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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Waiting Lists for Primary

24 replies

sassyminder · 05/04/2011 11:44

Does waiting lists really work? We were offered our 5th choice of school but with the possibility to keep my dd on waiting lists it means more streess until September. Does it really worth keeping hopes of a place somewhere else just to find out she will be going to the place she got just now??

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trifling · 05/04/2011 11:48

If you live somewhere where lots of pupils go private then yes, as places come up very late.

prh47bridge · 05/04/2011 11:58

Yes, waiting lists do work. Some schools see more movement than others with parents sending children private and moving out of the area. Schools often don't know who is actually going to turn up until a week or two into the autumn term. Keep your daughter on the waiting lists but don't stress about it. Assume they won't come up. Then it will be a bonus if any of them do. I know that is easier said than done, though.

LondonSuperTrooper · 05/04/2011 12:30

I hope that they do work as I'm on the waiting list for my second & third choice.

What worries me though is that you may be a told a place has become free a few days before starting school. I find it very worrying as this means that DC won't go through the induction process in the summer

rickymummy · 05/04/2011 14:11

At the school my DS attends, places came up right until the last minute. A friend's daughter was offered a place the day before term started, and had already bought all the uniform for another school etc.

noko · 05/04/2011 14:19

to londonsupertrooper.

you said that you are on the waiting list. do you have to decline the offer they are offering you to be on the waiting list.

trifling · 05/04/2011 14:47

no you can be on any waiting list incl for schools you haven't applied for.
as for as induction goes, round here it was 30 mins in classroom and by time we started school all the teachers we met that day had left. Not too much of a worry if you miss it.

LondonSuperTrooper · 05/04/2011 14:51

Noko,
I must accept the offer and request to be added onto the waiting list for my other two schools.

I haven't actually been allocated my school yet, will find out next week but I know unofficially that I have got my #1 school but I have changed my mind and want either my #2 or #3 school.

becstarsky · 05/04/2011 14:51

I dunno, my DS has been sliding down the waiting lists for his 1st and 2nd choice schools all year. 'Waiting list' is a bit of a misnomer really as it isn't based on length of time waiting, it's based on school admissions criteria. He was 3rd on waiting list for his second choice school last summer, and is now 13th on waiting list at that school. For his first choice school he was 34th on list, and is now 35th on list.

He's settled well at his 3rd choice one, and tbh think I'll take him off the waiting lists next time they ask as I'm not sure I'd move him now.

trifling · 05/04/2011 14:59

It's worth knowing that anyone moving into the area comes higher on the list than you if they move closer, so yes you can easily go down the lists especially in small catchments

noko · 05/04/2011 15:14

it's the same thing for me as well , My ds got my first choice but i changed my mind , and want him to go to the second preference.
so accepting the ploace and requesting to stay of the waiting list is what i woud do.
thanks

Original poster

sassyminder · 05/04/2011 15:20

Yes I can and should accept the place I was offered (otherwise I will end up with no place) and still be on every other waiting list, Noko, I dont know where your info came from but mine came from the council letter. Anyway I am looking to move to the location of my First choice regardeless getting in there, so thank you trifling, I will carry on with my moving plans. I have just called the council and I am on 19th on the list.

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Changebagsandgladrags · 05/04/2011 15:33

Yes yes yes they work!!

We were in this position last year, we got offered our 6th choice school. OK two of those we had no chance with, but 1st choice was our own parish church school and we assumed we'd get in.

We stayed on the waiting lists for three of the schools and got offered 2nd choice (which we never thought we'd have a chance with as we are double the distance away from 1st choice).

I remember actually crying myself to sleep this time last year.

Original poster

sassyminder · 05/04/2011 16:06

Oh thank you so much Changebagsand...my first is too my own parish church school, my second I think I dont have a chance, my third neither (but dont care does not even understand why applied to that one), was betting on the 4th where dd attends nursery and ended up with the 5th...
Is 19th on the waiting list too behind???????????????????

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Changebagsandgladrags · 05/04/2011 17:21

I dunno, I went from 9th, to 6th to 3rd then back to 6th at original first choice.
With second choice, 12th to 5th to 2nd to 1st. Then had this odd situation where there were 29 in the class, with us next on the list for a few weeks. I was on the phone to the LEA every day!

How many classes are there/what's the intake?

Dancergirl · 05/04/2011 18:07

In my experience, if you really want a place at a particular school and are prepared to wait, chances are you'll be successful. There is a LOT of movement in the coming months.

When dd1 started reception we had a class list issued to us in July. By the time September came, about 5 children didn't start the school cos they'd gone elsewhere! And it's only April now, a lot could happen in 5 months.

noko · 05/04/2011 20:12

To Changebagsandgladrags

How do you find out about your child's position on the waiting list? and should i call now or wait until the end of the month

Changebagsandgladrags · 05/04/2011 21:47

Give it two weeks for everyone to accept/decline places then ask the LEA where you are on the list.

noko · 05/04/2011 21:54

ok thank you for that> i didn't know that finding a place for your child will be this stressful

Changebagsandgladrags · 06/04/2011 07:33

I know, it is the most stressful thing I have done.

noko · 11/04/2011 14:09

called the LEA today and ask to put DS on the school waiting list. they told me to put my request in writing. I thought we can do it by phone as well.

Kaekae · 12/04/2011 15:52

Yes I have been told to put my request in writing too. And I am only allowed to go on three waiting lists.

prh47bridge · 12/04/2011 18:04

You are legally entitled to go on as many waiting lists as you want. Do not take no for an answer. If the council insists on restricting you to three waiting lists they are breaking the law. If they won't budge get it in writing from them and refer the matter to the Local Government Ombudsman.

nlondondad · 12/04/2011 18:54

Well, at least in our part of London (islington/haringey border)waiting lists DO work.

What happens is that a child will be on a number of waiting lists, at various positions. Then something happens...like the parents of a child with an offer find that they have been able to sell their house and move out after all; or there is a divorce; or a simple, unexpected, relocation due to work. So the child on the waiting list gets that place and is then taken off ALL the other waiting lists so everyone moves up one, and so forth. So to move from say 15 in the list to getting a place does not require all the children ahead of you to get a place at that particular school -just some school...

noko · 13/04/2011 12:15

good to know that waiting list works for some. as i only want to keep ds to one school waiting list. i really hope it works for all of us

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