Waiting list hope

[gruffalotoes]

Hi I'm just wondering if anyone can give me any hope of getting a primary school place through a waiting list before September? I really don't want to have to move DD as she's so shy and took her ages to settle into pre school. Really unhappy with the allocated school which we have had to accept. We listed our 4 closest schools and didn't get any.

The best thing you can do is confirm with the LA that you are on the waiting list for all 4 of your 4 preferred schools. Then if you want go to appeal if you think there has been any mistakes made.
In terms of movement on the waiting list, there will be a short period after the initial allocations when parents are accepting or rejecting places. That is usually 2 to 3 weeks from 16th April. The LA also revisit the waiting list and include all late applications for the school. There could be movement because of rejection but on the other hand in many primary schools there is no movement to start with. As soon as appeals start to happen that again is the point where potentially there will be movement, all the way through to 1st September. However there could also be a situation that there is no movement in any pupil from the point where the place are first allocated. It is I am afraid impossible to know what will happen in any one particular school.

Normally I would say there is always some movement, people love house etc but I’m afraid at the moment no-one is buying and selling etc so I don’t think there will be anywhere as normal movement.

@admission Thankyou, sounds like I probably shouldn't get my hopes up too much. Our LA don't release our positions on waiting lists until next week but I have checked that we will be on all of those we applied for.

Do you think much can be gained from appealing? I'm not sure if any mistakes were made but they system seems strange - we can walk to our first choice school but will have to get in car to drive past it for another 10 mins to get to the allocated one, which also had a failing ofstead. I really don't want to send her there and it feels so unfair that we may not have a choice.

Brie - that's what I'm worried about too. I also think current situation with many jobs /economy may mean that not so many take up private school places

The schools will have their admissions criteria. For some schools, this is more complicated, but for many it is essentially siblings (and a few other priorities) then based on distance. You can check the furthest distance they offered a place to. If you live further than this, then presumably no mistake was made and there is no point appealing.

One possible hope is that some parents may choose to defer their summer born children because they have missed out on time at nursery and a space may come up. Fingers crossed for you.

What was the reason for not allocating your dc a place? Distance, faith ? If you are willing to consider any if 4 surely the continuity argument does not hold. If it is an infant class size that will not be relevant anyway.

Make sure that you check when you have to re-register for waiting lists. When we applied for primary, you stayed on the lists till the 31st August for all schools higher than your allocation, then those who wished to remain on lists had to re-register with individual schools.

We were 42 on the waiting list for our first choice and got offered a place three weeks into the autumn term. Of the 41 people above us on the initial list, only 1 other bothered to call to stay on and then 3 children didn't turn up at the beginning of term.

Will add that this was in central London so high mobility and a lot of schools to choose from.

I'm afraid that, although it seems harsh, the situation you describe is very common. With popular schools, the distance of the last place offered might only be a couple of hundred metres, so if you're just outside the relevant distance for all four of your preferences, then you'll be allocated another school instead - and the less popular schools will be the ones with spaces, so that's where you'll be offered, even though it's much further away. Fingers crossed for the waiting list.

Yes that's what happened - we missed out on all the schools by a tiny distance (we live on a fairly main road between surrounding villages - all the schools are within the villages so the locals there got the places even though we can walk to one of them and none are more than a few minutes drive away) I do understand it's just frustrating. The one we got allocated is a lot further along the main road

That's a good point about people deferring summer borns as we have considered that too - although mainly due to not wanting to send her to this school. I have heard it's a particularly big year for sibling intakes too and these are mostly small schools so are up against it a bit.

OK, if you're thinking of deferring, just be aware (you may well know this already), that although you have an automatic right to delay entry for a year - assuming your child is summer-born - you don't have an automatic right to a place in Year R (as opposed to Year 1) next year. You need to seek agreement from each school you apply to that they would support you applying fo a Year R place next year. Otherwise you'd be looking at an in year application for a Year 1 place next September. If you want to do this, you'll need to contact the schools urgently - it's normally done much earlier in the process.

We'd definitely prefer not to defer, she is summer born but I think she is ready for school - just not the one allocated! I really don't want her to go there. I hear more and more awful stories about it so my main hope is waiting lists. I have no idea where we will be on lists yet - can anyone give me an idea of roughly how much movement there might be? When I find out our positions next week I'd like to know whether there is a glimmer of hope or not! ie... do the top 5 usually get in eventually or is even that unlikely? Do we need to be 1st or 2nd to really have a hope of a place before September? One school has 60 places the other 3 all one form so only 30.

It's so hard to say, because it will vary from school to school. Each place reallocated can set off a little flurry of movement, but some schools might get no movement at all. At my school (popular three form entry) we usually have 1 or 2 places which get reallocated, rarely 3. Only 1 last year, and no places have come up in that year group since (sorry). On the plus side, don't forget that past a certain point, some people on the waiting list would refuse a place if it was offered (because their child's already started at another school, or because they've got the uniform and joined the WhatsApp group and don't want to start all over again).