Reception Waiting Lists...

[Pyrrah]

Does anyone want to join me in obsessing and fretting over the waiting list for the school they didn't get?

LA just told me that we are no. 47 on the list for ours.

Given that I'm nearly 1200 metres outside the last distance offered for last year and this is central London I'm a bit shocked.

At this point every child who had the school as a higher preference than the one they were allocated is automatically on the waiting list whether is was 1st, 2nd, 3rd or whatever choice, and today is before many people will have accepted places so I'm really shocked that I'm not 150th.

LA were also lovely and told me I could ring anytime to check DD's position on the list.

(How often a week is too often? )

Up to 44th - hooray!

Snowme - yes, 47th is not bad. Some areas of London have very high turnover especially in central areas which are less long-term residential and more the kind of place people live in as young professionals and move out to have children.

A substantial of students in this school are from other countries and many return home after a couple of years. The area is also one where you can't buy houses locally very easily so no leafy green catchment can be built up.

They took a bulge class for the first time this year so there are 50% more places and fewer siblings than there would have been.

A lot of schools in the surrounding area are very good - I have specific reasons for wanting this school that others may not - so a lot of people will probably drop off the list after 31st August as they're perfectly happy with the option they got. The vast majority of parents are very unlikely to want to move kids once term starts.

The school has very high mobility and I know children have got places who live a lot further away than I do.

My husband has been a governor at the school for nearly a decade and the HT reckoned that we were in a good position to get a place by the end of reception/in Y1. In the meantime we do have a school that we are quite happy with and is very convenient.

We've just found out we're second on the list for our second choice school (We got our fourth choice). Talking to other parents it seems we might have a chance. Is it as good as it seems? I know that we could go down as well as up but the area is high mobility with people always leaving. I just don't want to get our hopes up...

pyrrah nice one - you're going in the right direction! What Borough are you again?

sportinguista I would be really optimistic if I was 2nd - especially if you are in a high mobility area. I spoke to someone recently who was 12th on offer day, then 7th on the day after offers had been accepted/declined, and then they got offered a place 3 weeks into the first term. Obviously it can vary though - can you find out how much the catchment increased for that school from April - Sept last year, that might give you an idea?

Will post our news tomorrow - we were 11th on offer day; am hoping we go up but due to high mobility we might also go down!

Lozario, I'm in Southwark.

Ah yes thought you were close, couldn't remember if it was that or Wandsworth. We're Lambeth who are not so great with the info sharing!

Well what was I just saying about Lambeth...?? I rang this morning, having been told to on the offers day, and was told it would now be another TWO WEEKS before I can find out where we are on the list. She said it was because they had so many late applications to process.

This came after getting a BFN this morning and then the kids going mental at me saying it was time to get shoes on to go to preschool.

I cried.

oh Lozario how annoying for you.
The uncertainty of not knowing so hard. xx.

Bromley won't give me any info about waiting list positions until the 20th, either. Boo. All I know is that the last place offered was at 0.21 miles and we're at 0.32 miles.

My LA will not tell us anything either. They said that I would be contacted in a couple of days in there was a place. I also checked what phone numbers they had for us and after checking she said they didn't have any!! So I have given my mobile and have just emailed them to confirm and to also add our current home number (for the next few weeks) and husbands mobile number!

Lozario that is outrageous. And sorry about the BFN as well :(

I can't believe Southwark have less late applications that Lambeth - I would try calling again and see if you get someone different on the line if you didn't give your name last time. In any case, two weeks is mad, they should be far more sorted out than that.

Can you try a tame local councillor?

I heard this morning that Lewisham have 26 kids in the Haberdasher's fiasco. Me thinks it would be easier to just buy a portacabin for a year than mess around now. The appeals there are going to be horrific and rightly so given that a primary place is an automatic secondary place and they are like gold-dust.

Is it just me or do there seem to be more mess-ups this year than usual?

What happened with Haberdashers?

I tried ringing again this afternoon but got through to the same woman! D'oh. She said same thing - try again in 2 weeks. I had already emailed our local councillor who hasn't replied.

I've been trying to get an idea of how much catchments enlarge from April - Sept for a 90 intake - it seems to be anything from 40 metres to over 100 metres so at currently 37 metres out I feel like we might have a good chance? DH says I need to accept I have no control over this and there are no guarantees. I know he is right but wish he'd stop saying it but I find it difficult to, especially knowing we were that close.

oh yes and it was in the paper that Southwark messed up a woman's application as they told her she had a place but then withdrew it as they'd counted twins as one person, so now she has nothing again! So agree Pyrrah that there are a fair few balls-ups this year!

They got the grid-references wrong, gave 26 children (apparently) places at Habs who shouldn't have got them.

Then 12 days later they wrote and said sorry we messed up we're taking the place away. Also told all the parents who missed out that they now have a place.

Most of the parents are launching appeals as case law says that a council only has max 3 days to withdraw the offer.

Total, total mess up.

It is indeed a mess. What they should have done is left the allocations as they stood and got the parents who missed out to appeal. Not ideal but in line with the Admissions Code and previous cases. I believe this is a brand new free school and I'm not clear whether it is Lewisham or the school that has messed up but they have taken a bad situation and made it worse. I pity the appeal panel that is going to have to sort this mess out.

The free-school case is in Southwark.

Lewisham is the Haberdashers case - one of the most sought-after primaries in London. With 26 misplaced students they might as well just run a bulge-class. Probably cheaper than the legal costs likely to be incurred now.

If I was a parent there, I would fight tooth and nail to keep the place.

Apparently we will now find out our WL position on Monday afternoon. I'll believe it when I see it! Although I am not expecting good news now as have also heard the delay is due to tons of late applications

On a positive note, the school we have been allocated just had a great Ofsted inspection - official decision not published yet but the general consensus seems to be that it went well. I am taking the littlest one to a toddler group there on Monday morning to begin to integrate.

(You can already see where this is headed - we'll end up absolutely loving allocated school and will be in a quandary about moving him come Sept/Oct!!)

Well after our initial positions being 3rd and 2nd on the waiting lists, I called to check today and we're now 6th and 5th. My initial optimism is faltering

nina that is disappointing but there is still lots of time. Would you move your child if a place came up after term started?

I'm still at 44th!

Lozario, hoping for good news for you next week! Nice to know your allocation is good though.

We're now 5th on the waiting list! It's a 90 intake so I wonder if that means we might have a chance of getting a place before Sept? It's a really over-subscribed school though so we'll see, won't hold my breath.

We are 1st on our list, but admissions told me only 2 got in off the waiting list last year (1 before September and 1 after) so think there is very little movement

Shocked here - got 3rd choice (good school, mile away),and I knew a kid half as far as us from 2nd choice was over 80 on the waiting list, so didn't expect to be above 30 for our first choice (closest school, entire town applied there)

We're at no.5, and receptionist was saying may be higher after confirmations/refusals are received next week, and pretty much guaranteed if we wait after July when kids get to visit their schools and many parents give up on the waiting lists. Though she did make sure to explain positions on wait lists can go down as well as up - but also that we should take all 7 years into account, and several children join in the first month of term after others give up on waiting lists, and settle very quickly...

Trying to be as breezy as possible with ds, saying only "you've got a place at school X where friends A and B are going, but you might go to go to school Y which is much closer where C is and D is going" - his response is usually he wants to go to school Z where E is going, despite E having left 6 months ago to go to school Z's nursery!

notcitrus we're in exactly the same position then - currently 3rd choice and 5th on WL for 1st! Am trying to adopt breezy attitude too but probably failing as all I'm talking about with other mums is schools. DS doesn't seem to care either way though!

What's your 3rd choice like?

We got our second choice which is ok. Can ring this morning to find out where we are on the waiting list. Have been obsessing for weeks!!

3rd on the waiting, so fingers crossed!