secondary school wait list - number 6

[dee73]

I have twins and we missed the first choice high school by 48 metres. I thought we'd be high on the wait list but have found out we are 6th and 7th. Intake is 380. apparently 5 people have moved into catchment at last minute so they are top 5. i assumed that when all the offers were accepted or declined, it would free up a few wait lists and they would then be offered. but doesnt seem to work that way. admissions will tell me nothing so ive no idea how many were declined. for info, anyone that gets offered here are putting it first choice. no offers are 2nd choice. but the head said last year he had 9 people not turn up in september. my twins are now getting nasty comments from other kids at school about how the school they have been offered is rubbish. lucky for us its not but it is quite a journey for us. This is not London so waiting lists may not move quite the same. Does anyone know why wait lists take so long. is it because everyone accepts because they are advised to and then sort things out later on if they change their minds. we have been told by first choice school that they will take both twins if one place is offered to us.

[admission]

All the admissions are carried out at this time of the year by the LA admission office. As you can imagine it is very busy. What happens in most LAs is that there updates at least weekly as to who has rejected a place and therefore how many places are available. The LA admission office will then look at the waiting list in admission criteria order and allocate places. There is always a time lag from a place being offered to it being accepted or rejected, so I am afraid these things do take longer than anybody would want.
You are also correct in your assumption that people do now tend to accept the place and then consider what to do. It might be that there will be some obvious movement after the easter break as parents get time to think about things.
If your first preference school has an admission number of 380, then I would expect there to be some level of movement just because of the numbers involved. Not sure where the information about only first preferences getting a place because the only people to know that are the LA admission team, the school certainly will not know. After the initial allocation of places the waiting list is updated and the 5 who appear to be in front of you will be people who moved into the area after the cut=off date and therefore counted as late applications. They will in effect be nearer on distances to the school than you are.
It is good that the school is willing to allow both twins in if they are at the top of the waiting list because they do not need to by law.

[dee73]

Thanks for the reply. I know it about it always being first choice as the LA provide statistics each year. All offers happen to be first choice. It's a 13 plus school and the only other one is half empty. Will just have to sit and wait.