Applying for Secondary 2020 deadline today!

[Renata Hamvas]

Today is the deadline to apply for secondary admissions to year 7 in September 2020. For those of you who haven't yet put in your application :-

Do put your choices in true order of preference, schools do not know where you have put them on the CAF

Do use your 6 preferences

Do attend banding tests, if you don't apply to a school that has a banding test and apply post offer day, or your child doesn't do the banding test, they will go below all children who have done the test in order of priority on waiting lists.

Single sex schools tend to take children from a bit further away than mixed ones (fewer places going to siblings and the places are only accessible to half the children). Harris Boys/Girls, Sydenham, St Thomas the Apostle, Forest Hill Boys.

Do not limit yourself to Borough boundaries, eg Deptford Green, Haberdashers, Forest Hill Boys, Sydenham all take quite a few Southwark children each year (be aware the Lewisham last place distance offer diagram is incorrect, the northern nodal point is missing for Haberdashers, other schools do take children from outside LB Lewisham!

You will automatically go on the waiting list of any school above one you are offered. There is movement on waiting lists right up to September/October. You can be added to the waiting list of any other schools post offer day, but do note my note above about banding tests. Lewisham do not add onto waiting lists for a while after offer day. Filling up all six places is better than wait and see and the being added onto waiting lists. Your position on a waiting list can move down as well as up as eg people who move into an area and live closer to a school than you would go above your child if allocation is done on distance.

Putting down only 3 schools only does not increase your chance of getting one of those schools.

Place allocations for offer day are wholly in accordance with each school's admissions criteria. You may be offered your third choice school if it's the highest school you fulfill the criteria for, over many other people who put it first.

Make sure you tick the sibling box if your child has a sibling at the school.

Each school ranks all the applicants according the their admissions criteria. The ranked data goes back to Southwark. Your child may eg be eligible for places at 3 of the 6 schools on your list, you will only be offered a place at the highest ranked of these on your CAF. If you are not ranked highly enough for your child to be offered a place at any of your preferred schools, your child will be allocated a place at the nearest school (within the Borough if your application) that has vacancies remaining.

Good luck everybody!

Renata

[Monkey]

Renata, thanks for this. Do we now wait to be invited to the banding tests? Or do we need to contact the schools proactively? I phoned the Southwark helpline but they had no clue. Thank you again.

[Scrummymummy]

Hi Monkey, you will be sent a letter from the school inviting your child in.

Last year the Harris text was on Friday 14th December.

We had Kingsdale on the 1st December, but it was also running the weekend before.

[Monkey]

Thank you!

[Renata Hamvas]

Hi Monkey, to confirm what Scrummymummy says, each school administers their own admissions process and therefore you will hear from the individual schools. I believe Harris has one test for their schools, so if you've applied to more than one of their schools, you'll sit the test once. If for some reason you can't sit a test on an allocated day, let the school know ASAP so that you can do the test on an alternative day.

Renata