Dear Year 6 Parents/Carers,
As you are aware tomorrow is National Offer Day for secondary school places. School admissions usually receive a higher volume of calls on this day. In order to try and minimise the call waiting times we have listed below the most common questions we are asked along with the answers. Please take the time to read these as some of the questions you may have will not be able to be answered over the telephone and you will be required to email in.
“I have not received my offer email”.
If it is before 11:30, please be patient, our emails can take some time to arrive with you. If you have access to the internet, and you applied online will be able to log into your Citizen’s Portal account to see the result of your child’s application.
If it is after 11:30 and you have still not received an email, please email [email protected] with your children’s name and DOB for reference. Please note we cannot tell you over the telephone the outcome of your application.
If you submitted a late application, you will not receive the outcome of your application until after National Offer Day.
“Can you reset my Citizen’s Portal password?”
We cannot reset your password over the telephone. Please email [email protected] for a password reset. If you email in for a password reset using a different email than the one you used when applying, you must provide the appropriate email address within the email. Please put your child’s name and DOB for reference.
“Can you tell me my wait list position?”
Wait list positions will be available after the 16th of March 2024. We cannot provide this information earlier, due to acceptances and declining of offers arriving between 1/3/2024 and 15/3/2024. There is too much movement on these lists to give parents an accurate position before the 16th. You can submit a request via email from after the 16th by emailing [email protected] You must include your child’s name and date of birth for our reference. Please note we cannot tell you over the telephone where you are on the waiting list.
“When must I respond to this offer by?”
All responses MUST be received by the 15th of March 2024. You must log into your portal account to do this. If you applied via a paper form, please complete our online acceptance form (found on our website). Please note if you refuse the place at the offered school, it does not improve your chances on any wait list, and you must inform us what establishment/resource has been put in place instead. As your child is of statutory school age you must inform us how they will be educated come September if you refuse the school place offered. Please do not email in your acceptance / refusal of a school place. You must either complete the acceptance form via your portal account or use the online form on our website. Further information on this will be supplied in your offer email.
“I want to refuse the place”.
Refusing or accepting a place at an allocated school will not affect your child’s position on any higher preferred schools wait list. If you refuse a place at the school, you must inform us in writing what alternative arrangement has been put in place. Your child is of statutory school age and an arrangement must be put in place for their education as of September 2024. Failure to accept the place or refusal to provide details of the alternate arrangement, will lead to your case being referred to Education Welfare. Accepting the place at your offered school does not stop you from obtaining a place at a preferred school from the wait list, all it does is hold the nearest and most accessible school place to your child available in case a further offer cannot be made.
“I think an error has been made regarding my child’s application”.
If you believe a possible error has occurred with your child’s application, the first step is to look at the last child that was allocated a place at the school. This information will be available on the website on National Offer Day. If your child is of a higher criterion, or the same criterion but lives nearer to the school, you must email this information to us. We will then investigate this and look for a resolution if required. Please note you must supply your child’s name and date of birth for our reference.
“I want to edit my application”.
Requests to make an after-offer day amendment must be put in writing. Please email [email protected] listing your child’s name and date of birth for reference. If you wish to add or remove any preferences, you must re-list your entire list of preferred schools in their ranked order.
“What is an Oversubscription Criteria?”
An Oversubscription Criteria is the set arrangements put in place to rank applicants applying for a school place. If you are applying for an academy school, they list the criteria based on what has been agreed by their trust or governing body. Local Authority schools used a fixed oversubscription criterion set by the local authority. The Oversubscription Criteria lists different categories children should be considered under and within these categories’ children are arranged via their radial distance from the school. Each school ranks their entire list of applicants based on this and offers down this list until it has reached its published admissions number (PAN).
“What are the Oversubscription Criteria of my preferred school(s)?”
For a detailed/up to date record of this please see the school’s website or our Parent’s Guide.
“What Criteria was my child’s application viewed under?”
You must email in for this information. Please supply your child’s name and DOB for reference. A senior officer will then look at this request for you.
Kind regards,
School Admissions
Wokingham Borough Council
Email: [email protected]
Wokingham Borough – a great place to live, learn, work & grow and a great place to do business
Website: www.wokingham.gov.uk