Hello all,
Grammar school waiting lists! Just when you thought it was all over after March 3rd. I can talk from experience on this one. It is difficult to predict movement on waiting lists but generally, the procedure is as follows.
March 3rd - although the schools do not have CAF forms they can work out from the rank lists they have created and the list received back from the LA who has accepted schools higher up. Most schools do not contact people who have obtained a place at a higher preferred school but a few (Wilsons) do. It does not mean that the child is offer two places but they are given the opportunity to be placed onto the waiting list. As the waiting list is created in rank order these children are likely to be placed near the top and any vacancies that occur will mean they will secure a place before others on the list. Is this fair? Well, there are many threads on this issue.
Next they have to wait two weeks for the receipt of the acceptances/rejections. I believe this was March 17th this year.
Finally, the admissions officers can start to make offers to the children at the top of the list usually by telephone until the published admission number (PAN) is reached. At this point the formal waiting list is created and letters will be sent to all indicating their position on the waiting list.
Now comes the hard part. The wait...
Offers at this stage can only be made if another child declines the offer of the place. Declines at this stage are usually due to acceptances of indie school places or other preferred grammar schools.
Generally, if you are at wait list position 1- 5 it is highly likely that you will be offered a place, 6 - 10 likely and 11 -15+ possbily. This is only an estimate and year on year it changes. When you will be offered is more uncertain but anytime from late March to 1st week in September. Yep there are those that hold onto two offers (1 indie & 1 grammar) until the last possbile minute but most tend to give up their place just before Easter as they will be liable for a terms fees otherwise.
However, the Sutton boys grammar schools were mostly affected by the chain caused by the Tiffin boys offers. Tiffin boys used to rank boys by number so you could have a number of boys who all acheived the same score. If Tiffin fell below the PAN they would then offer all the boys on the same score, at the same time. e.g. 13 boys all on score 231 would all be offered. It was likely that some of these 13 also held Sutton, Wilsons and Wallington places. This in turn would create vacancies and more offers could be made. However, Tiffin have changed there ranking this year and each boy now holds their own position.
How will this affect the movement on the waiting lists, I am not sure but the most movement on the lists is generally between now and the end of April and then a slow trickle until September.
Hope this helps a little.