Arrgh, buggered up application, can I decline my 1st choice?

[aggadoo]

I have been 'successful' in securing a place for my child at my 1st choice school.....I only put it as 1st choice because it's the nearest. However, I have just discovered that the school I really wanted (which I put 2nd because it's slightly further away, very oversubscribed and I was told it was unlikely DC would get in cause of the distance) has announced it will have a 'bulge class' for DC's intake year. He definitely would have got in if I'd put it first. & School apparently did not know they would be adding another class before application forms went in.
Does anyone know if I can apply to go on the waiting list for this school, even though I got my first choice?

[prh47bridge]

NO. As I've tried to explain before, your position on the waiting list will NOT be below those who put this school as their 1st choice. The waiting list MUST be determined on admission criteria only.

The initial allocation will have been determined on admission criteria only. Some of the children admitted may have made this their 2nd or 3rd choice school. However, your child was not admitted because you got a place at your 1st choice school.

Once those children allocated places have accepted or refused them the waiting list operates on admission criteria only. The LA would be in breach of the Admissions Code if they put your child behind those who made the school their first choice or those who applied on time. The Admissions Code has the force of law so your LA MUST do what the Admissions Code says.

[SE13Mummy]

I've checked the Lewisham booklet for 2010/11 entry and there is no mention of the possibility of bulge classes even though there are publically available documents suggesting that somewhere in the region of 15 additional classes were likely to be needed for Sept 2010.... if your LA isn't Lewisham but the primary admissions booklet made no mention of the possibility that some schools would have bulge classes then it might be worth challenging the LA on that as it will have affected the decisions of lots of parents.

If you reject the first choice school and go on the waiting list for your second choice you may well end up with a place due to other people declining their places for similar reasons.

[prh47bridge]

I would strongly advise against rejecting the first choice school to go on the waiting list for the second choice.

You can go on the waiting list for your second choice whilst retaining the first choice place. Not having a place won't affect your position on the waiting list.

Your place at your first choice school would be offered to another child when you rejected it so if you didn't get into your second choice you wouldn't have a place anywhere. It is unlikely that you would be able to get back in to your first choice.

[admission]

Sorry but lets make this simple for aggadoo as she is getting conflicting advice here. I base my comments on chairing and sitting on admission appeal panels for 3 local authorities over the last 5 years.

1. accept the offer you have been given, as this protects the place and means that you know you have a school place for September.
   
   
2. ask the LA to confirm by email that you are on the waiting list for the school that you now want and ask them to confirm your position on the waiting list. They must reply to this and they cannot stop you being on this waiting list.
   
   
3. There seems to be a great deal of confusion about how and when the bulge class was filled. The LA should have agreed to have a bulge class before the initial allocations were made. As such instead of the quoted number of places being offered there would have been 30 more. Aggadoo would not have been offered a place as her preference form stood as she was given her first preference. Most of what has been posted by Aggadoo suggests this is exactly what did happen.
   
   
4. Now that the initial places have been offered any places rejected will be filled from the waiting list, which Aggadoo will be on and hopefully with time get a place.
   
   
5. If the bulge class was not filled as above then this raises all sorts of questions of who should have been given the places but this can only be sorted out at appeal. Without knowing all the detail it is impossible to offer a sensible opinion.

[aggadoo]

As I thought -
In an email from the LA's primary admissions officer :
"You will need to write to us to say you want to make a late application for the school and wish to go on the waiting list. As a late applicant, however, your childs name will be after all the on-time applicants"

So it will be below those on time applicants who have requested to go on the waiting list (which is most likely to be those who put it 1st/2nd and didn't get in the first round - its a really popular school and I know loads will have put it as a first choice)
I've accepted the offer given to me and am just having to get used to the idea as I am not holding out any hope now...but will still go on the list, just in case ! (ever the optimist!)
Thanks for all the advice.

[prh47bridge]

Don't give up. Email back and point out that what they have said about waiting lists is a clear breach of paragraph 3.19 of the School Admissions Code which says, "Waiting lists must be clear, fair and objective and must not give priority to children based on the date either their application was received or their name was added to the list". They CANNOT put you at the bottom of the waiting list simply because you applied late. The Admissions Code has the force of law so they are breaking the law.

This is basic stuff. If they can't get this right it makes me wonder how much else they are getting wrong in the admissions process.

If you've got the stomach for it I think this one may end up going to the Local Government Ombudsman.

[admission]

PRH is right this is a clear breach of the regulations. Write back and insist that they place you on the waiting list for this school.

This officer is confused. They are quoting what would arise if you made a decision to alter your preferences in the time period between the initial cut off date for applications and the initial allocation of places. You did not apply late, you have made a decision to appeal for a place at another school after the allocations had been made. Once the initial allocation date has passed everybody is equal on the waiting list and it should be in admission criteria order.

This is incredibly worrying that such a basic error is being made.

[Jetbaby]

You're not in Essex are you aggadoo? Only a friend of mine has been placed on a "secondary" waiting list for 3 schools as they weren't on her original application form.