How is waiting list rank determined?

[AquaPeer]

Good morning* *

Where we live many schools have priority areas. Their admissions criteria takes from these areas either by a set %, or a proportional % based on the proportion of applications from each area.

For our chosen school we are unlikely to get a place on allocation day, but it will be close so I am wondering whether it’s realistic to anticipate a waiting list space. However I don’t understand how the waiting list could be ranked, based on the criteria.

Can anyone help me understanding how waiting list spaces would be allocated? I’ve linked an example of the sort of admissions policy I mean . Thank you!

https://bishophatfield.herts.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Determined-Admissions-Arrangements-2025-2026.pdf

I don't know exactly but our school does the same thing, they tell us students selected are randomly allocated digitally (I assume they may put some parameters in like equal sexes??) but essentially it's totally random. Our school does not then apply preferences by distance to the school for example, either you're in their selected area, or you are not, so I can only assume they determine a certain number of waiting list spaces that are randomly allocated? (Assuming all other criteria have been fulfilled of course).

That's my assumption based on our school, I only know distance isn't factored in at all, it's quite binary as to whether you're in their selected catchment or not (and it's a very broad catchment area defined by postcode, not distance to school, we live within 0.3 miles of the school but don't have a higher chance of getting in that a family 1 mile away).

Waiting list places are still allocated based on the admissions policy for the school so your place on the waiting list could go up or down, e.g. if a LAC or another applicant with a higher priority moved into the area etc. It would be wise to include a realistic preference (not choice) in your list.

Some schools near us basically hold multiple waiting lists. One school has a banding test and then admits a proportion from each band. They also admit some children based on aptitude e.g. music/sport/drama aptitude. So a child might be 3rd on the drama waiting list, 5th on the music waiting list and 10th on the band 3 waiting list. If a child declines a space, they offer it to the relevant waiting list e.g. if they got a place based on their sports ability then it goes to the child in 1st place on the sports waiting list. It can be trickier to work out chances of a place as different waiting lists move at different speeds.

I get this, as it’s the saw as anywhere.

What I don’t get is how you get your position on the waiting list.

So say in the above example, if we ignore rules 1-5 (let’s say- unnegotiable criteria)
LAC
SEND
Children of staff
siblings
nearest school

the waiting list is now made up of children under rule 6- priority area.
They are given places according to proportion of applicants from each area. So let’s say

area1 - 20% of applicants.
area 2 - 30% of applicants
area 3 - 50% of applicants

how do they determine who is position 1 on the waitlist?

if it is truely random as tuberole says- which I’m starting to think might be the case- how do they know who on the waiting list gets the next available space and which priority area they come from?

I’ve emailed and called the county council by the way- they haven’t responded!

I wonder if similar could be applied- the wait lists are based on who rejects their space after allocation day. So

-1st person to reject a space is in area a
-that space is offered to another applicant in area A, completely randomly.

—2nd person to reject their space is in area B, that space is randomly offered to a student in area b?!

I think this is likely. Each child will be allocated a random waiting list number in each area, so you might be 1st in area A. If a place comes up because someone from area B declines, you won't get it, because it will go to the first person in area B. Sometimes they will leave some 'spare' numbers for people who join the waiting list later e.g. if there are 35 on the waiting list, everyone is randomly assigned a number from 1-50. Then if someone moves to the area, they are also assigned a random number.

The other option is every time there is a space, they randomly choose one person from that area e.g. stick all 35 children from area B who are waiting for a place in a metaphorical hat and draw one out. This is more truly random but is more work and means you have no idea if you will get a place.

it looks like the waiting list is as random as allocation day 😩 it’s fine as we have a banker (nearest school) so maybe it’s worth staying on the waiting list for the luck of the draw 😂

I would have said that policy definitely contravenes the Admissions code requirement that
In drawing up their admission arrangements, admission authorities must ensure that the practices and the criteria used to decide the allocation of school places are fair, clear, and objective. Parents should be able to look at a set of arrangements and understand easily how places for that school will be allocated.

It looks as if those arrangements hold until the summer term, at which point different "in year" arrangements start. Which begs the question where would a new applicant who applied post allocations but pre summer term be placed? It may well be, as suggested above, they run separate waiting lists, but they need to be much clearer about that.

Thank you- I might use this information to put some power behind my ask to the county council!

The other option is every time there is a space, they randomly choose one person from that area e.g. stick all 35 children from area B who are waiting for a place in a metaphorical hat and draw one out. This is more truly random but is more work and means you have no idea if you will get a place.

They would have to do it this way to include late applicants fairly. If everyone was ascribed a random place when the list was initially drawn up, late applicants could never get a place as they'd always be at the bottom.

I don't get this. There shouldn't be areas. Once the children who fulfil the priority criteria have been allocated spaces, it should just go on distance. Unless the school has a tiny intake and a huge number of priority children, all the priority children should have a place. Distance should be the only criterion. The children who live too far away to make the selection, should be placed on the waiting list in the same order as on the application list. If spaces come up they should be placed in that order. I don't think the areas are a legal thing.

A lot of schools here do this. The priority areas are often parishes that do not have nearby secondary schools, leaving those children in a “black hole” if they weren’t prioritised in this way.

however it also means you could live next to a school (but it’s not classified as your “nearest” school) and not get a space whereas someone from 15 miles away could because they are in a less populated priority area.

i would love for it to be illegal 😂 but can’t imagine how they’re all getting away with it if so? It’s county council allocation too

It's perfectly legal to have such areas, just as it's perfectly legal to have feeder schools, nodal points, etc. However, "Oversubscription criteria must be reasonable, clear, objective, procedurally fair, and comply with all relevant legislation, including equalities legislation", as per the code. I would argue these criteria are far from clear!

Few years ago, my cousin got in via waiting list for his 1st choice. Only because my aunty reapplied after the old waiting list expired and everyone was required to reapply to remain in the waiting list. He went from position 35 to getting a offer in January.

The random allocation is done using a random number generator so that every single child who applies on time is immediately ranked. This means on offer day, if you don't get a place, you can ask where you are on the waiting list. Most school admissions criteria put late applicants to the bottom of the list.

@AquaPeer , Rule 6 says that "Places will be
allocated on a random basis", so clauses 1.34 and 1.35 of the National Admissions Code apply, as shown in the attached screenshot.

This means on offer day, if you don't get a place, you can ask where you are on the waiting list. Most school admissions criteria put late applicants to the bottom of the list.

No - late applicants are only at the bottom of the list until offer day. Thereafter they, and any future applicants, are treated equally with all other on time applicants. That is why a fresh allocation has to happen when there is a vacancy, as the pp has pointed out.

@AquaPeer "i would love for it to be illegal but can’t imagine how they’re all getting away with it if so? It’s county council allocation too"

Aquapeer, you'd be surprised how many schools admissions policies don't meet the admissions code. It's very easy to refer a school's policy to the adjudicator, and parents can do it anonymously. I've referred a few schools local to me, and in every case they were non-compliant. Some local authorities seem to turn a blind eye.

Would your child start in Sept 2025? You've missed the deadline to refer the 2025 policy to the adjudicator, but you could refer their 2026 policy. That will be published by March 15th 2025, and then you'd have until May 15th to refer it. If the 2026 policy is shown to be non-compliant then it might help your grounds for appeal for a 2025 place.

Hi, yes thank you! It’s 2026 entry, application in 2025. Will look at this

First round allocations are clear - they will use the published criteria to put all applicants in a ranked order, and then award X places to the top X people on that list who didn't qualify for a place at another school which they themselves ranked as a higher preference.

For waiting list places all first-rpund applicants who were unsuccessful in the first round will remain on the list in the same order relative to eachother, but other late applicants may get inserted into the waiting list with a higher ranking.

If a school has a set percentage that they admit from a particular category (eg 20% from each of 5 parishes) then the waiting list people will also be tagged with which category they are in amd if a category C person declines their place the highest-ranked category-C person on the waiting list will be given the place unless someone appears on the list who has a priority that outranks the split-by-category section (eg named on a newly-issued EHCP or a sibling where the parents forgot to apply for their youngest child to join the school - this happens regularly!)

@DustyAmuseAlien "For waiting list places all first-rpund applicants who were unsuccessful in the first round will remain on the list in the same order relative to eachother, but other late applicants may get inserted into the waiting list with a higher ranking."'

This is true, but this situation is more nuanced because the OP said that the waiting list is usually within Rule 6, which is random allocation.

I posted a screenshot of clause 1.35 of the national admissions code in my pp. It says a fresh round of random allocation is needed each time a child is offered a place.
However, the admissions policy notes say "Every child entered onto the HCC admissions database has an individual random number assigned between 1 and 1 million, against each preference school. When there is a need for a final tie break the random number is used to allocate the place, with the lowest number given priority."

Allocating the random number when each application is entered into the database may be a breach of clause 1.35 of the code.
e.g. If your random number is 1000000 when you first apply, and is fixed, you probably have no chance of a place. But if they follow clause 1.35 of the Code they should re-jig the random numbers every time a place is allocated, giving you as much of a chance as anybody else.

I agree with @PatriciaHolm that these oversubscription criteria are far from clear. It is reasonably clear how they work during the normal admissions round. It is much less clear how they work for the waiting list. If someone who got a place because they lived in parish A leaves, does that mean the place goes to the next person on the list from parish A? If so, what happens if that person had moved to parish B? Alternatively, is the allocation per parish on the waiting list determined by the number of applicants from each parish on the waiting list? Or do they stick to the proportions based on the original number of applicants? I could go on.

I think these criteria should be referred to the Schools Adjudicator to see what they make of it.