Holding more than one firm offer from an indy schools?

[Trix2323]

Two different friends yesterday told me that they were holding two or more firm offers for entry into schools at 13+ in September. Are there many people who are holding more than one "firm offer" from independent schools? If so, are these confirmed to both schools? When do people make decisions and commit to one or other school?

usually they release the places 1 term before the start date, to avoid paying the term fees.

Depends , if the offer is dependent on CE results then they could wait until mid June, if not they would need to notify either one by Easter to avoid paying a term's fees in lieu of notice (or maybe they can afford to pay regardless and will wait anyway).

I believe you have to state which school is your first choice in the Easter before CE and then your exam papers are sent only to that school for the to mark. So you would not be able to hold two offers and choose after CE. If you didn't get the required mark at CE then you and your head negotiate a place at another school although your other "first choice" may have filled its vacancies by then.

You can hold offers until about 3 months before CE, at which point you have to decide First Choice school (who will be the recipients and markers of the CE papers).

If it's outside the CE system, then it all depends on how rich the parents are, as it'll all come down to haw many (hefty) deposits they can afford to lose whilst they decide.

How rich and selfish you mean!

Agree Colleger. I believe February is the month you have to declare your first choice school for CE. I think it is selfish to hold onto more than one offer for months as a DC is rarely going to change that much from the end of year 7 to the February of year 8 so a decision can usually be made earlier and cut the heart ache for others who are still on the waiting list. We had to make our decision 18 months before as there was no way we could afford 2 deposits and actually we realised that even then nothing was really going to change and that we just had to make a decision.

DS is current year 7, Hampton require a deposit of £1k by Thursday if you want to keep the place they have offered. Kings College and St Pauls are Marchish.
His prep is a big feeder into these schools and it's not really acceptable to pay more than one deposit except in special circumstances e.g. brother at St Pauls younger DS more suited to Hampton, but want to keep options open for a year in case things change.
I think preps manage the system well with day schools because they have such strong links, but talking to friends who are looking at boarding schools they seem to collect places and pay deposits everywhere.

Yes Anne I think that's right, but the boarding schools ask for the deposits earlier I think (right after pre-testing) so if you want to keep your options open, you have to pay. The prep schools certainly don't like more than one offer to be held, but I know of some who hold a day and a boarding until the last minute, trying to decide. Agree with Colleger about selfish. There should be a set deadline (?end of year 7, when everyone has finished pre-testing) when firm decisions have to be made...it'll all be better when I'm in charge!!

I look forward to the day you're in charge milkshake, because at the moment I know so many people who have paid deposits to Epsom college I think non-refundable deposits may be their main source of income.

i do know parents who have held onto their indi places until the last possible moment and it isnt fair - i know 1 family that were on the waiting list for their chosen 1st school and they got a telephone call the day before the 1st day of term - not nice!

"i know 1 family that were on the waiting list for their chosen 1st school and they got a telephone call the day before the 1st day of term - not nice!"
I expect that the family that was waiting for their second choice place was equally frustrated.

Such very late reshuffles are very rare, and probably arise from factors including divorce, illness, and redundancy or other major life change rather than indecision/selfishness.

I think EdithWeston is right we need to get this into perspective. Ok it happens and there are some parents holding onto 2-3 places until the last minute but most parents I've met don?t do this. Schools like Eton don?t help with their bizarre waiting list system. Most parents have a first choice and if they get it accept it, it?s the waiting list option that causes problems; friends whose children who have been added to waiting lists have rung up and asked what the chances most then moved on knowing that in most cases their chances were often slight. I personally think this is the right way of looking at it. One friend who was desperate to get her DS into a particular school on finding he?d only got a waiting list place broadened her horizons and looked at others and now genuinely believes that the school they eventually choose is a much better fit for her DS than the one they initially were so desperate to get into.