Has anybody rejected their school place for this reception year and why ?

[Cratos]

I am trying to understand how many people have already rejected their reception school offer for 2012 and why.
We made a late application but we feel that our chances are very low at this stage. Is there any hope ? Do people really reject places two three weeks after they recieve confirmation without knowing whether or not they may get a place in another school. Your thougths please.

We'll probably be rejecting our reception place (for an incredibly oversubscribed school) but likely not for a couple of months - we're relocating so as soon as we have exchanged contracts on our house, and thus been allocated a space at the (undersubscribed) school in our new area, someone local to us will get a very welcome phone call!

So you might have people like me who will be releasing spaces.

Thanks I heard that some people wait to confirm places in private schools before rejecting their places as well. But not sure how long they keep them for before the final decision

Well the county where I live you HAVE to respond to your allocation by today - so that's maybe why so many already have. As for us, we've decided to send our DS to an independent school, so we'll be rejecting our primary school place.

We didn't get any of our 3 choices, have rejected offered school (against lea's standard recommendation to accept anyway). Reason being we didn't want to hold onto a place that we have no intention of using when there may be a family holding out for a place at that school. We will go private if we have to but will decide nearer the time.

There were two boys that I knew were going to private schools but they had named pegs and everything in my ds's classroom on the first day of term. Hadn't bothered telling school they weren't going. I'm sorry to say I think this happens a lot because with state schools, as opposed to private, because there are no financial repercussions to accepting place. I think they genuinely wanted to keep their options open but I feel that once they'd put down the large deposits for the other schools, they realistically knew that they no longer needed the state place.

It will be a relatively small number holding out for private places though. Not least because a cancellation of a place now means they are potentially liable for a term's fees in lieu of notice. It will work both ways, as some of those who had already applied to a private school will now accept a state place if they got allocated their first choice.

I think your responses are confirming my worry that we may not know whether or not we have a place until September since some people don't even bother telling the schools. I guess there is not statistic by school to help us guess what percentage is likely to reject. in our area, there are a few private schools so fingers crossed.

Hi i rejected the place we were offered,we applied late and dint get the school we wanted,i have 3 aged 4 and under and a nother due end of september,and i cant drive,so for us it has to be the local school,the other was too far and it was horrible.We are now on the waiting list for the original local school,i have no experience of this so have no idea how long we could be waiting for!

It's so baffling, isn't it? For instance, we should reject our place for the school we were allocated as we having no intention of using it - we moved in March so it's now too far away. However, as you say, the standard advice is to accept it. So we have done. Meanwhile we're high on the waiting list for the school around the corner. But unless someone rejects their place for that school, we won't get a place there. And why would someone reject their place, when the advice is not to, even if, like us, you're never going to use it? Bonkers!

We also have a private school back-up plan if the local school place doesn't happen, so we are definitely not going to use the place we've accepted. And yet all advice tells us to hang on to it, just in case... And that unsettling 'just in case' is all it takes to make us not reject it.

Exactly - in an uncertain world, the last 'just in case' could apply to us, so even we can only be 99% certain that we won't be needing the allocated place. With all those possible 'just in cases', no matter how unlikely, why would anyone reject a place? Is it just destined to be a mad scramble in Sept?

that's true schoolsnightmare so in fact, one child giving up a place in your preferred school could actually push you up several places on the waiting list - no. 1 on the waiting list gets the place, meaning they pull out of their second choice school, meaning no. 1 on the second schools waiting list get's the place, and that person may also have been above you on your original schools waiting list, so you move up 2 spaces with one move.

OP, are you in an area where people automatically get put on the waiting list of all preferred schools they didn't get a place at? If so, I guess lots of people who are above you on the waiting list would not actually accept the place if it is offered. Having got their head around their second choice school, and explained to the child that this will be the school they are attending, then many parents wouldn't accept a place if offered from a waiting list.

The deadline for responding may vary depending on the date when the offers were made. It's usually 2 weeks after the allocation date so for my LEA offers were sent on 20th April and the LEA needs to receive acceptance slips by Friday 4th May.
Some LEAs may attempt to check what has happened when they receive no response slips from parents and other do not. My LEA says on it's website that during May they compile waiting lists and that additional offers are made in June/July. This will be dcs from the waiting list and late applicants according to admissions criteria (usually distance from school if no siblings or SEN) HTH

In my LEA I'm pretty sure you don't actually have to accept a place, just decline if you don't want it so I can imagine that inertia or forgetfulness means that places are taken by children who don't intend to use them.

Yes in our area your name autmatically gets put on the waiting list.
From all responses, the conclusion is that everything is up in the air till the last minute so people don't have any confidence therefore they decide to keep their places. Certainly, something is wrong here and needs fixing. There must be a better process.

We rejected our first choice school last year due to change in circumstances. However it was an undersubscribed school anyway, so wouldn't of actually helped anyone.

Hope you get your place

Hi we have rejected ours we didn't get any of our choices , and got a school we can't attend due to a family issue , my partners sisters kids got and their been terrable argument and threatening behavior, so we know we won't use the place so have rejected incase there is a family that really wants to go there Xx

For DD, she had a place at an oversubscribed school for reception. We moved house in early June to another area and so didn't reject the place until then as didn't want to until we definitely knew the move was happening. So someone on the waiting list will have got her place in June. Hope something like that happens for you.

how soon to they regig places?

all of you that have rejected their places do you all have back up plans? what happens if you dont get a place in the school you are holding out for, we did this last year, we were 3rd on the waiting list for preferred school and a year on we are still waiting so we are glad we took the place allocated, it is a lovely school it was just logistics of getting dd there and back but we have managed and glad we did as friend who also on waiting list got allocated same school as us and rejected it (school now full) she now has an hours drive to the next nearest school with places

I knew i would get my new school as it was undersubscribed (by over 25%) and we were in (the small) catchment

We had a state reception place for DS but we rejected it in July (!!) in favour of private. Basically it took us until then to make up our mind. I felt bad that some other family was waiting mind.

Cuddler:

"i have no experience of this so have no idea how long we could be waiting for!"

I just hope that you're lucky! In my DD's year, the school admitted the first person from the waiting list into her year of 60 in year 3, as nobody left the school until that point.

Where are you on the waiting list? Do you have alternative plans for 'an education suitable for your child's interests and aptitides' in place (such as home education), from the term after their 5th birthday at least? Don't wish to be alarmist, but saying 'oh, I can't get to another school so I'll just sit on the waiting list and wait, even if that takes years' is potentially a recipe for disaster... Do you have a Plan B?