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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

waiting lists grammar schools

43 replies

whathappened · 05/04/2011 13:48

Hi, My dd is quite high on waiting list for our local grammar school.First dd to go through this so i am a bit unsure of how this all works.school told me some people sit on their places until the last moment,why do people do this?I know people are entitled to do this but just curious why.also how long would you wait on a waiting list before giving up? We have a good comprehensive as back up but want my daughter to start getting excited about the school she is going to be attending.many thanks

OP posts:

sue52 · 05/04/2011 14:23

What area do you live in? Some people sit on offers while they wait on private school places or appeals for more local grammar schools. It happens all the time in my area (west kent).

Original poster

whathappened · 05/04/2011 14:47

Hi sue52 We are on waiting list for wallington girls.thanks

OP posts:

ce09ssa · 29/04/2013 18:36

Hi Whathappened,

I am in the similar situation like you. My dd is also quite high on the waiting list. My dd also passed a very good private school with 50% scholarship but dd wants to go to Wallington grammar.

I would like to know, if somebody from their experience could tell me that when the waiting list start moving. The first waiting list has been put up since 17th of April and it didn't move at all (that's what school told us).

tiggytape · 30/04/2013 07:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

gazzalw · 30/04/2013 10:18

DS, last year, got offered his not-preferred choice grammar school but was told almost on Offers Day that he was 9th on the list for his preferred one. He was offered the desired place before March was out. I know that the grammar school concerned worded the letter very positively so we virtually knew that he would be offered a place shortly (which was indeed the case!).

Has the correspondence from the grammar school indicated the likelihood of offers being given shortly?

I think you can, under the Freedom of Information Act, ask the school for the precedent with offers from waiting lists over the past five years or so. That will give you some idea of patterns of offers, will it not? And how likely it is that your DDs will get their much desired places?

Good luck - not at all an easy time .

Suffolkgirl1 · 30/04/2013 20:57

Unfortunately it is not uncommon for people to not inform schools at all that they are not taking up the place. DS's grammar had a pupil just not turn up on the first day last year. It is rude and inconsiderate to others but it happens. Sometimes pupils drop out in the first term as well if the travelling is found to be too difficult.
The LEA / school has to maintain a waiting list until the end of the autumn term. I know of pupils who have started at one school and changed to their first choice after a few days. Don't give up yet!

gazzalw · 01/05/2013 07:42

Whathappened - is she high on the waiting list for a catchment place or the places given purely on coming in the top 80 or 100? You might find that historically there's more movement on one than the other?

I think you are right Suffolkgirl1 although I don't think that happened at DS's super-selective last year. It might be that with the economic downturn of the past few years, that trend is on the wane?

I do think that finding out what's happened with the waiting list in previous years is helpful if only to allay your fears. I can think of nothing worse than to be dangling for months on end.

The important thing is that you and your DD focus on the school she currently has a place at rather than a "what if" scenario that might (hopefully!) or might not come to pass. Already some of the secondary schools are arranging open days/exams/parents' evenings for next year's Year 7s so you need to ensure that you are engaged with this process and enter into the spirit of it all rather than hankering.

Good luck!

beafrog · 01/05/2013 18:07

I think it's common for schools to have places suddenly at the start of term from people not turning up. We got offered one on first day of term, and there were a couple of other places at that point too. Apparently one family had emigrated and hadn't bothered to let school know, and two others had just not turned up...

auntevil · 01/05/2013 18:28

whathappened - you have a good comprehensive as a back up (overton/greenshaw?) - I know parents that are on waiting lists for these schools too. 'Tis the way of the world this waiting malarkey, but until there is some movement higher up the chain, you will have to be as patient as the parents waiting for the good comprehensive place that your DD may not need.

breward · 02/05/2013 20:05

My DS is 4th on the waiting list for a GS in Essex. The waiting list has not moved one single place since 1st March. The girls equivalent GS has moved 9 places, other Grammar Schools in the area over 30 places! Usually the waiting list for our preferred GS moves by 15-20 places so we thought we would have an offer within days of 1st March... how wrong we were!

Why would people hold open two places? Would you not have had to pay a sizable deposit or the first term's fees by now? I'm a bit in the dark about how people hold multiple places.

piggywigwig · 02/05/2013 22:04

gazzalw
"I do think that finding out what's happened with the waiting list in previous years is helpful if only to allay your fears. I can think of nothing worse than to be dangling for months on end."

Unfortunately, with the changes that came about last year, ie for the first time ever, you knew your DC's 11+ score before filling your CAF form, knowing how waiting lists have performed in the past, may not be the relevant or useful.

Take Essex, for example, where not only have we had the scores given out but we also had some schools imposing a new catchment area policy. This has had an effect on waiting list movement, as Breward has said. We're not unique in Essex. Basically, knowing your score before the CAF deadline, means that in some cases, you pretty much know which school to apply to - so less people are gambling on a place before March 1st.

gazzalw · 02/05/2013 22:40

I get you point Piggywigwig, although I don't think that applies to Wallington High...(relatively local).

piggywigwig · 03/05/2013 06:56

gazzalw
"I get you point Piggywigwig, although I don't think that applies to Wallington High...(relatively local)."
Why do you feel that the CAF changes haven't effected Wallington? gazzalw? I have to say that the regional boards on 11+ Exam site shows that the lack of movement on this year on waiting lists isn't only happening in Essex.

piggywigwig · 03/05/2013 07:11

Shall I write that again lol?

gazzalw
"I get you point Piggywigwig, although I don't think that applies to Wallington High...(relatively local)."

Why do you feel that the CAF changes haven't effected Wallington gazzalw?
I have to say that the regional boards on 11+ Exam site show that the lack of movement this year on waiting lists, isn't only happening in Essex.

tiggytape · 03/05/2013 07:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CouthySaysEatChoccyEggs · 03/05/2013 07:58

DS1 is on the waiting list for CRGS. Haven't called for a few weeks, but am going to call today to see where he is now - he was 18th back in March, so will see later and pop back.

gazzalw · 03/05/2013 08:07

Yes, I understand what you're staying Piggywigwig, but I am not aware (and believe me last year we studied all the 'bumpf' on boys and girls grammars alike) that there have been main changes afoot at Wallington High School.

I have no doubt though that significant changes overall to the admissions system have probably tightened things up so you don't get the 'maybes' sitting on places for months on end.

Also think that people are being a lot more cautious and maybe appreciative of what grammar school education can give their DCs whilst saving them significant chunks of money (by going privately).

I think overall grammar school places are becoming more and more sought after...

breward · 03/05/2013 20:18

Any news couthy?

piggywigwig · 03/05/2013 21:30

gazzalw
"I have no doubt though that significant changes overall to the admissions system have probably tightened things up so you don't get the 'maybes' sitting on places for months on end."

I'm not being rude but I genuinely don't understand how the changes last year have made a difference to people sitting on places?

gazzalw · 04/05/2013 09:41

Ignore me - not sure that last comment of mine makes sense ...

At the end of the day "quite high" on a waiting list could to my mind mean anywhere twixt 1st and probably about 25th.

All I know is that by this time last year we had known for six weeks that DS had got his desired school place, from being 9th of the waiting list. From what I can glean on here and the 11+Forum, this year, as you have rightly said Piggywigwig, things seem to be moving very much slower.....

That is of no help to parents and DCs desperate for news...who may be sitting on waiting lists for months

tiggytape · 04/05/2013 10:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Vishyrich · 05/05/2013 01:22

I think you should really be looking at the child's welfare, joining a school late is never nice, and although it is understandable you want your child to have a good start, often excelling in a normal school is better than barely scraping past in a grammar, I should know since I attend one, to be honest you need hard graft either way

piggywigwig · 05/05/2013 12:58

gazzalw
"Ignore me - not sure that last comment of mine makes sense blush...

At the end of the day "quite high" on a waiting list could to my mind mean anywhere twixt 1st and probably about 25th.

That is of no help to parents and DCs desperate for news...who may be sitting on waiting lists for months sad"

I wouldn't ignore you

I sadly think that what's happening this year with waiting lists, is going to set the trend for a good few years to come and the golden years of lists moving, and a real glimmer of hope, are gone. I truly feel for parents who are waiting on lists and for appeals.

Vishyrich
" often excelling in a normal school is better than barely scraping past in a grammar, I should know since I attend one, to be honest you need hard graft either way"

Whilst I know where you're coming from, the reality for let's say, the 5 children who get through on a waiting list for superselectives like Colchester County High for Girls or Colchester Royal Grammar for Boys, is that they're not going to struggle because what separated them from the children who got in to the school on National Offer's Day, is probably the difference between 0.001 of a mark. That's how tough it is and how close the marks are. Let's give a better example, let's say the 98th (ie last) boy got in on 339.345 - the 5th on the waiting list may have scored 339.401. The margins are quite simply that small. He's not likely to struggle and may in fact do better than a boy who scored 350 on the day.

piggywigwig · 05/05/2013 12:59

..btw I know my example doesn't reflect 0.001 lol!

piggywigwig · 05/05/2013 13:07

..the sun has definitely gone to my head I should have said

Let's give a better example, let's say the 98th (ie last) boy got in on 339.401 - the 5th on the waiting list may have scored 339.391

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