Daft question... but if everyone accepts their offer...

[MrsGrimes]

... then how are people on waiting lists given a place? If (in theory) no-one rejects an offer, then there'll be no places for anyone to shift around in.

My local authority says, "Following receipt of parental responses, the authority will re-allocate places to pupils on waiting lists where places have been declined and vacancies exist. Vacancies exist when the number of pupils allocated at a school drops below the published admission number"

So how would this work if everyone accepts their offer while appealing and waiting on lists, when everyone else is doing the same?

Some turn them down because:

• they decide to go private
• they have to move
• they decide to home educate
• the school they wanted suddenly opens a bulge class
• they decide to give the new academy a change
• they haven't read MN and thinks turning down an offer will force the LEA to give them their preferred school

then places open up and the cycle starts...

People move or go private and lots do turn down their offered school. Some may decide to home educate.

Yeah, all those reasons.

Thanks three - I did warn you it was a daft question. Saw someone ask elsewhere and thought, "Oh yeah, they're right!"

Now I feel a bit dim!

People on waiting lists will have been offered a school somewhere, just not the school they want. Indeed, many people will be on several waiting lists. So in the unlikely event that everyone accepted the school offered and actually turned up at the start of term all it would mean is that everyone would be stuck with the first school they were offered.

Not a daft question. In our LAs all the appeals are around the same time. The odd person wins, so their place comes free in June as they accept new offer.
Most of the wait list movement is for other reasons though. Some move, go private or simply change their minds!

waiting list movement is often late on in the summer so after all the appeals etc.

I remember a situation where 2 friends have ended up with their DC in the schools that the other one wanted. Ideally they would have liked to swap but obviously that's not an option! They also couldn't unilaterally give up their place and hope. So I guess if you'd had a situation where they were both 1st at the top of each other's waiting lists they would have been effectively blocking each other! Their must be similar chains in the admission process where everyone could move round and get a preferred school.

I just wanted to ask about bulge classes. What are the main reasons they occur? Is it just due to lack of availability in the area?

One of our local schools has just offered a place to someone at No27 on the list but there does not seem to be much movement in the school we are waiting for, ie DD1 has moved just 5 places so the knock-on effect does not seem to be happening.