Anyone else stuck in waiting list limbo?

[AmeliaEarhart]

… And haven’t gone the appeals process? We were offered our third choice school back in March 1st. DH and I are happy enough; it’s not perfect but has enough going for it that we’d be okay with DS going there (walking distance, good facilities, great SEN support) but DS is completely against the idea. He has ASD and can be extremely rigid so we’ll be in for a tough time changing his mind. It doesn’t help that only one other child from his class at primary is going there.

So he’s on the waiting list for choices 1 and 2. Number 19 for school 1 and 9 for school 2. Neither is straight forward as both schools have multiple waiting lists (1st choice because it’s an academy and faith school with different admissions paths, and second choice because it has a banded intake). Everyone keeps assuring us that, being in central London, they’ll be lots of movement before September and DS might still be offered a place at either school. We didn’t consider appealing as our reasons for preferring schools 1 and 2 (other than DS’s insistence that he’s not setting foot in school 3) are that they have better results, which doesn’t seem like a strong argument!

Is anyone else in a similar situation? How are you feeling about it? Are you prepared to hang on in there until September, hoping until the bitter end for a place at your first choice, or preparing your child (and yourself) to settle for what you’ve got?

That’s great news Bella, congratulations to you and your DC!

So hard to predict these things. The sensible part of my brain realises DS is bright and will be fine wherever he goes. Allocated school is outstanding and I like it. In lots of ways it’s the better choice, the main plus is, it’s closer to home so journey time is about 15 mins as opposed to 40 and friends are more likely to be local. But the grammar school offers a particular subject I know he’s really keen on and had we gone down the tutor route, like his friends, then he’d have sailed through the tests. Then I come back to my sensible head again and it tells me, it’ll all be ok in the end!

I’ve realised that if he doesn’t get offered a place before 31st December this year then he would need to resit some tests if a place came up. Hopefully by then DS will be settled and happy in his new school so we’d probably not bother.

Cold hope next week’s the week you get the call. We’ll be keeping everything crossed for you.

waiting any news for your DD? Are you still in second?

@MadBonkers I am in france, so haven’t checked my waitlist number recently, but we are still waiting! I have a uniform appointment booked on the 10th august, so we are likely to go with allocated school if we haven’t heard by then. 😫

No call here and we've gone the wrong way on the list again. I did check with the admissions people if they work over August and they do. But they close the list at the end of the month so if we want to be on the list at the start of term I need to do an in year application. I'm glad I checked in with them as I didn't realise that!

Are you sure that they realised you were asking about main round (starting year 7 in September) admissions? Waiting lists for main round must be maintained, in oversubscription criteria order, until December 31st, whether by the LEA or by the school itself in the case of academies. So it is common for the LEA to maintain lists on behalf of the schools in their area until the end of August, then to hand the lists to the individual schools to maintain in accordance with the Admissions Code. Schools can choose to move to a CI list / require a new application from 1st January, but can't decide to do this before December 31st.

(assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1001050/School_admissions_code_2021.pdf para 2.15)

Applications for current year 7 would normally have to be renewed once the cohort becomes year 8 in September, however.

Oh maybe that is what they meant then. I did think it sounded weird to be honest as what I'd thought was that they passed the list to the school. I will double check, thank you!

It is the time of year that that message tends to get a bit garbled wrt which year 7 everyone is talking about (though often even more so when the schools are still in and their own websites have messages about waiting lists being dissolved, outside of the main round admissions blurb)😀

I found the admissions booklet and you are right, it's the current Y7 list that closes. So now we just continue waiting and see what happens.

Just been offered a place! We are so pleased. Enough time to do all the prep for it and get uniform so no angst about whether to accept or not.

@ColdHappyBap congratulations!

@ColdHappyBap that’s amazing news! What was your DD’s reaction? Like you say plenty of time to get the uniform and planning her route to school, etc before she starts. Now you can relax and enjoy the summer 🙌

@waiting2022 are you still in France? Have you checked your DD’s WL position?

Anyone else waiting apart from @waiting2022 and myself? Good luck if you are.

She was happy @MadBonkers but I think mostly relieved. Although we liked the school she had I think she was getting more worried about not having any familiar faces around. Even if they don't end up in classes together or hanging out she's just glad they will actually be there. And it means they can get the bus together on that all important first day.

Oh Im so pleased for you and your daughter @ColdHappyBap !!
See what I mean you just dont know until it happens and it can happy anytime!
Fabulous news!
Good luck to all who are still waiting!! As you have seen it can and does happen!

@MadBonkers no update as yet.

@ColdHappyBap really pleased for her. Great that she’s got some friends to take the bus with, puts your mind at ease too knowing she’s not travelling alone.

@waiting2022 fingers crossed there’s some movement this week. Hard to remain positive though when the lists haven’t budged for several weeks, isn’t it?
I think I recall you saying you had a uniform appointment this week. How does your DD feel about her allocated school?
My DS made a couple of new friends on transition day so I think that has helped him to come round to it.

I checked since posting my update earlier and my DD is position number 1 now on the waitlist.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed for those of you still on the wait list. That’s a good position to be in @waiting2022 , would you move in the first weeks of term or have you got a summer cut off?

@ColdHappyBap I am not sure, I have heard stories about children not showing up on their first day of term and at that stage places become available.

It’s a hard one, isn’t it? I had concluded that we’d just see how it felt if offered a late place. If school was going well, she seemed to be settling and happy we’d stick, if it wasn’t we’d have accepted at whatever point. It’s hard to know what the right action is until you have that offer.

I know people who had offers in the last weeks and turned them down because they felt quite committed to the school they’d got and were happy about it. We didn’t feel at all committed and when the offer came I think we both felt massively relieved which was a sign to take it.

@waiting2022 oh my goodness so close now. According to friends, who have done this before, the North London grammars do continue to shift a bit through August so hopefully you’ll get that call soon.

Hi everyone.

We are in waitlist hell for a grammar but I think we are giving up as we won't get to the top based on the current rate (gone from 19 to 15 since March).

Does anyone know why this year the waiting lists seem to moving so slowly? Based on previous years and our distance we would have got in straight away but this year it all seems very different. Frustrating as it feels like all the revision for the tests was a waste of time!

My suspicion @mumobsessedwithdamp is people can't afford private or to move. We live near to a grammar area and usually lots of kids from round here would head off. This year the offer area was so much smaller smaller than normal. It just collapsed. I think some of it must be parents choosing a grammar over private. And the housing market is weird, interest rates are uncertain so people are wary of moving.

Some areas just don't move much on the waiting lists normally. London is volatile but I know people in other areas where maybe if you are top 5 you'd get a waiting list place at the top schools, but not 30 like I was.

@mumobsessedwithdamp that’s crazy the waitlist has moved only four places since March 😮is that 1st March or second round offers at the end of March? Where in the country are you? Things near me (N London) are much slower this year but I don’t know of any school that’s moved that slowly.

My DS is in 5 place having originally been 19th. With only 3 weeks to go until the first day of term, we’re resigned to the fact it’s not going to happen. So uniform has been bought, journey planned etc. Such is life… things don’t always pan out the way we had planned!

How do you feel about DC’s allocated school?

SE London. And that's from 1st March. We went backwards to 25 and now back to 15 so there are spaces becoming available but I think people are moving to get higher up the list.

We feel similar to you; resigned ourselves to the fact. Just a bit frustrated and upset that we had false hope and also nervous and hopeful that it will be okay anyway!

@mumobsessedwithdamp how frustrating that it’s moved but very much in the wrong direction!

So this week there was good news for @ColdHappyBap And @waiting2022 has moved to 1st on her WL. Hopefully the next week sees some more movement and good news for those still waiting.

A heartfelt plea to anyone holding a state and private school place to make up your minds soon please and not leave it until the first day of term. With only three weeks to go surely anyone doing this must know by now which is their preferred school.

We are still waitlist 1. I’m starting to sadly think there will be no more movement now. Surely people will have bought uniform etc for their chosen school by now.