waiting list experiences / help!

@shockeditellyou any response from admissions?

You are very welcome.

I actually think the School Admissions Code should be extended to set out exactly what must happen after offers are made. This is madness - some councils assuming that if they don’t hear, the offer is accepted. Some withdrawing an offer bur giving s certain amount of time. Some giving some more. Some having different dates for waiting lists etc. It’s chaos and not good for children or their families.

@Gobbolinothewitchscat one of the schools said that they won’t have any information sooner. Another said if I go back to them end of March they should be able to tell me WL position. I think 1st choice school are pushing back as they don’t want to deal with it and they hope that we will leave them alone but as you say as an academy they have more control than they are letting on.

Thank you for the virtual hug. Greatly received. :-)

Sending you all a virtual hug. It's horrible. From my perspective, I think finding out the waiting list place will be potentially horrible but quite cathartic as it feels like a milestone to reach.

I just really wish things would move faster for the rest of you. Our council website says they will make second round offers (in April) but when I contacted the school, they said that was only for schools the council was in charge of admissions for - so non-academies.

I don't want to give duff advice here but is it possible to contact the schools and see if they can give any update sooner? @Rinse123 - I know one school said maybe end March? I really hope that might be possible.

I too am having a difficult day i agree with @Dparent before today people were deciding but maybe as the it’s the first Monday after the deadline I thought some glimmer of hope would land today but if anything it all seems more hopeless and frustrating. @Gobbolinothewitchscat your LA seems one month ahead of ours although I’m sure 25 March may as well be 25 April when you are in limbo, it’s close and I’m sure you’ll have a positive result then.

Thank you @Gobbolinothewitchscat!
Hope you will have some good updates next week!

The problem for us it’s that we are allocated to the school which is far away with one hour bus journey from where we live, as we are in the oversubscribed catchment. We have a little one in KS1 and we foresee it is very difficult for us to send both to schools which both schools are farther away. DC is much calmer than me and he said he is okay with any secondary school. But yesterday he told me that he gathered from his friends he will get a place in the catchment if he keeps on waiting. I told him that we would try our best to sort out the transport problem for him but it seems so helpless as a parent. I have to act so resiliently but the truth is I’m not actually. I just keep worrying a lot and thinking about the worst!

It's just horrible. Isn't it? Sending solidarity to you.

What is confusing me is how schools can give waiting list places pre 15 March because they don't actually know who might have gone on a waiting list as it is the LA co-ordinating it all was my understanding

We were initially told 2 on list by the school on 2 March and I'm praying that's still the same. However, I'm worrying that hordes of others have joined the queue in the interim.

The school emailed us last week to say that the waiting list is being sent to them by the LA on Monday next week and they will update re waiting list places and make any offers a day or so later. So they take control back on 25 March essentially.

What a flipping nightmare this all is and made much harder by the fact that no one tells parents clearly what is going on for each school

Yes, I’m feeling a bit low today. I think I’ve started to lose my patience. I could persuade myself to wait for the last two weeks because people were thinking whether they will accept or reject their places. But today is the first day after the deadline and we are further down at the waiting list. LA could not tell whether they are releasing spaces to the waiting list or still processing the application. I can’t see any progress and don’t know how long we have to wait. Hope someone has good news to share to keep the encouragement going!

Just checking in how is everyone. It’s a bad day for me. I seem to start the week anxious and get better as the weekend nears.

@shockeditellyou here the LA controls waiting lists until 25 April then hands back to the school to manage thereafter.

We're pulling together our appeal cases now. Not sure who best to ask for data - the school itself or the LA?

@shockeditellyou i think they are going to button down the hatches until 25 April where we are. I’m sure they are inundated. I also appealed my first choice. Had not appreciated that the appeal would not be heard until June. I was barely coping with waiting until waiting list offers 25 April let alone June!

Also getting an automatic reply from admissions this morning, which is a shame as they'd previously been so helpful, but at the same time I completely understand!

@pearlsthatwerent thank you so much. I’m a bit deflated this week. The councils I’m
liaising with are not giving anything away and say no updates until 25 April. One school said end of March they may be able to tell me waiting list position and other school said they have no indication (which as same council seems odd) I feel like everyone is giving me radio silence.

I haven’t been on 11 plus forum waiting list chats. Maybe I’ll check them out thank you. I have put in appeal for 1st choice but that seems a long shot process too don’t think anything will happen with that any time soon.

Appeal.
Make a good case and fight it.
Such an awful situation.

Vent here! It's a special kind of agony I think!

That's such a long time. I really really hope you might hear something before then. We are lucky we will hear so quickly and need to remember that.

There's still lots of time to go til the beginning of September too and a lot can change. Keep telling myself this is a marathon and not a sprint. Have you looked on the eleven plus forum? It has some useful stuff re waiting lists in the forums

I think we'd have a reasonable chance at appeal, primary school have written a letter in support of DC to stay with their cohort for a good reason. However DC is quite keen for a fresh start and I don't know what is best! I am a lone parent so no one to discuss the minutiae with so it's down to me and my spreadsheet. 😁The weight of parenting responsibility is heavy sometimes!

@Gobbolinothewitchscat well that’s amazing really not long to wait. We will be advised 25 April. Please do update us. I’ll be thinking positive thoughts for you on Tuesday.

Admissions said they would tell us waiting list place or make an offer "a day or so" from Monday, 25th. I'm trying to read any positivity into that as to whether they would ONLY say that if they thought making an offer to anyone was likely. If not, would they not just say they will be in touch with waiting list places. But maybe it's just a stock phrase. Desperate times now 😂

@Gobbolinothewitchscat is that hear position or if you will be made an offer on Tuesday? Just have to keep everything crossed that you get a positive email and it’ll feel like some element of uncertainty has gone?

Training course on Tuesday. The school said they will need a day or so to go through it and work out what is what so thinking we will hear on the Tuesday

Your councils sound like ours. Next week is the week spent chasing people and the waiting lists are then sent to the grammar schools to deal with on the Monday thereafter as they are their own admission authorities.

I'm kind of in two minds about the waiting list. I'm desperate to know but also really worried they will say DS is 96th or something. I don't think that can happen but I really don't know. I'm giving an all day training course on Monday away from home and I'm really worried about getting a depressing email when I'm doing that and then having to trudge home. Don't trust myself not to look though