Waitlist place reception

[Sunshine415]

I know it’s a piece of string answer...
Just wondering if anyone has had any luck with wait list places for reception at the end August/ beginning of September?
Due to circumstances, we moved mid July and my dd is 1 on the waitlist for our 2 local schools. No other place offered yet. We are hoping that between the two schools (both are 90 pan), someone will have moved over the summer... wondering if anyone else has been in this position and how it worked out!

My LA doesn't allocate any places over summer as we don't know the full extent of vacancies, we have to confirm if children declining places are definitely moved/accepting other places and we also receive a hell of a lot of applications over summer. For faith schools etc who want to see baptism certs then as they are closed they can't update their waiting lists for new additions until they have this

Kids without any place in our LA get priority support once schools reopen. We should start allocating places in week commencing 7 September and will make alternative offers at the end of that week for any kids not offered a preference. My LA still coordinates in year admissions however, not all LAs do so may operate differently.
Once we know that those 3 kids that didn't arrive at ThisTown Community School and the 2 kids that rejected their place at St Church School are accounted for else where the lists can move quite fast and furious. As in we can offer an alt school on the Friday, 2nd pref school the following Wednesday and the first preference the week after that.

I hope your daughter gets her place sorted soon and has a great start

My DS was 1st on the waiting list for his school reception place last year, we found out at the end of July that he got a place. Fingers crossed you will know before September.

Thank you so much for your replies!

@Councilworker, that is so helpful to know how it works in your LA. Even if it’s different where we are, it’s good to know how the process might work and a possible timescale.
@MilaRos, that’s great to hear that it can work out too, and that your ds was able to start in the September. Fingers crossed it’s the same here!

Councilworker, it is interesting to hear how your LA work but I would question some of the practices as not being in the spirit of the admission regulations.
Places are supposed to be filled as soon as the place is available. So for me if somebody who has been allocated a reception place then declines the offer of a place, that means there is a space to fill. At the point of the space being available the person at the top of the waiting list is given the place. However the order of the waiting list can change on a daily basis, so there is a real concern for me that the LA not filling any places in the summer holidays will lead to maladministration because the wrong person is offered the place.
On the other side of this system is the situation in other year groups. Then the LA and school have a safeguarding issue in that the school should be confirming what has happened to that pupil, that is they have gone onto another school's register before they delete the pupil from their register and declare an available space. This system needs to be in place because of the history of safeguarding issues where pupils have disappeared from the system, some with very fatal consequences.

@admission we, like all authorities, have a dedicated CME team to trace children who have moved andwe liase with other LAs to confirm arrival in the area and confirmation of start date at a new school. We also monitor those schools who, despite legislation, don't notify us of children leaving and just remove them from the register. Including questionable EHE cases which is to avoid a PEX or poor exam results. This is a huge problem and I've just finished a huge review of process to get this even tighter and to identify missing kids faster and get them back into school or get welfare checks. I spend hours a week dealing with heads/principals who feel the rules don't apply to their academy or school.

In the example I gave above about identifying where kids are, I'm referring to transition children places where a school will notify us that child has not arrived and we then investigate to see where they are. No doubt this year we will see more families stuck overseas or quarantined during the first couple of weeks. We don't remove the offer of a place until we know a child has a confirmed offer elsewhere so that we can pursue for SAO if needed or in case the parent has decided not to send a Reception child until CSA.

In terms of In Year we allocated all vacancies we were notified existed we could right up until schools closed on 17 July. We then cleared all waiting lists. No waiting lists exist over summer and only exist from 1st September. For transition this could be a sticking point however on checking this evening it looks like final allocations were made in mid August for Reception.

We also allocated all Year 7 places we had for transition and have reallocated places released as a result of successful appeals.

We've currently got around 120 to 150 secondary applications coming in each week. And more for primary. We do have a problem with capacity and are having to direct schools across the authority due to a lack of places within 8miles nevermind "reasonable" distance. I absolutely hate September in terms of how relentless it is and that's without the chaos of a pandemic on top. (Appeals have been really fun as you can imagine)

We got a place just two weeks before starting school. Hoping you get a place before school starts too. You should know his waitlist position in September. All the best!

@Zommu was that in the school holidays that you heard? She is number 1 on the waitlist for our top two preferences so we’re really hoping but school starts next week and getting nervous

@Sunshine415, I just checked and we got the offer mail on 29th August last year so during the holidays.

@Zommu thanks so much, I’m going to keep my fingers crossed

It took a year for my dd to get a place when we moved. She was top of the list with a sibling at the school and in catchment!

@ladyvimes I’m worried this will be the case! Or an even linger move. How far away was your daughter’s original school place?

We had an in year transfer from year 1 but because of the cap on numbers in KS1 we just had to wait for ages! Nobody moved!! I think we were really unlucky as all the other year groups had spaces! I’m sure you won’t be waiting that long, especially in a 3 form entry!! Good luck!

No offers yet, I know dd is in 1st place on the wait list for our top two choices and 2nd place for our third choice school.

Trying to make plan b and c but still hoping that we might get a call - out of 3 schools, with a pan of 240 between them, surely someone will have moved over the summer 🤞🤞🤞 It’s stressing me so much though!

My DS got a call offering a place the first week the school opened (this was 3 years ago). My sons school is rated outstanding (and in my opiniom it really is). 1-2 children
from his class leave every year so there is opportunity for new children to join. It really depends on how transient the area is- do many people move? Also a possibility someone who lives closer asks to be put on the waitlist and they go above you.

Good luck though - it's really nerve racking!