category 7 out of 13, so he stands a much better chance as he would have been in category 13 without it.

We'll have to keep our fingers crossed until March now!