When do London primary school in-year waiting lists usually move?

[Inyearentry]

I applied for an in-year entry place in June and it carried through to September. Waitlist closed until September 1.

I checked again in September 1, and still in the same place (number 1).

It’s a London school. When will I find out if any movement happened over the summer? Or would I have already?

The school started back today.

When did you find out about in year entries if you applied on September 1?

Call admissions or the school

You are basically waiting on a child leaving school. If this has happened over the summer holidays, the school probably won't know until a couple of days before the start of term, due to staff being on holiday. Once they do know, they then have to do various checks/confirmations before giving the place away.

This might take a day or two in a simple case (child has a school place elsewhere already lined up). It may take several weeks if it's trickier i.e. the parents didn't inform the school they were leaving or they are out of education currently and the school needs to confirm they definitely won't return.

Some schools might verbally tell you this on the phone e.g. we expect to have a place to offer soon or confirm all children have returned in September, so no spaces to offer. Others won't say anything until it is official.

I don't think school places will necessarily align with September though. It's often due to house moves which can happen any time.

If they have a no-show then there is a fairly lengthy process to establish that the child won’t be coming (rather than on holiday, ill, refusing) before the space can be reoffered. What year group is it for?

You might find out if you are unlikely to get a place if all the pupils have turned up. If they haven’t, then there are processes to follow to make sure the child is not just ill or temporarily delayed, e.g. still abroad, before the place is officially vacant.

Thank you all! I rang the school and they said they are waiting to find out if some families are still on holiday, or not coming back so i should know by the middle of next week.

It’s a year 3 place!

Would families really leave without saying something? I’m surprised by that!

(Basically, we moved to another part of London over the summer and are commuting back to our child’s old school and waiting for a place here. It’s only half an hour so it’s not the end of the world. But really hoping a spot comes up at our new local school because it’s supposed to be lovely! Plus we really want to be part of the new community etc.)

My recollection from moving children was they need confirmation from the new school the child is actually there or a number of follow ups with parents. So it may take a few weeks to settle.

Yes as other posters have said, there are all kinds of reasons why kids might not turn up like school refusal, holidays going a day or two into term, or parents just mixing up the going back days. They will want to make contact with any parents who's kids haven't turned up to make sure they aren't coming back. Plus to be honest, with the exception of reception and year 7, the only movement there is likely to be is when families move house or if a kid is struggling and has to move to special school or something. There is no particular reason for a year 3 place to come free over the summer rather than another time of year I wouldn't have thought.

Depending on demographic and area within London actually you might get a few kids leaving at end year 2/not restarting year 3 if local independent schools have significant 7+ entries. My local primary will typically have one or two leave at that point for this reason.