Reception 2018 waiting list

[ShePersisted]

Guys, I am so on edge regarding reception admissions. Have hardly slept a wink since places were given out.

Here's what's going on: despite being 800m from our top pick school and definitely within the catchment for choices 2-4 we got... NOTHING. Well, we got a school 1200 m away that wasn't on our list and that ofsted rates as needing improvement in ALL areas. There's just no way my daughter is going to go there.

As things stand, we are 10th on the waiting list for both our 1st and 3rd choices. We are also 1st on the waiting list for our 2nd and 4th ranked schools. I really, really want (need) our 2nd choice school to come through but it's 1 form entry (30 places) and 14 sibs.

I'm driving myself a bit loony worrying about the whole thing and was hoping for some reassurance-- can anyone give odds for whether or not we'll manage to be offered a place?

In case you can't tell, I'm pretty desperate.

Thank you, wise Mumsneters!

X

Have you visited the school you've been offered? Have you accepted the place?

Where are you in the country?
London - you'll get one of your choices where you are #1 as there is a lot of movement.
Cornwall - hard to say.. You may end up sweating it out sadly.

@WhakaMole I'm in south Hertfordshire so London commuter belt.

@MrsJamin I haven't seen the school, but I have a friend who works there occasionally and even she admits it's bad.

I've literally not a clue but you would think you have a really good chance of getting 2 or 4.

I would advise you to go and see the school. You may be pleasantly surprised. My son goes to a school (secondary) that, at the time of choosing it, was 'failing' according to ofsted. It's turned around now and is rated 'good' - the school is fab and we have no issues at all. The other local school, rated outstanding, is awful and there has been a lot of movement from there to my son's school.

Yeah you definitely need to visit it, sometimes even the same school can yield very different experiences for different children and staff who see different children. What's the alternative? Would you be able to pay for private or homeschool, as those are the only two other options available to you. Either that or drive to a school even further away that might be on a par with the school you've been offered.

I would say you probably have a good chance of being able to start and choices 2 or 4 by September, or at the latest January.
My DD is in reception at a very oversubscribed school in a city in the South East. Between offers day and the first day of reception 5 children from the waiting list were offered places as people moved out of catchment or chose private routes. Since then DD has had a new boy joining her class in January since another left at Christmas. Movement happens- accept the place you have if you haven't already - worse case scenario is that she's there for a short while and then you move her when a place comes up.

You just can't tell. Zero movement at all between reception place offers and year 1 in a local oversubscribed, one-form entry suburban school. No one in, no one out in 1.5 years. In another, same size school around the corner, two pupils left during this time, both because of parents' job changes. Fingers crossed!

No one left my sons year group until Year 4, but the year below a lot of children have come and gone, you just can't tell what will happen.

You really can't tell unfortunately.
My dc went through the same 2 form entry infant school. For dd1 it wasn't oversubscribed the whole time she was there.
For dd2 it was heavily oversubscribed but a fair number left and joined over the 3 years (I think 5 left over reception for various reasons)For ds none left until year 2 and the person who got in off the waiting list had only moved into the area a month previously, so the no 1 on the waiting list never got in.

If they'd been a primary though 5 moved away over year 3.

Same thing happened to my dgs, not offered a place at first choice school even though the child 2 doors up did get one. And even though he'd attended their nursery! The school where he did get offered is 2 miles away! But we accepted that, and actually it's quite good. Take the place that's offered and stay on the waiting list. It's better than no school at all which would not be good for DC's self confidence.

You're very likely to get one of the ones where you are first in the waiting list - and possibly one of the others, especially if you're willing to hold on until the last minute (and even beyond the start of term).

Many people don't want the uncertainty - and very reasonably want to be able to tell their child which school they will be going to - so they won't accept a place if it comes up in the summer holidays. If you are willing to do that, you might find that you get a place even if there were quite a few people ahead of you.

The important thing is to always accept a place if it's better than what you have - so you have one in hand (unless you can and would home educate rather than have your DC there). You can always stay on waiting lists for any schools you would prefer.

Spaces do come up!

How do you know where you are on waiting list? I was told by West Sussex admissions waiting lists are only established 15th May after they’ve had all replies

Hold tight. Primaries haven't sent their confirmed acceptances back to the LA's yet. That happens in the run up to half term.
During half term the LA will put together the waiting lists and also add in late applicants so any position you've been stated by an individual school may well change.

Get busy the first week back (4 June) telephoning your preferred schools but email your LA informing them you absolutely want to be on the waiting lists and get them to confirm in writing the process.