City of London Girls withdrawing offers

First come, first served is reasonable if the parents are sitting on all the confirmed offers the child might get. That is why this situation is not comparable to state grammars.

I just hope the outcry is strong enough that other schools don't try to attempt this next year.

first served will apply to some Grammar/State after the march 1st allocations
I haven't read the whole thread, but state schools (& that includes grammars!) are not allowed to do that.

Dragthing - I would be sharing your frustration at this but I am guessing that the admissions department cannot answer your question on the basis that there are other parents on this forum (not only this thread) who have taken a place but are apparently not definitely intending to send their child to the school. And seemingly others are also encouraging those parents not to let the school know if they are arriving or not. Sadly, I would guess that the position will be clearer for admissions this year after the state school offers are made. After last year, the school made less offers but I'm guessing that the 9 hour explosion will have been fuelled (in part) by some parents rushing to encourage others to take a place 'just in case'. Whatever system is used to allocate (and I note from alternative threads that the same issue of first come, first served will apply to some Grammar/State after the march 1st allocations) there will be those who try and circumnavigate leading to consequences that the school does not intend. The deposit paid as a pp stated is supposed to cement your intention to take the place at the school. Not everyone has a spare £1500 to effectively block another child taking a place. In your specific instance I would encourage you to remain in contact with admissions even if you are not getting a response and ensure they understand you would take a place if offered.

As a current CLSG parent I think the withdrawal of offers is unfair and the school is aware of the negative publicity it has attracted. The same thing happened last year and very little seems to have changed this year.

Although the school is located in very ugly buildings I can’t honestly fault the education as it is outstanding.

They over offer like all other schools

No, they obviously don't. Other schools manage to tailor their offers to realistic levels and therefore don't have exploding offers.

Good - I hope it means they put a stop to this. I'm not involved at all, but think its wrong on so many levels. Offers should be honoured, waiting lists utilised. Withdrawing offers is a cruel thing to do.

@dragthing if you look for Goodschools guide UK, you'll see a tweet from them about "rogue schools". You will also see the subsequent replies from the CEO of ISA and the Head of IAPS. There's a couple of other tweets from Headteachers also

I'm not good on twitter but I found some - @goodschoolsuk and @therealsusieh. That might point you in the right direction.

Those defending this as the only way city could manage their popularity must agree that they will have to re-think for next year. If the staff member referred to is to be believed, they were shocked by what happened. In that case they completely underestimated the potential for panic amongst parents. What happened this year is to me the logical outcome one year on from what happened last year. What did they expect? Next year can only be camping out and fist fights as others have said. The school will have to find another way to deal with their supposedly unique difficulties.

I have no doubt that city is an excellent school but it is far from unique in that respect. I speak as a parent with children in four different top independent secondary schools in London, all of which are excellent in different ways.

@Firefox1066 - am struggling to find these tweets. What are the @ names to search for?

Thankfully, the leaders of ISA, IAPS and a couple of headmasters have all tweeted that this is likely to be in contravention of the ISC agreement. I very much doubt that CLSG will employ exploding offers next year.

I still haven't had a response to my three emails to the school asking where my DD is on the waiting list - so some parents are getting responses and others not? Why on earth is this? I am staggered at the incompetence of the school and absence of effective communications.

I really struggle to understand how people can be defending the school's way of tackling the numbers of applications. To be clear, I am not personally affected by this. I am very glad we did not apply - it sounds enormously stressful for everyone.

I just honestly do not understand how they cannot find a better way of doing this. They must have some idea of the ratio of offers to acceptances. Going a little way down the wait list seems a perfectly good way of dealing with any undersubscription and appears to work well for other schools.

If City are honestly so low down people's preferences that they are worried about filling their places if they employ the standard wait list option then they should be doing something to tackle what sounds like very negative perceptions of the school instead of increasing that negative perception by behaving in such a cavalier way. These are quite little children we are talking about and not everyone applies to a billion schools. We applied to just one independent and one super-selective grammar with little stress because we don't have to decide until several days after state offer day, though I think we already know what we will do. Surely that is as it should be?

@MN164, I don't know, but I can guess which way the people defending CLSG would have voted...

Classic MN thread. Is the exploding offer debate a) more or b) less divisive than brexit?

I would not be so narrow minded and arrogant as to limit and declare 2 types. Just as in wider society there are many types including those that try to make best of whatever situation they find themselves in and take responsibility for their actions and/or lack of action.

Tall poppy syndrome. The reality is the school say what they’ll do if they fill, they can’t tell parents if it’ll be 15 days, 5 days or 5 hours because it’s out of their control. They over offer like all other schools. No one is forcing anyone to apply. If anyone is seriously considering the school (actually wanting to go, not as their 4,5,6th choice) then I would urge you to visit, talk to admissions (preferably before applying, not whenever you feel like it) and take the anonymous complaints of parents who don’t even send their kids there with a pinch of salt.

Btw I’ve been told that last years intake, which is the intake where offers exploded after 13 days, scored the highest ever scores in the entrance exam. Maybe parents who read t&cs encourage their children to read instructions throughly too.

The system clearly does not "work for the majority" @soyslatte. Even among the 70 who "won" in the process will be those who feel railroaded, or those who forfeited a hefty deposit to allow them to wait for state applications, or simply gain adequate time to weigh other offers. I imagine there'll be a fair few spare places whenever the first term's fees become due. Why bother telling them you've actually taken another offer before then, considering the way they've operated? It's been a shambles for CLSG whatever way you look at it, unless you look at it in a really, really weird way.

It seems there are two types of people - those who think that City’s behaviour shows what an amazing school it is and those who think the behaviour was a bit shit actually. I am firmly in the latter camp.

soya you don’t have to be rude, I was only asking how you see the school being different as you stated above.

I have googled but can’t find any conclusive answers.

Dancegirl - there is a website called google which can furnish you with information.

If you can’t be bothered then you don’t need to know.

because they are not just like any other school

soya could you explain how they are different from other schools?

User223344 - my position is clear and as already posted.

Question - how does attacking the school help your child? If you feel this negatively about the school, and the parents of children that will be attending that school, why do you have issue with not being part of that ecosystem for the next significant stage of your child’s education.

All this whining changes what? The process was communicated clearly and you for whatever reasons decided to delay. Accept some responsibility your inaction (?).

All this attack does is attract all the usual “morally superior” internet users to post their invalid opinions and slag off a great school unfairly.

Given the school didn’t know that it would mean 9 hours they didn’t know themselves what they would end up needing to communicate. So there’s actually no way their communication could have said what it needed to say.

I got a place for Dd through reading MN last year. Not through anything the school warned me about. Of the five girls from out state primary who got a place, DD got hers and our friend’s DD did because I alerted them. The other three all missed out. None of us knew this would happen. I got lucky and alerted a friend. As I keep saying if even the school was wrong footed we really do have to stop blaming those who lost out.

31Bel has it spot on. I wonder if the school will be reprimanded/fined somehow. I bet not but it would be comforting to think it was at least possible given that the ISC rules are clear.

Soyalatte you're reasoning doesn't hold water on any level. There are plenty of London schools with tight accommodation. But I'm guessing there is no point arguing with you on this one. And yes - you do come across as smug.

The fact that the posts got deleted on this thread does make me wonder whether someone at MNHQ has a child(ren) there TBH. I have seen far more aggressive posts on MN left to stand.

I am shocked by the total lack of sympathy for parents and children in this situation by some of these posters. I'm All Right Jack in spades.

Soya you say you “understand the angst” but you still defend City. Make up your mind where you stand. Please.

I think it is abhorrent that any parent comfortable in the knowledge of a secure place for their child can defend what City has done to my daughter and all those other girls.