Crofton/Petts Wood schools wait list

[Doubleistrouble]

DS has been on the waiting list for Crofton and Perry Hall since we moved to Petts Wood this summer. He has been on WL1 for Crofton and 4/5 for Perry Hall since Sept but no place has come up yet. He currently goes to a decent local school which was 3rd on our preference for in year admissions which is a drive away but we prefer the above as they are within walking distance and will be where we send younger DC when they are of school age next year. He is in year 2 currently, is it likely for a space to be available for year 3 as I’ve read it’s next to impossible in KS1?
As we have a school place currently will this have any effect on his offer for the above schools as the Bromley admissions booklet states priority is given to those without school places?

Dont live in the area now, but isn't Crofton separate Infant and Juniors so do you need to officially apply for a Yr3 place this month?

@Aroundtheworldin80moves the council said I don’t need to do this as application is only for current students. We’ll need to apply to be on a wait list for Year 3 after July.

@Doubleistrouble I may be wrong here and I am prepared to be corrected, but wouldn't applying for a Y3 place within the same time frame as other applicants give you a chance of getting a Y3 place without needing to go on a waiting list? Schools with separate infant and junior schools have separate admissions, so being on the waiting list for the infants won't help with a place for the juniors. I appreciate that the school probably has current pupils attending its infant school as one of the top criteria, so all current students would ahead of you, but they are not the only ones who can apply, and if someone is moving away/moving school between infants and juniors this could give you a chance to get a place for Y3. If someone else applies in the normal admissions round and they don't fill the spaces with children attending the infant school, they would get the place ahead of you if the infant and junior school are separate. Applying in the normal round would also get you on the waiting list for a place as soon as places were offered, rather than waiting until July. This is automatic in some areas but not all, so it is worth checking you are on the waiting list if you don't get offered a place.

@ChildOfFriday Bromley appear to restrict applications through the centralised Y2 to Yr3 system to children who are currently in Infant schools in the area, not all children. They are only allowed to use that system to apply for a place at their linked school; if they want to apply to another school, those applications for other schools go through the in-year application process.

The reasoning is that these are the only children for whom this is the forced change of school point, and who need a place for Year 3; whereas for other children who are in all through primaries, they already have a Year 3 place, and so are essentially applying for an in -year transfer.

Ah ok, apologies. Thanks @PatriciaHolm

The difference between KS1 and KS2 is on the chances of an appeal going through; I don't think it has any effect on waiting lists.
KS1 has a hard class-size limit of 30, so it's very difficult to get an appeal through. There is no hard class-size limit in KS2, so although the year may technically be full with 30/60/90 pupils, they are allowed to have more than 30 in an individual class. The appeal is then down to weighing up detriment to the child of not having a place there against detriment to the school of fitting an extra child in.

I know of a family that have moved nearby and after two places for different years at Crofton they are WL2 for one of their children and they are practically on the school’s doorstep. It is a popular school so even if people move away they often commute back to the school (as you can tell from the amount of traffic) rather than give up the place. Places do however come up as it is such a large school, just not very often and if someone moves closer or has higher priority then your WL position can go down. A lot of families have moved out of central London to Petts Wood during the pandemic for more space and I think this has created an extra pressure on school places as those families who have moved into Kent for example may not have gone too far and kept hold of their school places.