Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

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

Original poster

Secondary Waiting Lists

28 replies

FusionChefGeoff · 01/03/2023 06:44

Tell me your good news stories please?! We didn't get any of our preferred choices so I emailed straight away for waiting list for all 3.

Website was very clear not to contact council after this but should I be a squeaky wheel?!?

OP posts:
Whycanineverever · 01/03/2023 06:51

A few years ago I was given 4th choice. I got 3rd choice late April followed a week later by school 2 and then school 1 on the day before term started. I was 3/mid thirties / mid 40's on lists respectively.

sydenhamhiller · 01/03/2023 06:57

7 years ago DC1 did not get 1st choice secondary. Was quite high on the waiting list, and we got a call 3 weeks later.

Friend got call for 1st choice secondary for her daughter at the end of August - they had labelled uniform and everything!

So just to say: lots of movement, esp in cities I think, with transient populations.

As to contacting council and being squeaky wheel… no idea I am
afraid, am sure someone will come and advise shortly. Best of luck - DC3 finds out today after 1700! X

SoCrossAboutThis · 01/03/2023 07:02

Being a squeaky wheel is not going to help at all, it won’t move you up the waiting list. You either appeal or you wait to see if you make it to the top.

dd is an adult now but we did not get our first choice. She was 4th on the waiting list, school rang every year saying did we want to stay on the list and we said yes every year. Never got a place.

mamnotmum · 01/03/2023 07:23

There'll be so much movement as people appeal and go on waiting lists etc.

Get on the waiting list and do an appeal.

TwoForTheDough · 01/03/2023 07:43

Making a fuss won't change anything, they'll offer places according to whatever the admissions requirements are. There's not much point trying to chase positions until all the initial offers and rejections have died down as it is so volatile and the admissions teams are busy.

Last year my DD got our third choice on offer day and our first choice in the middle of August. During that time we moved up and down the waiting list like a yoyo. It was amazing to see. We were in the 30s in April, got to the 10s and then bounced right back nearly to where we were. But we got a place in the end.

Remember that the closer you get to September the more people ahead of you choose not to move. So you don't actually need the school to give everyone in front of you a place, you just need them to offer one and it get turned down. Our school was still having people join off the waiting list well into September.

IndiganDop · 01/03/2023 07:48

We were 3rd on waiting list of school 1 on offer day. I was hopeful she would get offered in second round but she didn't and subsequently I was told she was 12th on waiting list, so I can only assume a number of people moved in to area or something.

I had put in an appeal and that was held 12th May. We found out the following week that we had won our appeal, luckily. I don't know if we would have been offered a distance place as somehow we appeared to keep moving down the list.

UsernameOfMine · 01/03/2023 07:57

I don't think that contacting the council will have any effect, especially at this early stage as people will still be accepting and declining places.

There is a deadline for accepting places... I'd wait until at least then before contacting and asking your place on the waiting list.

AuditAngel · 01/03/2023 08:09

Last year we got offered our second choice. I was surprised as I was aware that 2 children in lower admissions categories received places, I waited a few days then messaged the school admissions to office to check that they had her information correct “so she was correctly placed on the waiting list” and 20 minutes later the admissions officer called me to say that they had already identified an error in processing her application (we live in a parish that receives priority in admissions but attend a church that is outside the parish, and primary was outside the parish). We were immediately offered a place without having to appeal.

there are some very knowledgeable and helpful people on mumsnet who will help you decide if you have grounds for appeal (thanks PRH47Bridge)

LockInAtTheFeathers · 01/03/2023 09:39

As others have said, being a squeaky wheel will make no difference whatsoever I'm afraid- the waiting lists are held strictly in order of admissions criteria, and that is the order that the places are offered in. You can go down the list as well as up if new people are added to it, and length of time on the list or how often you contact the council/school have no bearing. Best of luck Smile

gabster33 · 01/03/2023 10:07

Nope it won't make a difference - checking your details are correct is wise if you think there may have been an issue. Unlike private schools the states have to be transparent.

We were 38 on list and then move down to 44 - only a 70 place entry. The main stream of the school was another 260 or so places. She was in both lists. The distance (larger places) she didn't move. The 70 places she was 2 by the last couple of weeks of august. Two kids didn't turn up the intro day. So she got a place starting the first day of term. There is hope.

EyesOnThePies · 01/03/2023 12:41

State schools admissions are governed by law and places given according to the published admissions criteria, so no amount of chivvying will help. Just wait for due process.

As well as going on waiting lists for your preferred schools you should now be able to add yourself to waiting lists for any other schools you prefer over your allocated school.

Remember: accepting a place does not disadvantage you on waiting lists or at appeal.

Turefu · 01/03/2023 13:40

How can I check on which place we are on the waiting list? I can’t find information on the website. My son got offered our second choice, I’m happy with it, but I’d like to check.

Peasinthefreezer · 01/03/2023 14:48

2 years ago, we got our 3rd choice, found out we were no 8 on the waiting list and wasn’t until May half term time we heard we had been offered a place at 1st choice.

If I remember rightly was a big shake up of places after the deadline to accept places, we weren’t offered then it was further down the line.

OnlyTheBravest · 01/03/2023 16:42

It takes a few weeks for admission officers to confirm your place on the waiting list. They will be busy receiving calls from people giving up their space, late additions and dealing with those who have no place.

Make sure you check the rules for your council whether you are automatically added or you need to request to go onto waiting lists and definitely accept the place you have been offered, even if you are not happy.

hayh · 01/03/2023 20:53

This time last year we were 9th on the waitlist, moved to 10 and then no change.

we appealed, and won. With the other people that also won their appeal the school went over PAN so the waitlist didn’t really move any further.

appeal, you have nothing to lose.

Original poster
FusionChefGeoff · 01/03/2023 21:11

Great thanks so much - we've had it confirmed we are on the waiting lists already which I was very impressed by. I will wait a few weeks before asking about position.

Will look into appeals although we really don't have anything other than he's massively sporty so we want the most sporty school. I don't think that's part of the criteria Grin

OP posts:
MatildaJayne · 01/03/2023 23:11

The sportiness could form part of your appeal if the school offers some sports in lessons that others don’t. Or extra curricular sports clubs that others don’t.

Original poster
FusionChefGeoff · 02/03/2023 12:52

Actually that is genuinely a concern - he's a keen cricketer and none of the other schools have a team.

OP posts:
MatildaJayne · 02/03/2023 15:25

Definitely put that in, then!

hayh · 02/03/2023 18:29

Research appeals.

it’s key not to moan about your allocated school, but how your child will benefit from the school you are appealing for…

good luck

LDS1983 · 02/03/2023 20:37

I am after some advice on secondary school appeals. We applied for our 1st choice under the medical criterion but wasn’t successful.

My dd suffers with anxiety. We had a letter from the doctor confirming this. Dd is also still wetting the bed which is linked to anxiety and we have letters from the hospital proving this. During lockdown and being at home dd became dry. Once back at school the bed wetting started again and dd is now on medication for this. Her anxiety is triggered by new, unfamiliar situations and can have episodes of panicking in these environments. We believe the school we wanted would be the best school to deal with this.

Back in 2016 when dd was due to go to primary school, we weren’t offered any of our 6 choices. We were given a school 3 miles away. We accepted this, stayed on the waiting list for 2 years but then I had to apply for my ds to go to school. So we kept them both there and they have been happy. Now we want dd to go to the secondary school next door but we have been declined. The school we have got is back near our house but I’ll still be taking ds to primary school and having to leave dd at home alone and to lock up the house as they won’t start school until after we leave. Dd has regular panic episodes and I am concerned that this will happen when I leave for the primary school run. Therefore we will be in a situation of whose education suffers, who do I deal with and get to school first.

This would all be alleviated if we got the school next door to the primary school as I would have a support network of families who could take ds into school if dd needed my support.

Sorry for the long explanation but do we have grounds for appeal?

Thank you

EduCated · 02/03/2023 20:44

@LDS1983 I would suggest starting your own thread to get the best advice - if you include Appeals in the title, there are some very helpful and knowledgeable posters about.

In general though you’d need to be identifying why that school is the one you think will best manage your DD’s needs.

LDS1983 · 02/03/2023 20:48

Thank you. I will start a new thread.

PaulaPaola · 02/03/2023 21:07

Wait until all the places have been accepted / declined in two or three weeks and then you'll have a better idea of where you're placed.

Do consider an appeal though; my friends didn't as they thought "fair enough, others live closer" - but then another child I knew did appeal - she lived further away than my friends and had no extra needs or anything; I am pretty certain of that, just a pushy mum who was willing to argue for a place. And it paid off, she got one.

tinkada · 18/04/2023 16:10

Hi there, amazing to hear you have won a school appeal. Do you have any tips on what to say or highlight at the appeal to win? Our hearing is in June thanks so much