Waiting list question - SE London

hi. Yes I have been advised that there is the most movement a few weeks in. I have spoken with my child and we will give it a term so up until December to hope for a place.

it just means 2 lots of school uniform purchasing which is expensive but will be worth fly if that’s where he will feel most happy. I’m praying we are offered a place in the first couple of weeks though. The list has moved quite a bit already.

I've been emailing Lewisham council, who informed me that we are third. The school is an academy, so they deal with the waiting list themselves.

We're waiting in Lewisham too. Currently 3rd on the list. My ds hated his induction days at given school so we will homeschool until he's offered a place. We've been emailing the school, but no response as no one is there during the holidays. We're feeling really unsettled!
Hoping that we'll receive some good news soon.

Even if you get one a bit in September I'd recommend seriously considering accepting a place anyway. There was a good amount of movement at my DC's school in the first month and I know people who took up places a few weeks in with no regrets. It takes a while to settle in to Y7, friendship groups really don't settle down for months and a bit of upheaval might be worth the next 5-7 years.

I’m waiting for a place a Kingsdale for my son. He got a half scholarship and started at 33 on the waitlist. Update was sent out today and he is now number 7. I’m hoping we secure a place by 1st week of September. He has his heart set on going here.

I definitely know people who were quite far from their preferred school and ended up getting in. Some of my dd’s friends (currently yr 7 in various Lewisham schools) have also moved after the start of the year when places came up or when they ended up feeling the school they were in wasn’t right for them. Not ideal, but could be an option too.

That's wonderful! Congrats

We found out yesterday that DD got a place. She was 11th on the scholarship WL.

I was wondering the same, though we are quite far down the list. May I ask where you are on the waitlist?

Loads of movement. Do enrol in one you have. I know several families who had chosen elsewhere and their DC started in lower choice, loved it, few weeks in got the other one and turned it down. Do go and look and be sure it wouldn’t suit your child. My DC just finishing at a Lewisham secondary (not a popular choice) and has had a brilliant experience.

Has anyone heard from Kingsdale about waiting list movements yet? It's surprising don't seem to have sent any updates since 3 March.

@FishfingerFlinger Thanks, it’s pretty crappy, isn’t it? We’re 6th on one waiting list and 27th on another so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. I know one of her friends had a second round offer for a school we would take and rejected it (for Kingsdale incidentally) so we should have moved up one place at least! They’re something like 0.05 of a mile closer than us, it’s crazy how small the distances can be.

It is yes - and I'm sorry to hear you are in that position! I know other people who ended up with none of their choices in the initial offers but some successes with waiting lists for other schools so fingers crossed something better comes up for you. It's a horrible position to be in.

@FishfingerFlinger Is it a Harris Academy with multiple waiting lists for each band? We’re in a similar position and the LA can’t tell us where we are as they say allocation is random 🤷‍♀️. Unfortunately we didn’t get any of our choices and ended up with the borstal 😔.

Ours is a bit complicated - the school effectively has multiple waiting lists. We're near the top of the relevant list but it's unlikely to move much/at all. We actually live really near the school - much closer than other children who will get in - but that's not the deciding factor.

I'd also love to know what proportion of people who didn't get their first choice had a first choice that was a long-shot vs schools that they had a reasonable expectation of getting into.

We were definitely fully expecting to get our first choice, not unreasonably. Everyone we speak to can't believe we didn't get in.

So hard for the DC's - in some places the year 6's have split into two friendship groups already depending on where they are going (girls of course) and the single DC who has been offered a third school is a bit lost and lonely.
They will soon start talking about uniform shopping where there are still one or two DC's who still waiting to hear.
Agree with him or not (house move rich enough for private etc) RR has brought it out into the open regarding what is not far off a lottery for many despite being dressed up as entry requirements (an extremely bright child having an off day at 11+, living 10 metres outside an arbitrary boundary which has been fine on previous years, some priests will sign any certificate of practice whereas others require daily attendance, numbers of siblings, ehcps and LACs).
As for boroughs saying 97% of applicants got into the first three choices you put down 2, 3 and 4 so you don't get allocated the near borstal that no one wants