Waiting lists: maintained by schools or LEA? "Back doors" to admission?

[afussyphase]

I've heard that the school that we had wanted (DD started YR last fall, so heading into Y1 this Sept) "runs its own waiting list" and that friend-of-friend's child got in, though they were originally approximately where we are on the LEA waiting list. We are now apparently 18th. There's no way they live that much closer than we do. My friend suggested that if we decide we want a place, we should go and visit the school, meet the Head, etc, as they essentially have discretionary control over the waiting list and it's London so there is movement in and out of the school. When someone leaves, he said that offers are not made in order of distance by the LEA but by the school.
We thought we had to just wait, and meanwhile DD has had a really good year at the school she's in. But this threw me a little! Does anyone know how waiting lists are handled, who by, and whether there are "back doors" like this?

I do know that schools in my London Borough are taking control of their own waiting lists for Y1 and upwards. The Headteacher at our local " sell a kidney to get your PFB into" has said she is glad. Now she doesn't have to take the next child on the list if they already have a perfectly good school place. Admittedly this is second hand information, so it may be Chinese Whispers

The waiting list, if there is one, should be held by the admission authority for the school. If it is a VA school, academy or free school that means the school itself. For other types of school that is the LA, although they could get the school to do it.

Holding the waiting list does NOT give the school discretionary control over the waiting list. They must order the waiting list using the school's admission criteria. If they someone the head likes, whoever should be at the head of the waiting list would have a very good case for appeal.

In my borough the lists are held by the council until the 31st August and then by the schools themselves.

From what I have gleaned locally, some schools ring every parent on the waiting list to see if they wish to remain on it, and others wait till a place comes up and then ring the people on the list in order until they find someone who says yes.

So if you are on a waiting list and desperately keen for a particular school, it's worth calling at the beginning of September to make sure you are on the list.

Word is that some schools stick strictly to admissions criteria, others have been rumoured to do a bit of covert selection but no idea if said rumours are true - v high mobility in the local area so places come up very regularly (some schools only have 25% of the reception class still there in Y6).

Things change in September as schools will again become responsible for in-year admissions. They are supposed to operate in tandem with the LA, so that the LA is kept in the loop on admissions and pupils leaving.
Whether a waiting list is kept is for schools to decide (or the LA if it is a community school) The only requirement is for each admission authority to hold a waiting list for the autumn term for reception and year 7. There is absolutely no question that schools have to admit based on who has the highest priority against the admission criteria when a place becomes available. The big question is how do parents know a place becomes available, especially if the school is not keeping a waiting list.

"Friend of a friend" may have got in on appeal (not everyone tells people they're appealing as they think it will influence people against them if they get in) or statement for SEN or another exceptional circumstance.

Yes. I find it very hard to believe (and I don't want to believe) that there is a 'back door' like this -- I also wondered if friend-of-friend might have had statement or whatever circumstance that they kept private. And we aren't desperate - we got a place, luckily, and have had a good year.
But .. given how little authorities seem to do to ensure that people live where they say they live, I also doubt that they would really carefully follow up to ensure that their list is the same as the school's list, and check through distances when movement occurs, and all that. Does anyone know if they do? I think they certainly should, particularly where either there's a shortage of places, or where a school is very popular.
So - although MN would probably explode if there were actually documented cases of this - I'm not sure local authorities care enough to ensure that what they say is happening is really what's happening. And that bugs me.

Admission -- interesting. So from what you've written, it sounds like schools could, potentially, "get around" rules by selectively informing parents (from their own, not LEA, lists) when places come up? F-of-f's DC was in the school nursery.
The schools I'm talking about are LA community schools - not academies, VA or church, so they should be going by whatever set of rules applies to these mainstream state schools. There is a local authority waiting list, on which we and these others were initially 30-ish but now friend-of-friend apparently has a place and we remain 18th - they visited, met the Head etc, and we didn't (since the first visit pre-YR). I guess either the rumour is false and they got in through appeal, statement, DC were 'looked after' but this isn't known to friend, whatever (though why would they have been 30ish on the list- they would have gotten in).. or this 'back door' story has some truth to it. I don't think they could get to 18 spots above us according to the official.

The same rules apply to all schools. Sadly there are some head teachers who think they can ignore the rules and admit whoever they want. Unfortunately the only way to deal with this, if that is what has happened, is for whoever should have got the place to appeal. The head should eventually get the message if they lose an appeal every time they choose to admit someone for the wrong reasons.

afussyphase not sure who you say was previously looked after but that child should have been at the top of the admission criteria if they were previously looked after by any Local Authority. If that is your child you need to talk to the LA as a matter of urgency as they will be required to offer you a place.
mcfluffy regarding musical aptitude awards, a careful reading of the admission criteria is required as in most such cases it says if the places are not awarded that the places must be filled to PAN from "ordinary" applications. If so the school were breaking the admission code by not filling the vacant places and some pupils have been disadvantaged. Apart from the fact that the admission is based on musical aptitude not the level of ability to play musical instruments - again breaking the admission code.

No, my DC are not looked after but I thought that there might have been circumstances that were not public, regarding the other child. But yes, in that case they would rightly have been top of the list all along!

prh47bridge -- It seems it is unlikely that appeals would come up. I don't think I have any basis for appeal, for example, because I don't know who was offered a place or why, it's all rumour. How would anyone know? So it does sound like Heads could do this, without facing consequences, because the information on when new DC move into a school, where they live and on what basis they get a place is not publicly available. I think it should be - names removed, exact addresses too, but distances and whether it's on a music place, an exception to the infant class size restriction, and so on. This would make it much more fair because people could appeal, and they'd know when they had likely grounds.
Now, why Heads would risk rule-breaking to this extent is another question...

Whether or not anyone would appeal depends on how closely people are tracking the waiting list. If the person at the head of the waiting list becomes aware that another child has been admitted they may appeal. Similarly if someone further down the waiting list thinks they should be first they could appeal when a child is admitted. I have helped with some such appeals so they do happen. And, even if there isn't an appeal, the LA would have a few things to say to the head if they find the school has admitted someone who wasn't at the head of the waiting list.

Right. That's completely what I would have thought, but leaves me with a mystery -- either friend-of-friend has secret special circumstances, or the LA doesn't know when children are admitted, from which distances, to this particular school.
Either way, requiring people to 'become aware' when someone is admitted to the school so they are aware that they suddenly may have grounds for a successful appeal isn't right. It gives advantages to people who are socially connected to people already in highly sought-after schools, and gives advantages to DC with pushy parents who are able and willing to seek out rumours and act on them! Crazy.
As of September apparently, schools in our LA will maintain their own waiting lists. So presumably any unfairness will be greatly amplified then. I guess we could consider trying this back door thing ourselves but I wouldn't feel good about it. Maybe that's just the system.