Just received rejection letter from Broomwood Post Reply

[luckymummy]

We have just been told that our son did not get a place at Broomwood Hall NL for Sept 2013. I am so upset as this was our first choice of school. I was also quite shocked as he did so well in his assessment that I thought it was a given, teaches me not to be so confident about these things! Anyway we have been told he is on the wait list. Has anyone gone through this before and do you know if you get a numbered place on the wait list ie no 10 on the list.

We have him down for the assessment for Thomas's but am now terrified that if he couldn't get into Broomwood there is no hope with him getting into Thomas's. Has anyone got any experience of their child being rejected from Broomwood but got into Thomas's.

Many thanks

[CornishMummyinLondon]

Hello

I'm sorry to hear you did not get a place at your first choice school. I know how horribly stressful the whole school application procedure is. Just to reassure you, my daughter goes to Thomas's and one of her little friends was put on the wait list for Broomwood but had a first round offer at Thomas's. I wouldn't consider your son 'rejected' more that the school is heavily oversubscribed. It could have simply come down to geography. Were you offered a place at their Garrards Road site?

Good luck with it. I lost more sleep over choosing a school for my children than I did over my finals at university so I know how worrying it is.

[Firefly]

Sorry to hear that. However, I don't understand as I thought assessments for 2013 intake would be starting this Autumn?

[elizad]

Out of curiosity does your child go to a nursery that sends lots of children there and do they have a view?

[SusieL]

Sorry to hear that- schools just cause no end of stress. It might be worth asking the school itself how likely it is that you'll get a place, or, as previous poster said enquiring about different site. I have no experience but I would guess with the amount of movement in the area the chances of finally getting a place are at least reasonable if you are in top 10 on the waiting list. How do you know how the assessment went? Dont they go off by themselves? Firefly- Broomwood do their assessments soon after the child's third birthday so they happen throughout the year.

Broomwood and Thomas's are very different schools so I'm sure the assessments are different and 'look' for different things so there's no real reason not getting one would mean not getting the other and vice versa. Good luck

[Goldhawk]

The OP says "Broomwood Hall NL" - do you mean Northcote Lodge?

[SusieL]

Think it means nightingale lane (the vicarage)

[Goldhawk]

ah that makes sense

[luckymummy]

Thank you so much for all your kind words. Yes NL is Nightingale Lane (The Vicarage) and we didn't get an alternative. I really had no idea how stressful this would be, I just thought we had done all the right things, name down at birth, said all the right things at the parents interview etc etc. The assessment was in another room but we could sit the other side of the room and listen in and I was blown away by my sons responses. I saw a side to him that I had never seen before. I guess that is why I thought well this is it, we are in! Yes my sons nursery school does have a few kids from each year go to Broomwood though he was the only one hoping to get in for 2013. I am hoping that with the movement in the area as mentioned by SusieL there is still a chance.

[susieq]

Of course you could just register a place at Eaton House the Manor, no interviews of the parents, no assessments of three year olds just a straight forward first come first served waiting list. 25% of this years leavers at 13 went to either Eton, Kings Wimbledon, Westminster or St Pauls ! With 3 classes at reception and now 3 classes at year 4 you may still get a place. Try and all your stress will disappear .

[schoolgatesmum]

Doesn't Eaton House do an assessment later on though for the upper school? Not sure where I heard that so I may be completely wrong!

[MGMidget]

Also Eaton House has a reputation for being a 'names down at birth' school so anyone putting a child's name down at age 3 for reception would be a long way down the waiting list - hence still stressful if relying on getting an offer there!

[Happymama]

Hi Luckymummy,
We were also on the waitlist by Broomwood Hall Vicarage after the "assessment / interview". In our case I thought that our "interview" didn't go that well. I am not British and I was working at the time and I didn't think they liked us very much to be honest !! I actually asked the Headmistress what they were hoping to achieve by the “interview” process and was told that this is done to make sure that the “Family fits” but to me if felt like the interview was all about my husband and I (what school did we go to ??!!) and not about our child. It’s such a shame as its such a lovely school (and I have so many happy friends there!) but the whole process completely put me off it. Anyway back to the original question (Sorry for digressing!) …. we then went for the assessment at Thomas and got offered a place so clearly a completely different process (really at the age of 3 I have NO idea what they are really looking for – I think it’s a bit random to be honest!) In the end we had places at 4 schools (including Broomwood the Vicarage who came back once the Thomas' places had been offered) and I couldn’t believe I got myself into such a panic about it all ! It was a couple of years ago so not sure whether the timings have changed in terms of places being offered earlier / later? But please don’t worry because I really believe that you will probably get a place at your first choice school in the end.
We ended up choosing Eaton House for various reasons including the fact that they are not selective.
Good luck with it all !! I also found the whole process quite stressful.

[susieq]

Eaton House no longer assesses at 7 for the prep (and has not done for the last 2 years), continual assessment only and given it would take only a phone call to know whether you had a place for ones 3 year old or not , i think that is far less stressful than worrying about a waiting list and worth a go. What is there to lose ?

[ready2pop]

Sorry to hear that Lucky Mummy.


The waiting list should move a lot come Autumn. Broomwood offers go out (and have to be accepted) much earlier than all the others. This means few initial rejections as people take up the place in case they don't get in elsewhere but once the other offers are made, the list should move quite a bit.

Agree it's worth calling Eaton House if you're interested in sendign your son there. Although you need to be down at birth for an initial offer there is more flexibility as it comes up to starting time (again some people for whom the school wouldn't necessarily be first choice put their names down as a fallback in case they don't get into the selective schools - we did this).

Best of luck