Waiting list 240 pan school

[QueenDramaLlama]

Hi all, we are about 3rd on the waiting list for a 240 pan secondary school. How likely are we to be offered a place before appealing? The school is a very popular school so I don't see people turning down places.

How did you find out your position on the waiting list because we got our 3rd choice and my dd is now on the waiting list for the first 2.
Being 3rd sounds really promising to be honest, some might be going private or similar so I feel you can get a place quite quickly

Ring the school. I would say highly likely. Lots of children accept first place offers and then bugger off to private.

3rd sounds promising. Some families will accept private places or need to move house. The people on the waiting list ahead might decide they are happy with their allocated school. Of course there is a risk you will move down the list if more apply, but I'd expect you have quite a good chance of a place.

3rd at this point sounds promising. Those with private offers won’t necessarily have informed the council yet.

We have a place at a 240 PAN school and will be releasing it on Monday for a private option and I know that a friend will be doing the same so being third on the waiting list for such a school would seem promising.

You'll get in

About as promising as it could be at this stage (other than being number 1), but be aware that you can go down waiting lists as well as up. There may be others who have added themselves to the waiting list this week if they are unhappy with their allocation, and if they come higher up the criteria than you, they will go in higher.

Hopefully that won’t be the case, and there’ll be enough movement that you get good news quickly!

I think 3rd is pretty likely- there will be people who need to move area or maybe get a place at private school, choose to home school etc. Are you in the sort of area where people move regularly, or one where people live in the same house all their life?

The bigger issue with it being a more popular school is that some people may get in on appeal, or be added to the waiting list, which may cause you to move down.

Fingers crossed you'll hear something very soon!

It very much depends on the local context. In some areas a very high percentage go to fee paying schools for secondary but in other areas it is rare. Unless the LA offered all applicants a place on national offer day, they will now have to offer the late applicants so some may have a higher priority than your DC according to the oversubscription criteria. Third place sounds pretty positive though.