Waiting list - people declining allocated school

[Hove1981]

I have put my daughter on a waiting list for a very popular school in our area. Apparently they will contact people on the waiting list after Easter if Spaces become available. Does anyone know if people going for private school education will have also applied for a local authority school place and May now be candidates for potentially pulling out?

Possibly but they won't need to decide until Easter.

It's likely. There's always a lot of movement between Easter and September. A lot depends on how high up the waiting list you are when it comes out. Also don't forget your preferred school might not be the preferred school for children who have a place & they might be waiting for something to free up elsewhere. Schools may also take over PAN, children move house etc etc. Lots of factors that are nothing to do with the school you want, might boost your chances.

Most will have a state back up, especially because selective private schools are not guaranteed, so some places should open up

Yep, most people who want to go private will also apply to state. But how much difference that makes depends where you are. And people don't always remember to decline the state space, so don't expect the final picture any time soon.

I suspect with the new VAT and increased costs coming in the Autumn due to NI and business rates that there will be some changes in how private school parents behave with state allocations.

If they get a great state option, more will decide to go for that over private.

If they are opting for private, more may hang on to the place until the autumn in case circumstances change, or until they see how hefty the fees will be in September.

Yes unfortunately I agree that some parents who intend to go private will not decline their state offer. They will hold it till September either because they simply forget about it 🤦‍♀️ or because they want to keep that option open in case private becomes unaffordable.

So if you know that you are in an area where lots of parents go private, hold your nerve as there can be movement right up until mid Sept.

It very much depends on the local context. In areas where a very high percentage of children are educated in the fee paying sector, in a normal year you would expect to see state places declined from the first round of offers. Remember the local authority will also have to deal with late application rounds, often more than one so people may leapfrog over you in terms of meeting the oversubscription criteria, for example living nearer the school, or higher Church attendance etc. Some people decline places at the very last minute and sometimes people just don’t show up at the beginning of term in September, either because of a change in circumstances such as moving abroad in the summer holidays or because they send their child private. Hopefully not too many parents will do that. Good luck.

When I did admissions this was usually the case.

Yes. Our DC at private secondary but we also did the state lists as they have to be submitted long before the private school places are offered.

I'd be pretty surprised if there's anyone who doesn't put in for state as a back up.

(Although where we live all independents are selective so perhaps other parts of the country could differ if the schools aren't selective.)

I did tell the state school at the top of our list that we had accepted a place at a private school (before the state placement day) but DC still got allocated places that we had to turn down. I made sure to do that ASAP on the day the places got released as I hated the idea of keeping a space from someone who wanted it.

Likewise, we have an independent place, but applied for a state place in case the exams didn't work out for us. We have already declined our state place so that others can get the place they want. For what it's worth, I think everyone I know in the same circumstances is doing the same, and they don't want to sit on places unnecessarily. In this area at least, people had to sign up and pay deposits by last week. Schools typically have to give a full term's notice of fee increases, so everyone will know by early April what the fees will be in September, so there really aren't many reasons for folk to be hanging onto a state place beyond that as everything should be clear. Plus if anyone pulls out of their September independent place after the Easter holidays, they will still have to pay the first term's fees, as you also have to give a full term's notice to withdraw.

So basically, things should be fairly clear fairly soon... and hopefully the waitlists move positively for all those looking for something different. Good luck all.

Private / Independent school waitlist are definitely moving in Surrey, I know a couple of places accepted last week. The state places were rejected the next day as they knew other children were waiting and also prevents any duplicate admin for the state school. Hopefully, your waitlist will move in your favour asap, OP.

It will be interesting to see if VAT has had any impact on the psychology around accepting/declining state school places and whether people are more risk averse. There have been people on the thread who have been very conscientious about declining their state places but there isn’t really anything to incentivise that. People will have paid deposits for private and be liable for the first term but I can see why people would hang onto the state just in case. If something goes wrong financially, you’d be liable for term 1
but still have a place versus being liable and potentially having no place.