Waiting list question

[Goldwakeme]

If a school accepted slightly over PAN, does that mean the number they went over by would have to reject the offer before anything is offered to the waiting list? Eg PAN is 240 and they accepted 250 so do ten children have to reject a place before more offers are made?

Yes, that would normally be the case - they would have to go back to 239 before offering from the waiting list. Especially with a number like 250, as that is not divisible by 30, so it doesn't seem as if their intention is to add another form.

Thanks for the explanation, that means we're further down the list than I hoped, but fingers crossed there will be movement.

Out of curiosity, under what circumstances might a school offer so many more than its PAN? I sort of assume that they might go over if the last child were a twin but how and why might they offer 10 more?

It's often done to help an LA offer all applicants a place. In some areas, it's known that a certain number of applicants will go private, or take places from grammars from waiting lists in another LA, so the actual number of places an LA need will end up being slightly lower than the number who actually apply.

So in-demand schools may over-offer, to ensure every child gets an offer, but in the knowledge (and previous experience) that a certain number will turn the offer down and they will end up at PAN. It often happens in my LA.

It's a slightly risky strategy, because if not enough turn places down they will end up over PAN and they have to take the students, and they have to cope. It's also a risky approach with regards to appeals, because if a school over-offers, but falls back before appeals because of declines, appellants will often argue that the school is prepared/happy to deal with, say, 10 over PAN because they offered the places to start with...