Secondary school recommendations Peckham Rye

[Carbonara]

"There's no point putting a first choice you are far off target for. And only apply for ones you really want to go to. You don't have to use all your choices available on the form."

Jools: sorry, this is terrible, terrible advice.

It is really important that anyone starting out on schools admission studies the schools Admission Code and understands it. there are many myths flying around, like this advice from Jools. The Schools Admissions Code is law and it applies to all LAs in England.

1. Your list is a list of 'preferences'. They don't HAVE to give you a school on your list. You will only be offered a place where you fulfil the entry criteria.

2. List all your schools in your genuine order of preference. Every school will assess your application against their published entry criteria, and will tell the LA whether or not they can offer you a place. They do not prioritise applicants who have put them first, the schools do not know where on the list the applicant has placed them.

3. the LA looks at all the offers that the schools on your list has made, and pass on to you the offer from the school that is highest on your list of preferences. if you do not get a place in your highest school, you automatically get put on the waiting list for all schools higher up the list that the one you have been offered.

4. if none of the schools you have applied to can offer you a place you will be offered a place at any school, which has space after all the other allocations have been made. That is why it is important to continue listing preferences until you have one that you are certain you will get - because of a sibling rule or you live right on the doorstep, for example, even if you don't rate it much. Because if you don't list that, you might get offered something even less attractive, and further away.

[Renata Hamvas]

I agree totally with what Carbonara says. I would like to add, it is OK to put a long shot 1st/2nd on your list and it won't reduce your chance to get the highly likely schools you put lower down. It's not a good idea however to put down 6 schools that are all long shots! Look at the last place distances from schools to see where you would have gained a place in 2016 to give you a rough idea of where your child may be offered a place. Remember that these figures are from offer day and do not include waiting list movement.

Renata

[nunheadmum]

Any statisticians out there? If 150 kids are split into 9 bands according to "the national distribution of ability", how many are in each of the bands?

While it's probably not our first choice, as Harris Girls only give 1/3 of each band to kids from within 1km, I'm starting to wonder if even that is a reliable option for us.

[bawdy-nan]

TBH I think it is hard to be strategic and game the system. The admissions criteria can feel baffline - lotteries, fair banding, proximity etc etc. I've got 2 who've recently gone through this and I would definitely agree with the advice offered. Go and see several schools. It's quite likely you'll be very pleasantly reassured - local secondary schools are really good. Try and compile a list of ones you like and your daughter likes. There'll be different reasons for each - some very close that you can get to easily and quickly, some with fabulous music provision (like Kingsdale), some single sex / mixed. It's worth visiting some of the less popular ones too, I think. Reading the forum, you often hear enthusiastic reports from parents visiting the less "popular" schools. Go for any of the tests and scholarship days (the Kingsdale sports one is very good fun and if you get the music one at any level it just gives your child access to the provision once they're there.)

List them in genuine order of preference knowing that you will remain on the waiting lists for the ones higher up the list to any choice you get lower down.

Good luck!

[njc97]

tasha1 - Habs have 2 primaries in their "federation". 1 is a mile or so away in New Cross, and kids get into the secondary automatically, which uses up to 60 places. The second one is on site, but only has kids up to year 3 at the moment (as it only opened 3 years ago) so they won't start in secondary for a few years.

[Renata Hamvas]

Hi Nunheadmum, if you are talking about Haberdasher's Askes, they have got rid of the banding for this year and also there is no sibling link for 6th formers. It will be straight as the crow flies distance to the site closest to you. As there are 8 forms in each of years 12 and 13 removal of the sibling link for these years will have some impact. In the Nunhead area, in previous years some girls have got into Aske's, others have gone to Deptford Green, some to Harris Girls, some to Sydenham Girls the odd one to Prendergast; so a mix! I would expect from Nunhead that you would be highly likely to get a place in Harris Girl's. From previous last place distances you would get into Deptford Green and might get into Haberdashers (dependant on your location). In terms of Charter East Dulwich it's hard to judge what will happen as it's its first year on the CAF form and also I don't know where in Nunhead you are.

Renata

[nunheadmum]

Hi Renata. No, I know that Haberdashers has dropped the banding. It's Harris Girls that I'm talking about. They say that they give 1/3 of places remaining in each band (of which there are 9), after looked after/SEN/siblings, will be available for girls who live within 1km. If you have a child who is towards either end of the 'normal' distribution (i.e. quite bright or not so able), that's a third of not a lot of available spaces when you look at the spread on a normal distribution curve.

I know all the secondaries that are a 'possible' for us (we're south Nunhead, off Ivydale Road) and all the ins and outs of the process. But all of them are just that - a possible. There isn't one school that I can say is our dead cert safe option. I thought Harris was going to be it but when I look at the detail of their admissions policy, it isn't 100%. I was hoping that someone better at stats than me could advise on the numbers and reassure me that my calculation of the odds was out.

We should get in somewhere but - especially as Lewisham schools have dropped banding and that may have been how the odd couple got into Habs or Sydenham - we just don't know where that may be. Deptford Green has been reliable in past years but it's getting a better name and I'm sure that means shrinking catchment.

It's just unsettling for the kids.

[LondonMix]

I think ED Harris do fair banding which means that its not based on a normal distribution curve but rather on the distribution relative to the applicant pool. Anyhow, the remaining 2/3rds of places are a lottery within a wider catchment area (I think 2 miles). The 1/3rd within a 1km is just to ensure that a decent portion of the student body comes from the areas immediately surround the school. I wouldn't worry about how the banding is likely to impact your odds as its impossible to assess given its based on fair banding.

[hpsaucey]

teecee Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Just to let you all know I had a nightmare with my

> choices on March 1st this year I only put 3

> choices on my Southwark list and than Charter ED

> as it was a separate application. I didn't get New

> Charter and gave up as I was 139 on the waiting

> list and than got none of my 3 choices, Southwark

> gave me Harris Peckham academy on Peckham High

> street, it was a very stressful time. I would

> advise everyone to go to all the open days and

> really think about what you put down cause if you

> just fill up the list to make the 6 choices you

> could get the one that you really didn't want.

> Many of my sons school friends did get one of

> their 3 choices but everyone can't so there is

> about a 10% chance you won't get anything you

> wanted. Luckily it all worked out OK for us,

> because a lot of parents who got New Charter and

> one of their choices on Southwark application

> declined New Charter maybe because of the

> temporary site and having to get the mini buses to

> Camberwell. So we got offered a place about 2

> months after offer day. My son started last Monday

> and loves it, the mini bus service is fantastic,

> the teachers and heads are great,and when it does

> move to its permanent site at Dulwich hospital it

> will be another great school to have in ED. Also

> just to let you know the catchment is quite small,

> the pupils are all from Dog kennel hill, Goose

> green, St John & st Clements, Bessener grange and

> Goodrich.

That's not quite true. Some from Ivydale that I know of at least with many offers made on the east side of Peckham Rye Common for all the reasons people have already noted. Will be different this year of course.

HP

[eve_max_calo]

I have a few qu's if anyone is still posting to this thread..

[eve_max_calo]

Hi there just wondered if anyone might be able answer a few queries re: charter 2 catchment. Our son is at Lyndhurst school just over from dog kennel hill school. A few -though i'm not sure how many- pupils were offered charter 2 places. Is this likely because they live nearer the dog kennel hill/goosegreen side? I'm really keen for our son to go to this school and he'll be entering yr 7 the same year as it's move to the new location. How likely are we to get in living at an address near denmark hill, on one of the roads behind kings college hospital? Our Son also spends a substantial amount of time at his grandparents as they act as (near)full time childminders whilst I work - they are in dulwich very near goodrich (where I personally went as a child) which I note also accepted pupils to charter 2. As a young parent myself I still count my parent's address as my family home despite renting in camberwell. Most of my post is sent to my parents address except utility linked to my camberwell one, and my son spends 4 afterschool evenings with weekend care there. I want to know if using my parent's address 1) improves our chances and 2) is technically allowed regarding habitation rules. I wanted to include road locations but didn't know clever that was, happy to if it helps /people think it is ok to.

Thanks!

[midivydale]

The habs free school ia not a feeder to the secondary though is it?

[HannahSE23]

Yes it is. That's why the catchment for the secondary is so small.

[samstopit]

I saw on another thread that Habs furthest distance this year was 660m. This is the first year of no banding so that's helpful to know. But do we know if that furthest offer was purely a distance based offer or was it SEN / sibling / child at their feeder primary?

[Carbonara]

eve_max - you can only apply from one address, the address that is your child's permanent residence. This is generally defined as the address that you pay council tax for and / or the address that the child's Child Benefit goes to. It is definitely your address and not your parents' address. Childcare is not taken into account as a deciding factor on distance for admissions. The LA do many spot checks to ascertain that people are using their correct address.

Also,unless your school is a feeder school, the admissions distance is done from your home address and the school your child attends is irrelevant.

You may find that you are as close to some Lambeth schools as Southwark - it doesn't matter what borough schools are in, you can apply to all with an equal chance of getting a place, dependent on their admissions criteria. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me can help with the questions of distance to Charter.

[midivydale]

I am sure when we went for the open dat for the 2016 intake the head teacher made a point to say that the new free school was not a feeder? Has this changed? Could someone please confirm this information? ThNks

[HannahSE23]

Midyivydale, if you mean is the habs primary school a feeder to the new Charter, no it isn't. The habs primary is a feeder to the habs secondary, though.

But I have a feeling you mean the new Harris free school, not habs?

[midivydale]

Sorry for confusion, no I mean the new habs primary I think frm memory it is called temple grove? It opereated from its permanent site for the first time in 2016. When I went to view it in 2016, I recall the head saying that although the original primary at hatcham was a feeder, the new primary was not. Can I have got that completely wrong?

[Kes]

Midivydale,

The new habs school has always intended to become a feeder but they weren't one when you were there last year, so you're not wrong! They were going through the process of setting up feeder status a couple of months ago but not quite sure if it's been finalised yet.

The oldest kids there are currently in year 3 so it will be a few years before that matters and given that the "catchment" for the primary is probably even less than for the secondary most of those kids would probably have got into the secondary anyway.

[midivydale]

Kes, that makes sense. Thanks👍

[Renata Hamvas]

Hi Sam, the 660m would be distance only, ie excluding siblings, music, SEN, looked after etc.

Renata