Accepting offers

[T123]

Hi. New here.
I've applied to 5 private primary schools for my DD. I'm on the waiting list for two, have one offer and am waiting for the other two to offer, one in October and one in Feb.
my question is, how do you manage this? I have to let the school that has already offered know by the end of sept, but by then I won't know about the final two. Likewise, if we get an offer from the oct one, I will have to say yes or no before we get offered, or not, from the final one. Each one is asking for a deposit or around £2500 to secure a place so far too much to lose.
Finally, the two we are on the waiting list for are our first choice, so how long do we hang on for them.
That's not even considering the state primaries which we won't know about until April! (There is one excellent one in the area, and 4 not good!)
Very stressed, and unsure as which way to jump.

Any advice would be very gratefully received as I know I'm not the first to be in this position.

Thanks
T

It's a well trodden route but the number of options you are chasing makes it even more difficult.

You can probably realistically estimate your chances (but no guarantee) on securing the state place you want with some investigation of their criteria and by looking at distances offered in previous years. If there is a fair - good chance you will get the state you want, consider cutting down your options.

Are you really happy with the FIVE local preps you are considering? That's an awful lot of schools you have deemed suitable for your dc? I would realistically chase 2 or 3 maximum. But it depends how deep your pockets are really..You have one guaranteed place available, for which you would take if you got no other indie offers and no suitable state offer? Then you need to bite the bullet and secure it.
If it were me, I would then decide on one other prep that you will hold out for and hope you get a choice of the two. Remember there will be lots of other indie parents holding out for more than one offer so usually, the indie places free up once people start making their decisions. It's a waiting game. But perfectly normal for the indies to secure a commitment BEFORE the state places are offered.

Basically, the timing isn't coincidence. The school wants a deposit to secure the place as they don't want to have unfilled places with no financial redress if lots of parents jump ship after state school allocations. You'd be wise to narrow down your choices and you will have to be prepared to either lose the private school place or lose a deposit. if you lose a deposit to go to a state school you will have saved a lot more than £2500!

Thanks both. The state school is probably a red herring, no one from my road or the next has got in for three years. Very unlikely.

It seems from what you've said that I'm hedging way too much and really need to make some decisions on my preferences and stick to it. The reason I applied to so many, is that two are local and so I applied and expected to get one at least. When we got into neither on first go I applied to more as back ups. Two are a car journey away but once she has a place it will be until 18, so no stressful 11plus entrance exams, and the other, the one with the offer, is local ish, but so near a major road that I'm worried about the health implications.
So all have benefits and disadvantages. Do you think a place to 18 is better than a local school. All four are excellent in terms of academia, so that's not really a consideration.
Thanks again.