SW/W London Independent Schools thread part two

Out of interest, how many others have lost deposits due to taking a place at another school? And how soon/long after paying the deposit and how close to starting?

Our experience with Preps has been that not only do you lose your deposit,by if you pull out after Easter, you are also committed to a term of fees too - once signing the contract and paying the deposit, you are effectively the same as a current parent and need to give a full term of notice. Is this different with secondary schools....or will pulling out after Easter have the same effect?
Thanks.

We lost a deposit only 3 hours after paying it, as an offer came through from our preferred school. The other school refused to rip up the cheque even though it hadn't been cashed yet

Don't forget lots of people will have been away for half term so might not have contacted the schools yet and the schools might not have been running at full strength over half term.

If you can sit it out you can physically drop off the cheque at the last minute at offer school, waiting until then just in case your preferred school gets a decline call from someone. I've known of people bolting from one school to another at 11.45am as they received a call on their way to drop off their cheque. If you get a call after 12 and you've dropped your cheque off, you could still call the school and ask them to rip up your cheque.

Some people might send their daughters to Lady Margaret's, Waldegrave, Sacred Heart or Greycoat if they get those when the state offers come out rather than accept a fee paying place and so release places.

Also preparing myself for possibly losing a deposit. I had lived in -albeit small hope -that after last Friday's offer day, lists would move, particularly for Putney - as hoped Godolphin, LEH etc might win out for some. Am I right in thinking that Putney has a smaller year group this year? Sorry I am sure we covered this a week or so ago, probl'y on this thread in fact but on quick run through cant find it!
Thanks Eastpoint. A deposit is one thing but I don't think our family would wish to take hit of a term's fees as well. Ouch.

If there's anyone who's been through this before can you advise on how quickly the wait lists move? Trying to decide if I'm going to need to risk a deposit...sigh...

I agree that applying to lots of schools sounds bonkers, but with twins I guess you have to cover more options if you want to be sure of them being at the same school.

Worth checking out an hilarious thread on elevenplusforum in Independent section where some idiot appears to have entered DC twins for umpteen exams, both Grammar and Indep with locations all over the place!!

Sorry, wrong thread!

That's great, I'm sure she'll be very happy!

Surbiton admissions already said they have been cautious with their offer number this year, must be doubly hard when they have increased their intake to know how to calculate.
KGS do have a bulge year , the current 3rd year maybe? The first open day I went to the previous head was asked specifically if she was increasing the school six as the latest intake was bigger. She said no, they always offer about 200 for the 120 places but that year more accepted than usual. She said they had to honour the offers but had learnt a lesson!

Place Making!!!!

When waiting for dd at her City interview, I asked how many offers were made at last year (not expecting to get an answer). I was told nearly mid 100s - I took that to mean 140? They miscalculated though and had a bulge class. The teacher I spoke to said that cannot happen this year as they have run out of classrooms!

yes, this year "record" numbers is mainly due to kids taking more and more exams. if 10 yrs ago the norm was 3 application per child, today the norm is probably 5 or more, and that inflates the numbers. So WL will move in schools like PHS, WH, FSH, etc, have no doubt. How deep into the WL - that's the $1m question.

I wonder whether this year they'll end up going to the wait lists more than in previous if it's true that children are, on average, applying to more schools.

It must be so much easier being the registrar at, say, St Pauls Girls, than at a school that's traditionally perceived to be a banker. Also must be difficult at a city school (eg City boys or girls) that not only has limited space, but also has very unpredictable acceptances because it has such a large catchment area on account of its central location.

No no, the "tail risk" is statistical phrase for an unlikely event ; lets say WHS takes 100 every yr. and long term statistics shows them that they need to offer 200 kids a place to get 100 acceptances. now every year the acceptance rate will vary slightly, it can be 104, 95, 90, 100, 105 etc, they derived the 2x ratio from historical averages/patterns. So they know that with 90%- 95%-85% confidence level they will not end up with more than 108, (assuming that above that number they need to open a new class). BUT there is a chance/probability of say 5%, 3%, 10% that in one year suddenly they can get 116 acceptances even if they used the 2x strategy. that risk of getting the 116 is called a "tale risk" - and then the question what do they do? they cant withdraw offers, they can only open one more class (but can they really do it? do they have space) or they can say each class of the 4 will not be 25 but 29 now - well 29 per class also not that great, parents will not be impressed with that class size has gone up so much.
Their risk is not symmetric - the risk of getting too many kids creates far greater problem than getting less kids in and for that they also have WL.

I see. And the interview question parents don't like ( which school would you choose if you get all the offers?) is designed to help calculate that 'tail risk'.

Yes but by the time the schools get round to the waiting list then those that might have preferred that school will have maybe a) paid a deposit and b) persuaded themselves of the merit of the school that made a straight offer instead of a waiting list place.

They need to calibrate it, ideally, so that if they have 100 places they offer to the right amount to get that 100 without going to the wait list. How they do that I don't know, especially with some kids applying to up to 10 schools.

We're waiting for possible offers on Friday from three schools. I'm not sure which school we'll go for but if just one of them offers a place then we'll take place and allow that to make our decision. Being on a waiting list for another school wouldn't sway me as it just seems like prolonging the agony.

indeed splitbrain you are right; But they can offer more based on long term statistics but must make sure that the "tail risk" event (which may happen once every 15 yrs) is something they can really deal with (open an additional class) - which I think, for some of these city school is just not an option. had it been that easy for them to open another class, they would have offered 5 classes initially, after all, they run it as a business and the extra pupil they get in is all "profit". there is no shortage of demand for these schools as you can see, only supply constraints (i.e space, classes etc)

Been watching your adventures ladies...

Surely the safest thing would be to underoffer and then ring the waiting list? No school wants to find themselves with more acceptances than they have places for, that's a headache!

Does any one really know how many offers went out for WHS and PHS?
Thank you

Sonorous that's awful. You must have been astonished! (polite version). Gotta ask - did you go in the end or abandon after that fiasco?

I'm going to wait two weeks; then see where we are on the wait list and then decide. I keep telling myself to stop being a spoiled brat - we have an offer to a lovely school and I shouldn't be fussing about wait list for another.

I am sure the 2 or2.5x cover is how they operate.The schools have to factor in many refusals,change of circumstance,scholarships and bursaries to other schools and state grammar acceptances and higher preferences.This is all in the mix.At our state primary it is not the whole class who have grammar or private options it is an elite few,some may say unfairly, who have 2,3,4 options but obviously will have to turn down some eventually.The exams have been hard and the quality high.KGS will fill their places with the offers then may go to w/l but from the horses mouth they want to keep numbers low this year.

Yogli - some schools do exactly that and add a bulge class if they are over- accepted. My daughter was in just such a year at her school - five forms instead of the usual four. The head at one school we applied to told us it had happened twice recently there and they wanted to be careful that it didn't happen again. Must be a nightmare trying to get the numbers right.

When DS1 gained entry to Reeds a few years ago the numbers were - looking to take 40 boys in Year 7; they made offers to 75 boys. I don't know what happened after that in terms of acceptances and revert to waiting list etc., but the year group was approx 42 boys in the end.