Can you please help me understand how waiting lists work?

[ParentOfOne]

Can you please help me understand how the waiting lists for state secondary schools work?

Let's say we apply to 6 schools, in two different boroughs (not that it should matter, right?), schools 1 to 6

On offer day we get school 4.

What do we have to do? Do we have to accept before a certain deadline?

Or does the council automatically assume that we have accepted the offer and the only thing we need to tell the council is if we are sending the child to a private school, therefore withdrawing from the whole process?

Let's say that after a few weeks they tell us: good news, a place at school 3 is now available. Similar question: do we have to explicitly accept the place at school 3? Do we in theory have the option to say: "thank you, but we'll stick with school 4"?

Does the council tell us our place in the waiting list? Eg there are 20 families ahead of us for school 3 but 200 for school 2?

Till when can the waiting list change? Is the final allocation finalised some time around end of August?

I have heard stories of families going private but forgetting to tell the council in time. Are there penalties / fines for that? Not that we plan on doing it - just curiosity! Although the families who can go private won't be too affected by a fine, I'd guess

Presumably how your specific LA handles waiting lists is not documented anywhere on its website?

Because aside from certain things, such as,

• waiting lists must be ranked in the same way (by the individual school’s oversubscription) as on time applicants were ranked in advance of national offer day, and
• after national offer day, all applicants, whether on time and originally waitlisted / missed October 31st deadline / joined the list due to a change of preference or moved into the area, must be ranked on the one list in correct oversubscription criteria order,

there are many ways in which the process can be managed and still comply with the Admissions Code.

So you need to look at your local LA's arrangements, and also the arrangements for schools applied to out of your own LA, where this may be different.

There is no fine for failing to let the school/LA know you're not taking the state school place - so there can be waiting list movement through the first few weeks of September. When you get your allocation, it should tell you what you need to do (whether you need to actively accept or acceptance is assumed) but it’s probably best to check the LAs’ procedures ahead of time just to be safe. I think usually you need to actively accept a waiting list place though, and often with a quick turnaround. Most LA will tell you where you are on the waiting lists I think, though positions can change daily.

Different LAs do things differently so it can vary a little but generally:

1. Most require you to accept the place (some automatically accept for you) but you can still decline the place later even if you accept it.
2. Most LAs will automatically place you on the waiting lists for higher preference schools (but some require you to contact them to be added)
3. Some tell you your place on the waiting lists, some LAs you have to contact after offer day to get this information from them (waiting lists can go down as well as up so you need to check periodically where you are).
4. Most LAs will give you the choice, if a higher preference comes up, of accepting the newly offered school or sticking with the previous offer.
5. Waiting lists are not finalised, as already stated by other posters, they are fluid and new applicants are placed in the list according to the published admissions criteria.
6. No fines
7. No it doesn't make any difference if the schools are all in one borough or in several.