Secondary school waiting list criteria

[Zero2]

Hi, we were given our 3rd choice in 2021 and my son started last September. Our first choice keeps a waiting list open for a year - my son is no 9 on the list.

In July, before the start of term, the council told me he was no 2. I held off from buying school uniform as it felt like there was a chance he'd get in.

I wrote to the council again in the middle of August and was told his position had gone back to 8.

The admissions team explained six families had moved into the area and jumped straight onto the list, ahead of son. I know there has to be a system and I know it works for many, but it's gutting when it feels very unfair for you!

Sorry for the longwinded story but essentially I wrote to my MP asking for a fairer system in that you need to have lived in the borough for 12-24 months before you apply instead of 'dive bombing' in after the application process has closed. I can understand if people have moved into the area with difficult circumstances to be considered a priority (divorce/bereavement etc) but to jump to the top of the list JUST because you've moved into a borough a few weeks before the start of term feels very unjust.

The MP's reply was long and genuine and she asked if I knew of any other boroughs that operate in that way.

So my question is, how does your Borough deal with this situation. I've done some research and it seems most operate in the same way as mine which just seems very unfair to local families.

Thank you so much for any replies.

Sorry OP, I know it's hard, but I think you're losing perspective here. What on earth have these families supposedly done wrong? They've just moved house! People move house for all sorts of reasons - new job, bigger house, just fancy a change. You seem to be suggesting that it's somehow immoral to move house without a 'good reason'.

As for 'playing the game', they've effectively done the opposite. By applying late, they've taken the risk that there will only be spaces left at the less popular schools (which sounds like it's the case). By moving now, they're making it less likely that they'll reduce your chances of a place - presumably if they'd applied on time, they would definitely have got a place at the school you want. As it is, they've probably been allocated a less popular school, and if a place doesn't come up before September at their preferred school, then they may well cut their losses and decide to stay at the less popular school after all, even if a place does come up later (this happens a lot). Not to mention the fact that they've probably now released a school place in the area they moved from - so quite possibly another family like you is now delighted to have got a waiting list place at the school they wanted - because of this house move.

Also, bear in mind that this timing might well not be of their choosing. We've got good schools in our area, so people often move here primarily for the schools - but it's really common for house moves to take longer than people think, so they then miss the application deadline, and end up getting places at less good schools after all, or joining waiting lists.

Your children's education is an emotive topic for most - everyone would like for their child to go the best school available and yes, when it seems that that is taken from you, because a handful of families 'play the game', then it's difficult to deal with. I can't claim to know the stories of all the families that moved into our area 4-6 weeks before the beginning of term and maybe some were legitimate, but to me, it felt like a handful of families, took advantage of a system and because of that my son isn't at the school I would like him to be at.

No one has "played the game" here though.

Your son isn't at the school you would like him to be at for the simple reason that there were XXX children further up the admissions criteria than he is.

If a child moved next door to the school and it was their closest school to walk to would you really say to that child that they have to go to one much further away, so that someone much further away but who has been waiting a long time for their desirable school to drive to can get a place?

Over time everyone would do that, never move and there would be no community feel to a school left because potentially depending on the type of housing (if high turnover) none of the children living closest would get in.

I think @steppemum is absolutely right - the people who move in the summer and end up on a waiting list are not doing it to game the system. If they don't get to the top of the waiting list, they may be stuck with a place at a school some distance from their new home (and inevitably an undersubscribed/unpopular school). If they get to the top of the waiting list after the start of the year, they'll then have the decision to make about moving their child to a second new school - even harder if they're new to the area so there are no familiar faces in either school.
It would be one thing to move in March and chance it on enough places coming up by September, but those that move in the summer have got a much smaller chance. If they have multiple children, they may also end up being offered places in different schools for each.

I can't see any possible advantage to moving close to the start of term. It's not an Ebay auction where placing a last minute bid can get you a sneaky win that you wouldn't otherwise have got. In fact if anything, a late application will be disadvantageous as places at all the popular schools will be allocated and people new to an area will be offered schools which have places left. These may well be both less popular and not even particularly close to their new home. It's likely that they are on waiting lists for multiple schools in that case, so some may well go elsewhere anyway. The school you want might not even be first preference for them all.
It's also probable that at least some of these new residents would have been higher up the admissions list than some of the children who were actually given places if they'd applied on time. So surely if they were moving specifically to gain a school place they would have done it before the closing date,making it more certain they'd be successful, rather than leaving it to the last minute and hoping they'd get lucky off the waiting list? There are fairly regular threads on here about how stressful and difficult moving into an area with over subscribed schools is if you cant apply at normal times. I don't think many people would deliberately do so if they had the choice.
People do move for school places of course, but mostly they do exactly as you suggest they should and move well before they apply, in which case they would still displace longer term residents from a little further away but you just wouldn't know about it.
I suppose it is possible that just occasionally someone might be so upset with the school they have been offered locally that they decide that moving and taking a chance on a waiting list elsewhere is a better risk but that must be very rare. Aside from anything else, the logistics of selling your house and finding a new one in that kind of time frame would be very difficult. Even if you're renting I'd imagine it would be tricky.
I understand it must be very disappointing not to get the place you hoped for, but honestly I think you are barking up the wrong tree in thinking new residents are out to game the system .