Waiting list primary school

Lid9 · 2025-04-30T14:33:19+00:00

Feeling a bit down.. we didn’t get our first school choice, only our second. We’ve been automatically placed on the waiting list for our first choice (church school). Does anyone know how the process works from here? If a spot becomes available, who gets in touch, the school or the council? And how - by email or phone? we are based in Enfield, so Enfield Council thanks xx

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Iwanttobreakfree2 · 30/04/2025 19:46

There will usually be a second round of offers sent out around 6 weeks after the initial offers were sent out in mid April, when everyone has had a chance to either accept or reject their initial offers. We were offered our third choice of primary school for DS1 a number of years ago, but then were offered a place at our first choice school about 6 weeks later.

Thulpelly · 30/04/2025 19:47

Phone the school and ask if they can tell you your child’s position on the waiting list.

If a place became available and you are top of the waiting list, Enfield Admissions or the school will email you to offer it to you.

Iwanttobreakfree2 · 30/04/2025 19:48

Just to add, any subsequent school offers will come from your local council. They'll probably get in touch by letter or email.

Thulpelly · 30/04/2025 19:50

Also, accept the second place school for now.
Otherwise you’ll get bumped down further.

MarchingFrogs · 30/04/2025 20:10

Thulpelly · 30/04/2025 19:50

Also, accept the second place school for now.
Otherwise you’ll get bumped down further.

Bumped down further on what?

If the OP has turned down the school they were offered which was their second preference, then if they haven't requested to go on the waiting list for schools which were lower preferences on their CAF (or of ones that they didn't originally apply for), and no place becomes available via the waiting list at their first preference school before their DC becomes of compulsory school age, they will be home educating or looking for a place at an Independent school. The LA has no obligation to actively look for another place to offer.

If you mean, if they turn down the place offered, that action will affect their position on the waiting list for their first preference, that's not the way the system works.

billandtedsexcellentadventure · 30/04/2025 21:49

Been through this with a secondary school place. Accept the second choice school otherwise you could end up with nowhere.
ring the local authority and speak to them. They will know where your child is on the waiting lists. Mine told me exactly where and then I knew possible chances of getting in. Then they emailed to say we’d been offered a place. Good luck!

Thulpelly · 01/05/2025 07:41

MarchingFrogs · 30/04/2025 20:10

Bumped down further on what?

If the OP has turned down the school they were offered which was their second preference, then if they haven't requested to go on the waiting list for schools which were lower preferences on their CAF (or of ones that they didn't originally apply for), and no place becomes available via the waiting list at their first preference school before their DC becomes of compulsory school age, they will be home educating or looking for a place at an Independent school. The LA has no obligation to actively look for another place to offer.

If you mean, if they turn down the place offered, that action will affect their position on the waiting list for their first preference, that's not the way the system works.

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Ah I see …I thought the LA had an obligation to offer a place in a school with space, but I now realise they don’t… but OP would still have to find somewhere for her child to go to school, and it’s unlikely to be somewhere she’d choose.

My main point was, accepting the 2nd place offer won’t affect her First Choice waiting list… so she should accept it.

MarchingFrogs · 01/05/2025 10:21

The LA does have an obligation to offer a place - but they have already done this, by allocating a place at the highest ranked (by the OP) preference on the OP's CAF for which the DC was ranked high enough against the school's oversubscription criteria for a place to be offered. Once a place has been turned down, there is no obligation on the LA to keep looking for another school, unless the OP evidences a material change of circumstance, e.g. a move elsewhere within the same LA out of the reasonable range of schools in their current area (if they were to move into another LA, then the responsibility to find a place woukd shift to the new LA). The entitlement is to a place not a place at a specific school - unless the child has an EHCP, naming a school, of course.

Thulpelly · 01/05/2025 18:22

MarchingFrogs · 01/05/2025 10:21

The LA does have an obligation to offer a place - but they have already done this, by allocating a place at the highest ranked (by the OP) preference on the OP's CAF for which the DC was ranked high enough against the school's oversubscription criteria for a place to be offered. Once a place has been turned down, there is no obligation on the LA to keep looking for another school, unless the OP evidences a material change of circumstance, e.g. a move elsewhere within the same LA out of the reasonable range of schools in their current area (if they were to move into another LA, then the responsibility to find a place woukd shift to the new LA). The entitlement is to a place not a place at a specific school - unless the child has an EHCP, naming a school, of course.

Yeah I got it.. thanks..