Any positive stories of moving up the primary school waiting list?

[MammaC21]

Hello, just wanting to hear some positive stories. My daughters on the waiting list for first choice primary and is currently 5th. School has a PAN of 90, were literally just out the catchment a path between catchment and us. LA have made mistake of accepting 94 on a pan of 90. I’ve appealed she’s been at nursery 18 months I understand doesn’t always mean they get a place but both me and her are devestated.

Which category were children of staff?

Which category were the other 5 kids?

Of these are the categories above you and you are 5th then you would be unlikely to get a place as those above you are likely to be siblings or children of staff?

Sometimes they give all the children living in catchment a place if there isnt a logical alternative. Not heard of it at Primary, but have at Secondary. They then dont admit of waiting list until back to PAN. Catchment children canive further away than Out of Catchment.

My Positive story was us suddenly moving abroad a few weeeks before Reception creating a slace.

I know it isn’t 94 so they’ve published incorrect results.

We got our first choice offer around June time (this was years ago-DS1 is at college now). PAN was 90 and he was number 4/5 on the wait list but we are in the SE and at that time there was a lot of movement.

Good luck.

No such thing as catchment if it’s done by distance. Sounds like densely populated. In this situation we started at no 4 or 5, went up and down the list for months. The list was done away with end of calendar year. We opted to go back on (this time at top) and it took til June of reception year for DS to be offered a place… we moved schools and he settled well and never looked back!

Yes there can be catchment/priority area and distance. Where I live the schools are clustered together so each as a catchment area which takes priority, the last criteria is any other child which if the school is oversubscribed is done by distance.

Your stats are missing EHCPs naming the school which are done separately to the normal admissions round.
You could ask for the correct stats. You could ask the likelihood of the waiting list moving - they’ll know what it offered down to last year. But given it’s over PAN and the waiting list can move up and down - it’s probably a long shot unless you live somewhere with lots of movement e.g. London or near a military base or something.

There is indeed catchment areas in many places.

It sounds like they have not listed the EHCP and looked after children on the admission criteria.

I think your best option is to ask how likely movement is and start preparing your child to attend the school you've been allocated.

There can be catchment and distance. It’s the case for our two local schools- each have “catchment” of one half of the village plus the same distance out of it. Catchment is Criteria 3 and distance is Criteria 4.

Technically there are many houses in catchment for School A whose closest school by distance is actually School B.

If they have 94 children, do you really want her in an oversized class? It can make a huge difference to the quality.

I get what your saying, but yes I really want her to go to this school I think it’s within her best interest to maintain where she is rather than start all over again she’s such a sensitive little soul there’s already 52 in nursery when she’s there so 30 in the classroom will be better overall anyways

Unfortunately going to the nursery is not a grounds for appeal, if that was the case we would have all put our children in the nursery of the best school in the county to get a place.

Honestly though, even sensitive children settle into schools they don’t know. Both of mine didn’t know anyone in reception and had friends quickly. They do adapt really well.

What is the school you were offered like? Have you accepted the place?

So you are out of catchment on a long waiting list. I don't think you are going to get positive stories.
Better to get your child excited about the other school

@NerrSnerr we had the option for nursery both the one she attends and the nursery she’s been given a place at, yet we still chose the one out of catchment cause we felt that was better fit. I haven’t rang to decline I’m just leaving it as it is while I wait to see what I can do. If I’m honest I haven’t heard great things from both parents and even staff who work there, but people want that school because it’s the center of a very busy estate people think it’s the best

Please accept the place at the other school no matter what you would like to happen.

Realistically she's not going to get a place at your first choice so going to the catchment school is the next best option compared to a school miles away.

My sensitive, young for year, child with then undiagnosed SEN (dyslexia and Elective Mutism) went to a Reception where sge knew no one, 27/29 children had been in the nursery... so was starting on the back foit (plus missed the first few weeks).

Within a few weeks it was like she had always been there. None if them remembered who had been in nursery and who hadnt.

Its very common to go to a different school at Reception.

I am going to accept, and just try my best doing all I can in the background. I know deep down she wil be fine and she’s thrive wherever she goes it just weighs heavy on the heart right now

If you live on a new build estate, as the houses are moved into, there will be families who are nearer and some who are further away, even though the estate is close to the school.

We lived on an estate where the school was directly opposite the entrance to it. People moving in had to accept places at schools further away. Even if you are close, it might come down to metres, or one road over another.

On some very large estates, developers are required to build infrastructure, such as schools, shops, GP surgeries and contribute towards additional roads.

Just a reminder that you need to accept the place, even if it’s the school you don’t want. If you reject it, the LA has no further responsibility to find a school for you.

If they really have got 94 intake that will mean at least 9 will need to decline before any offer is made to you, assuming no one goes ahead of you on wl, to maintain PAN. It is possible some were excepted pupils such as twins.

thats exactly what it is LAC, catchment, siblings, distance

Reading the form of admissions it said 79 were catchment, 9 siblings and 1 staff child. That’s it

So the oversubscription criteria can't be just

1. LAC
2. Catchment
3. Siblings
4. Distance

because somehow being 'child of staff' is relevant...? Unless one of the 'errors' leading to 94 offers being made instead of 90 was that whoever (LA or school) was responsible for ranking applicants managed both to be unnecessarily aware that Child X was the child of a staff member, and then used this non-existent oversubscription criterion to allocate him / her a place that they wouldn't have been, had they been ranked under their correct criterion (presumably '4. Distance').

(Plus, as already been noted, that's 89, not 94, pupils).

Stranger things have probably happened, I suppose.

Where places have been offered in error, which have 'bumped down' applicants who should have been admitted, they can be withdrawn if the error is discovered very quickly. However, this almost certainly has knock-on effects, because the DC erroneously offered have to be reallocated to the school(s) they should have had in the first place, thus probably displacing others, and so on. So where the school agrees and is able to cope with the extra pupils, the LA may just arrange to leave them there, but at the same time offering places to the DC who should have had them in the first place (who may not be 'coming back' from the school(s) that the 'wrong ones' should have been allocated) I have known it happen with three extras in a 1FE school - in theory, 4 extras in a 3FE school should be easier to absorb, and the school - or, at least, the Reception class teachers - will be hoping that the total will fall back to PAN anyway by September.

From the teachers’ point of view, classes of 31/31/32 (to absorb the extra 4) are not ideal, but much more manageable than eg if a school with a PAN of 30 had to take on 4 extras to give a class of 34.

On a slightly more positive note, I do have a tale of moving up a waiting list BUT that was because of significant changes. We were late applicants due to a house move.

About 40th on the waiting list from our previous address.
Became a sibling on the day her elder brother started at the school, and jumped up to top 10.
Then our new address was recognised and she became 2nd on the list due to better distance.
The next week, a place opened up and was taken by the girl at the top of the list so she moved up to 1st.
A couple of days before the end of the summer term, DD got her place to start in September.

However, nobody then moved into or out of the 60 PAN year group until the end of Class Size regulations in Y3, so she was absolutely the last person from the Reception waiting list to get in.

I’ve done all I can, I think I’ve just got to wait and see what happens. Thank you for all your responses

I suspect admitted 94 by accident may mean they offered 90, then a mistake was flagged up where 4 children should have been offered a place rather than some who were, and the LA/School decided just to admit them rather than go through an appeal and then have to admit them.

The good news from that would be that it won't effect your waiting list place. Because those 4 pupils would be before you anyway, so you'd be 9th on the waiting list rather than 4th.

Waiting lists can be random. My 3 dc went to the same 2-form entry infant school.
#1 there were about 3 children arriving/leaving over year R-start of year 1, all from the same form.
#2 had none leave at all until year 2, and the child who got that space had only been on the waiting list just over a month. However when they went to juniors (non-linked school)10 left due to moving away between the start of the summer holiday and Christmas.
#3 had a consistent 1-2 per form left per year over the infant age.

I'd say though that your chance is pretty low in getting a space and almost 0 at appeal. So concentrate on the school you have been offered, tell your dc it's the best school ever, the uniform is amazing and their teacher is fantastic. Then they'll go in excited and have a much better experience.

The fact that there is another “more liked” school nearby is a positive thing as you may get a “zig zag” effect.

(Place comes up in other school due to child going private, offered to top of waiting list who has a place at the school you want. Thus creating a place there. Offered to top child who has a place at the school you have offered. Etc etc.)

I would appeal. If they have 94 students they may need to split them into 4 classes due to the infant class size rule of 30, or mix with other year groups. In this case they would be undersubscribed to fill the four classes. This happened with my DS class. The PAN was 35 (nonsensical size set by the LA) and because that meant they already needed two teachers, all the appeal kids won and he ended up in a class of nearly 40!

The extra 4 will be ‘excepted pupils’, if admitted as a result if a procedural error. They do not trigger the need for an extra class / extra teacher, despite the class being more than 30 as a result of their admission. However, no pupils will be admitted from the waiting list unless and until the class size reduces to 30.