Waiting list for Reception

[Timide]

Could you tell me please about your experience with waiting lists for primary? We were late to apply as we have just moved into the country so DD didn't get into the school of choice. It is a Catholic school. We live very very close, we tick the "faith" box, have a ref letter from the parish. In your experience do you get to know your number in the waiting list or is it confidential? If we are given a place eventually would you join "same" day or they wait for the term to finish? Basically how does it work? Thanks

You will know where you are on the waiting list. That can go up or down, ie a religious family may move in closer to the school or someone leaves the list and you are closer to the front.

each school has its preference but you wouldn’t wait until next term, it is usually within days, 2 weeks at most of being notified.

both my children went on the waiting list and were in within a few months. There has been a lot of movement in some areas due to Covid, working from home, people evaluating being closer to family.

if you want the school, go on the list via the local council who manage this system

The waiting list is held in accordance with the admissions criteria, so as Temporaryname158 says you can go both up and down. If you meet the faith criteria, that should hopefully mean you are fairly high up. If you aren’t, check that they have you down as meeting the faith criteria.

It’s not confidential at all, but you won’t be notified every time there is a change in position.

You’re normally expected to take the place up within a couple of weeks of being offered it (unless it is just before the summer holidays, for example) - this can be really quick sometimes!

@Temporaryname158 @EduCated thank you! And how does one access that list? Where would I check? We joined it but the school just said they passed the request to the Council. Haven't heard from the Council

We were on the waiting list for our first choice - as people say, you can go up or down. We were 10th on the list at one point, something like 38th by start of term (so obviously no chance of a place).

Some children have left DS’s current school throughout the year. Their “replacements” started the following half term.

@Changechangychange oh did you get in eventually?

The council will come back to you to confirm you are on their list. Takes a few weeks IME.

Once term start next year, you need to ring/email the school and confirm you want to stay on the list during the year (assuming you do).

Nope, 60 children in the year so no chance. He went to our second choice, which is also a great school but just not the one his nursery friends were going to. He’s very happy there, we wouldn’t move him now.

@Changechangychange I see, thanks, so it is early days then. We'll wait for the council to come back to us.

We will stay on it. I'm not particularly keen on that school but it is presumably better than what we were offered. I guess you never know. I'm not very familiar with schools at all 😅

Why do you think that the faith school must be better than the school you have been offered (especially if you are not that keen on it anyway)?

If there are other schools that you would prefer, you can be on the waiting list for more than one school.

Are the schools allowing you to visit?

I would call the council. Ask to speak to the school admissions team. Don't assume you're on the waiting list and find out weeks / months down the line that you're not.
They're usually very lovely and can let you know your place on the list and give an idea (very rough) as to how much movement you can expect between now and September.

Quite. Main round applications (usually including very late ones, but at this time of year) are usually handled by the local authority. I would be concerned that the 'application'' that the faith school has accepted is just its own SIF (Supplementary Information Form) - required for ranking purposes but not an actual application for a place, which has to be made through the correct channels by the parent themselves.

You need to liaise with the council. They normally hold waiting lists in first instance, which is ordered according to the admission criteria. Legally the maximum class size until year 3 in England is 30 and each school has a fixed intake capacity so the waiting list only moves if children leave or fail to show in September. Any subsequent offer of a place is time limited, you would have a few weeks to take the place. Some faith schools may be "better" than non faith primaries, but by no means all. Have you visited and looked at resources such as Ofsted, school websites, local facebook groups etc to get a fuller picture,

Thanks everyone! Yes, we have looked into reports and ratings. Both schools have the same rating but the faith school is the one all by DH family used to go to including him. So while I don't have any specific preference my DH does. Well, we'll see. I'll follow up with the council to make sure we are on the list.

You can also go on waiting lists for other schools if there are others you would prefer. I assume you did accept the offer you have been given?

Assuming this is for a reception place for this Sept, The LA will co-ordinate applications until term starts, so you definitely need to go through them at this point.

We were 1st on the waiting list for 1st choice school and were told all the places had been accepted shortly after the offer day, so we didn't have much hope, but then I got a call last week to offer us a place.

Also anxious and sitting on a waiting list after applying late due to a move. Have you had any good news?