Offers day: 1st March 2024

[Jbrown76]

Anyone nervous, slightly apprehensive?

First choice is the local Grammar. Not sure DD will automatically get a place as they take top 180 and it’s extremely competitive.

Second choice would also be fine but we are just under a mile away and it’s very popular.

DD desperate to go to the closest school to our house as all her friends are allegedly going. I put it last on the list as really not keen. Headteacher left a poor impression at the Open Evening, many of the kids seem unruly (which was mentioned in the Needs Improvement OFSTED) and there just seems to be a general air of malaise about the school. Feeling slightly stressed but what will be, will be.

And I have to go through it all again with DS in 3 years😩

Yes starting to get the queasy feeling now. Our closest school is 2nd choice but I’ll be disappointed if we don’t get choice 1 as it’s a much better fit.
it’s just the fear that we won’t get any of our choices and get dumped in the inadequate bin that is one of the high schools!
DD is at a feeder school so the highest category after ECHP/looked after and siblings. I just want to know now!

I'm worried as we are currently living abroad, but will be home in June. I've had to apply for a place for my daughter but they are apparently judging our application on our overseas address. I've provided mortgage letter etc and am just hoping that will suffice on Friday

@poolcrew don't panic as there is so much change before Sept

For very popular schools there is little change before Sept. Only top of the waiting list is benefiting from the cha ge until Sept

@RedFluffyPanda in our area there is at least 10% movement as that is roughly how many apply for state then go private. Then there is significant shuffling until Oct

I may be wrong but as I understand it, the admissions board would take into account the address you are resident in when applying for a school place, offers are then made on 1st March. If you don't get your first choice tomorrow you can accept what ever place you are given and request to go on a waiting list for your preferred school, if you move back to the u.k in June your waiting list position will become higher so that if any spaces becomes available you will have a better chance of getting a space, as previous posters have said there is often movement. I would call/email your council so you can be 100% on their specific admission policy.

You all have my sympathy. We know my sons place already as he has a EHCP and they have named our first choice. His brother is already there so we are happy with the school.

Last year we applied and then moved house (and across LEA - we live on the borders) between applications opening and offers day - offers made based on where we were when we applied and we got our second choice.

Then got a call from the LEA offering us a place in our first choice school, and despite us ringing them up and telling them we'd since moved further out of catchment - they were happy about it and that the offer still stood because of where we'd lived on the day applications went in.

Roughly by what date the applicants have to accept private school offer? For how long are the " movements" on the waiting list?!
I live in London, I suspect many kids are going to private too

One more question. If we are offered one school and are on the " waiting list" for the one above on the list, and uktimateky we will get an offer from the school that we ars on waiting list- do we have a choice then accept or not to accept the one from waiting list? Or is it automatic that we will get it?

Just asking as I am unsure how it works.

@RedFluffyPanda Yes I think you do have a choice. I remember from when my daughter and her friends went through the process. You can stay with the original offer and decline the high preference that you were on the waiting list for.

I think from reading mn there is at least one area that automatically assumes you want the higher up place (or at least used to), but generally you get asked.

I've been back and forth with the LEA since we decided to move home last year. If there's enough space in my first choice school we will get a place despite our address. If not we will have to go on the waiting list. I'm hoping there's movement but it's a very popular school. My second choice school was under subscribed last year so we would have got a place there but obviously birth rates differ this year. Just keeping everything crossed that they took our situation into consideration or the school is under subscribed!! We will see! Good luck everyone

@RedFluffyPanda I think it varies.
But all the private school kids I know applied for a back up state place - even those in all through schools where admission to high is 99%
They wait until state offers are out and only then get round to saying no thanks. In some cases people took weeks to get round to it.

The local main privates x 3 here released offers this week. They have reserve lists too, some kids will get 2-3 private offers plus a state one... some parents are deciding which private to choose and some are still deciding fee / no fee depending on what state they offered eg popular comp or maybe a state grammar.
We are a city

This was Primary not Secondary but...

We accepted a school place in April. DH was told his job was relocating abroad at the end of June... we moved in August. So a place at very popular Primary school suddenly became available.

Circumstances change all the time. Ans it has a domino effect with several waiting lists.

But shouldn't they all make their mind by the deadline of acceptance that is 15th of March and therefore the new places would be released after 15 awaiting acceptance ...and then all rounds completed by around May?

Just asking.

There's no incentive for parents going private to relinquish their state place early (or at all). Most will, hopefully, at least at the point they are committed to fees for the school (start of the summer term for September start), but there is no come back if they don't.

Buckinghamshire used to assume that you wanted the higher ranked place & automatically removed the previous one. Their reasoning was that if you'd stayed in the waiting list you'd want the place, & of course it freed up another place at the same time. My understanding from some posts on here is that it may be against the admissions code. I don't know if they still do it. It should say in your offer letter, I would have thought

They can only offer according to their admissions criteria. They can't take other things into account.

In some cases, children didn't turn up at school in September. School had to chase up the parents until being told they went for somewhere else.

Appalling.

Oh that is so unfair!

@RedFluffyPanda as @TeenDivided says there is no consequence. Some will just take ages to decide. Whilst in theory there is a deadline, places aren't taken away until a parent confirms they don't want it. That's why places always come free in Sept when kids literally fail to turn up.
I know several who sat on offers and would glibly say 'oh I must get round to emailing x high to say we don't want our place'

places aren't taken away until a parent confirms they don't want it.

Gotcha...thank you. So yes , it can take evsn up to mid Sept if some slackers ( excuse my French) did not decide to notify the council that they went to Private. I suspect much lessovent would be for selective grammar school and all " dramax would be mostly resolved in March, wouldn't it?

@deeprealisation Just completely selfish and self-entitled! I wonder what kind of children they raise!