SW London grammar & private senior school - Waitlist support

[Greenshoots12]

Hi,

Following on from the main thread, I thought it might be helpful to set up a support thread for those on waitlists.

Our DD is on the WL for her first choice school and we are finding it hard to navigate the uncertainty of IF or WHEN the WL might move. We don’t have an indication of where she is on WL (despite asking the school) and because are hoping to move from state primary to independent, her current school is unable to help with finding out.

Please do share your stories, or indeed post if you hear of WLs for any of the schools starting to move.

I’m sure there will be movement after this week holders events ! Good luck to your DD x

Thank you for starting the tread, and fingers crossed you get the place you are after. We’re WL for SH which is our preferred school. Looking forward to knowing either way, over the next week or so!

Good luck - offer holders events this week will hopefully firm up people’s choices and they will release others. Then depending on where you are in London early need week should have a spike as well once the state offers are out.

Wishing you all positive quick waitlist movements for everyone waiting.

Best of luck! A good reminder to everyone who has made a decision to release offers ASAP.

Another WL holder here. The anxiety is awful. We don't really have much by way of other options so clinging on to shreds of hope...

Next monday is National Offer day. I am sure many people will choose grammars if they have the opportunity and list will move considerably.
Good luck.

As @11plusinLondon said it s important for everyone with multiple offers to decline them promptly (including WL places!).

• I would make sure to stay proactive (which I am sure you have been already), making sure you the school is aware you're ready to accept straight away (and pay the deposit!).
• I would definitely call on Friday as most of the offer holders days would have happened by then (one school said to contact them on that day)
• I would stay close to/unmute my phone!

Sending some positive vibes your way!

Thank you for all the support. I need to put this in perspective as my anxiety levels have rocketed and fundamentally, in the scheme of life, it is not such a big deal (though feels it right now).

Is your first choice likely to go to waitlist? Have you been in touch with the school to let them know they are first choice?

Less likely than other schools as it’s SPGS. Coming from a state school, our current school won’t make any calls on our behalf and when I call the admissions team at SPGS they won’t disclose more detail.

@Greenshoots12 , well done to your dd for making the SPGS WL, that is an achievement in itself plus coming from a state school so without prep school support, you must be very proud and aware of how well she has done.
I'm sure you have excellent back up offers, have you been to any open days for offers this week?

@Greenshoots12 The school that is your daughter's first choice might not be the first choice for other families. As a result, spots can become available. For instance, last year, I know of someone who didn't show up in September for the school you interested and the school filled the place from the WL.

After one term, another girl move out for other reason and one more slot become available (not sure they took from WL or not).

I have no idea how long the WL at SPGS is or where she is ranked on it. Also heard that most people who get offers will accept, so the WL barely moves vs other schools. She has offers for other schools so perhaps we should just move on as a family and put it behind us. I’m finding the lack of information the most difficult.

Thank you @redrobin75 and @PreplexJ for your thoughts and also this insight.

I wouldn’t give up hope. I’ve heard SPGS do not over offer by much, and there may be more declines than usual this year due to VAT. Many more may choose good state secondaries or grammar schools instead. You probably won't know until after national offer day though, so try to hang on until next week! I definitely sympathise - the not knowing is very stressful.

Most of the waitlist movement at SPGS in August was due to their decision to increase their class size to 120 girls so they could mitigate the effect of the VAT change on tuition. I believe that an unusual number of occasional places were offered in Year 8 as well. If they've targeted 120 girls from the outset this year rather than the usual 105-100, the amount of waiting list movement won't be repeated.

The school has already taking 120 girls in lower school even before thr announcement. So the increase size only affects mid and senior years.

So not occasionally places in lower years are not due to the announcement.

Yes I figured they would have already planned for the VAT increase within their numbers already.

The schools don't disclose rankings on WL for many reasons including they want a balanced intake so if they are rejected by someone very musical they may offer to a musical person on the WL etc.
In the case of SPGS I would focus on the other fantastic offers you hold and prepare to pay the deposit for 1 of them next week.

Yes I agree. I think we have to assume it’s a ‘no’ and work on that basis. Being in limbo is no fun for anyone.

The formal announcement of this change came at the end of the autumn term. That does not preclude the possibility that the decision had been made much earlier or that actions had already been taken before the announcement; this would not be the first time that parents were informed about a major change after the fact rather than in advance. From the amount of Year 7 wait list movement and Year 8 occasional place movement I saw at the end of August, I believe that the school not only had made the decision at that point, but had begun acting on it. You're free to believe what you wish.

@user799568149

The school started taking 120 students way before the VAT change came into effect. Occasional places become available primarily due to students not showing up or moving out for whatever reason in Year 7 and Year 8. This is a matter of fact, not a belief or wish.

Once the deadline has passed for the on-time applicants to accept the state secondary place offered on NOD, there should be some movement, although it may prove an atypical year in some areas. What is your deadline for accepting your second preference independent school?

Wednesday 5th March. So after NOD but before their acceptance deadlines.

I would love to hear any positive WL movement on any of the schools; I think ours is unlikely so it would be wonderful to hear of positive news for other families. Hopefully the next week or so will bring this for others 🤞

No movement for us yet - refreshing my emails roughly every 30 seconds each day though…