Bromley waiting list

[Thebromleymum]

Hi

Looking for experiences on the Bromley waiting lists, they have said they won’t tell us our position, nor will they start offering places until mid-April. Anyone have any experience of this? Do they really wait that long or is it just a ruse to stop you calling them at the start?

I know other London boroughs where they have already been told their position on the list.

thanks!

Yes, that sounds about right, I'm afraid! They really aren't willing to give out much information early on in the process. They should be able to tell you the last offer distances for the school(s) you're hoping for, though.

We were just outside the cut-offs for both our first and second preferences and got an offer for our second choice on the 17th April. This was a few years ago.

The waiting is a nightmare, but things do shake down quite a bit between now and the start of the school year. Fingers crossed for you!

Hi, we are in London Borough of Bexley but waiting on two Kent county council schools they said it’s like an offer day all over again 25 April and they will confirm if they can or cannot make a waiting list offer on that day. I was hopeful there would be movement before then another Mum who is in Bromley said that she’s in the same situation waiting on Kent Borough schools and this mirrored the process she had with her eldest a few years ago.

Thanks both! This wait is torture, especially as my son is very upset with the school we ended up with (4th choice school where he doesn’t know anyone!). Still gobsmacked he didn’t get into the school down the road where most of the class is going, most of whom live further from the school (it's a Harris school though so I know that is all to do with the bandings)

Is that Harris Falconwood? That was our third choice - it’s hard to know where you are at with that one as they said 9 bands and it’s space per band sort of thing.

In 2023 we were offered a Bromley school place at a school not on our list. We got a new offer in the first shake down which was 13th April. It was our 4th choice and we stayed on the waiting list.

I phoned every two weeks to check positions. There was a lot of movement up until July then hardly any movement till September when there was a big move.

We finally got a place at 2nd choice school in late September and moved.

Hope that helps.

Wondered if anyone had heard any movement in Bromley! Or if they were sticking to the 10th April as their next date for updates ?

Hi, have you heard back from Bromley yet? I am not sure if they have send out offers in the second round yet.

Yeah they have. And they confirmed that we moved up the waiting list but not to the top unfortunately!

If you contact them they will tell you where you are on the list !

Hi
same thing has happened to me this year.
Got offered fourth choice and only put it down because they told me that I had to put down six. We are 18th on the waitlist at the moment for first choice where all of his friends are going.
Did you have a positive out coming in the end?

We did ! Ended up getting offered our first choice school in June. Good luck, the wait and anxiety is torture.

I know! I am really stressing about it and think 18 is quite far but fingers crossed. Thank you m.

I think we were around 16 on the waiting list originally. So defo don’t give up hope.

Hi @Elim81 , we are also waiting in Bromley having not got any of our choices and being given the nearest school with available places 😔. Our first choice is a Harris academy so I think very little chance of that, and our fourth we are 83rd 😬Second and third (either of which we'd be happy with) we are 27th and 6th so I am hoping that there is some movement here. I emailed them last week to check for updates but they haven't come back to me yet.

Good luck with your application, it is horrible isn't it?

Where did you get offered?. I'm 23rd on the list for Harris Beckenham. I got offered Orion's Eden park but it's too far.

We got Bishop Justus. Harris Bromley was our first choice but we are 2.2 miles away and it’s random allocation anyway. 27th for Chislehurst Girls, 6th for Bullers Wood and 83rd for Langley Park Girls.

I heard that this year one of the bands for Harris Beckenham was completely filled by siblings 🙄

Yes Harris Beckenham's top band (8 places) is entirely full of siblings - not even all the siblings got a place! Over 20% of applicants were placed in the top band so if you are on the waiting list and think your DC might have done moderately well on the banding test, unfortunately you've got no hope.

I know there's movement at Harris Bromley and Orion Eden Park so if you're waiting on either of those you may have more luck.

And sorry for more doom, but just to add that your waiting list position will be within-band, rather than across the intake as a whole. The largest band only has 40 places so even if you're in the biggest band, you're relying on over half the people offered in that band not taking up the place to reach the top of the list.

I just declined my offer of Eden park today as the other mums at my sons primary school rejected theirs and they got offered their first/second choice after. I also think it's unfair of me to keep a space that I have no intention of sending him too.

@KelseyParkGoose Same with Harris Bromley, 24% of applicants scored in the top band (despite a national distribution of 4%), with only 7 places. DD scored in the top band so no hope there.

@Elim81 I’d be wary of declining the place without having an alternative lined up. The other mums would have got their first or second choice because they got to the top of the waiting list, not because they rejected the offer they were given.

To be honest it doesn't bother me as he wouldn't be going to that school even if we got to sept and it was his only offer. It's too far and I wouldn't make it to work every day after taking him.

Waiting lists are definitely moving.
DS has just been offered 5th choice and close to top on 4th.
Kent reallocation deadline was yesterday so that will be freeing up their previous places. Will be a trickle down with moves between SS grammar then grammar to SS then non selective into grammar and finally giving spaces in non selective schools.
Either Judd or Skinners (can't remember which) had 26 new offers. If this is repeated across a few schools that is a lot of places to be cascading. It just takes time for things to work through.
Kent has a big impact on Bromley and Bexley schools.

We had the same issue last year with Harris Beckenham. We were in top band and last year they were all offered to siblings apart from one place. So we never got to the top of the list and were less than half a mile from the school. Thankfully put first choice was Langley and we got through on that list.
What was crazy about Harris, is that kids that live in Penge got in because they were in the middle bands.

I know i pass loads of kids getting off the train at Beckenham Junction to go to Harris and we have no hope of getting in despite it easily being our closest school. Madness.

Where are you on the waiting list for?

Fair enough if you would rather home school than Eden Park but turning down a place will not change your chances on other waiting lists in any way.