11th on the waiting list -- how likely to get a place?

[SchnitzelVonKrumm]

Anyone? We are in Westminster btw.

How many are in the year group?

How many in the year group?

Is this a private or state school?

Is it for reception intake?

state school, not voluntary-aided, 42 reception places.

We are in a similar situation - we are 9th on the waiting list for a 40 place reception intake at our preferred school. We have decided to go with another school and wait and see when a place becomes available and decide then whether to move dd

The headmaster at our preferred school told us that waiting lists for reception places can shorten dramatically in September as parents decide to go with another school and not to hold out for a place at their preferred school as they don't want to disrupt their child once they have settled somewhere else.

What you have to do is make sure that the school is informed once term starts in September that you are still interested in a place, to make sure you are informed if there are any spaces.

11th on the list for 42 places doesn't sound too promising though does it? Do you have an alternative?

As dd will only just be 4 (July born) we toyed with the idea of keeping her out of school until a place comes up but when we found out we were 9th we decided to go with our alternative in the short term and wait and see what happens.

how long is a piece of string?

last year none of the people on the waiting list got into ds1's school but the year before some did (sorry, i don't know how many)

It depends on how popular the school is too. My friend's dd was first on the waiting list for a very popular school and waited from September until just now after the Easter holiday before a place came up. At dd's school which is also quite popular only two from the waiting list have been admitted and there are two Reception classes of 27 in each.

as far as i can tell from the letter everyone for whom it's their local community school got a place so now we're into distance from the school -- about 600 metres in our case (there's another, crap, one about 50 yards closer, dammit). BUT there are a lot of church schools in westminster that people may also have applied for. we are also very close to the borders of two other boroughs.

we were 19th on the waiting list (SW London, state primary, non-church) for a school with a 45-pupil intake. Due to massive pressure on places this year, our 1st choice school is taking an extra 15 children, hence we got it.
In our borough there is massive movement right up until the start of the school term. Last year, number 48 on the list was number 1 on the list by September. Many people stay on multiple waiting lists, even while they have a place elsewhere. I would expect to get in at number 11, but perhaps the mobility in your borough is not so great. What do the other mothers say? The local mothers here were right in saying that we would eventually get in, while the LEA said we had no choice.

Which school are you referring to? Did you get a place? Just wondering as I also live in Westminster :-)

8 places became available between January in recpeption and january in Yr 1 in DS's one-form entry school - so your chances of getting in before Yr 1 starts are perhaps reasonable. I think it would be ok to go into reception in one school and then change for Yr 1.