Waiting list question - SE London

[alwaysthebalancingact]

Our child has been offered a place for our fourth choice school (Lewisham), which we've accepted while staying on the waiting lists for the others, with all fingers crossed! We've just received the enrolment forms and wondered - do we just carry on as normal and fill them in etc? I assume this won't affect us continuing to be on the waiting list? Also if anyone has any positive waiting list stories, would love to hear them!

Fill them in. You can stay on as many waiting lists as you like, but this way you are all set if you need to start at this school.

We are in this borough and a classmate just went from a choice not in her six that had her in tears to top of her list. There is definitely movement!

Good luck!

Have waiting lists started moving yet on non-selective schools?

Thanks, this is really helpful, and great to hear about your classmate too! Yes, I think waiting lists have moved - we've heard of some that have been offered places. I'm not sure if everything is stalling now though, or whether there will be another flurry at some point....

I’ve filled out one set of enrolment forms, then got a place at a school further up our list, so completed another set and are still holding out for our first choice!

Just fill everything out and keep your fingers crossed.

Waiting lists move all summer. Right into the first two weeks of term when kids just don’t turn up as the parents have moved or gone private and forgotten or not bothered to say.

Nothing disadvantaged your place on any waiting lists, and if you get a place in a higher preference school you can still stay on the list for highest.

Brilliant @FishfingerFlinger - that's really positive news! Fingers crossed for your first choice. I'd better get form filling today then...

It's such a rollercoaster though - I'm trying not to think about it and but it's not all that easy!

It's horribly stressful! Trying to protect DS from it but it's been very hard for him to first be told he's not been offered a place at the same school as all his friends, then get used to the idea of going to one school, now getting used to the idea of another and still holding out for the possibility of getting into our first choice without raising his expectations.

Hope things work out for you! We are SE London too but different borough and there's definitely been movement, we know of a few people who have been offered different schools in the last couple of weeks and that then creates a chain of movement - it can all take time to work through the system. Have you managed to find out where you are on the waiting lists?

@FishfingerFlinger I can only imagine! That must be a lot of unsettled feelings to manage. We are basically trying not to talk about it in front of our DD and focusing on the choice we've been offered, but it's not easy as first or second choice, and even third would be so much better! We are in the 20s for all three of our waiting lists so not holding out much hope....

@CatatonicLadybug good to know about there being movement in Lewisham!

So hard for the DC's - in some places the year 6's have split into two friendship groups already depending on where they are going (girls of course) and the single DC who has been offered a third school is a bit lost and lonely.
They will soon start talking about uniform shopping where there are still one or two DC's who still waiting to hear.
Agree with him or not (house move rich enough for private etc) RR has brought it out into the open regarding what is not far off a lottery for many despite being dressed up as entry requirements (an extremely bright child having an off day at 11+, living 10 metres outside an arbitrary boundary which has been fine on previous years, some priests will sign any certificate of practice whereas others require daily attendance, numbers of siblings, ehcps and LACs).
As for boroughs saying 97% of applicants got into the first three choices you put down 2, 3 and 4 so you don't get allocated the near borstal that no one wants

I'd also love to know what proportion of people who didn't get their first choice had a first choice that was a long-shot vs schools that they had a reasonable expectation of getting into.

We were definitely fully expecting to get our first choice, not unreasonably. Everyone we speak to can't believe we didn't get in.

@FishfingerFlinger have you found out your waiting list position? And distance from the school? Some of the distances are so small. We are slightly out but really not by much (a couple of streets) so it's a bit frustrating.

Ours is a bit complicated - the school effectively has multiple waiting lists. We're near the top of the relevant list but it's unlikely to move much/at all. We actually live really near the school - much closer than other children who will get in - but that's not the deciding factor.

Is that Kingsdale? I don't know of other schools where distance isn't a factor. Regardless, that's really frustrating to hear - have all fingers crossed for you! From our side, we're purely based on distance I think.

@FishfingerFlinger Is it a Harris Academy with multiple waiting lists for each band? We’re in a similar position and the LA can’t tell us where we are as they say allocation is random 🤷‍♀️. Unfortunately we didn’t get any of our choices and ended up with the borstal 😔.

It is yes - and I'm sorry to hear you are in that position! I know other people who ended up with none of their choices in the initial offers but some successes with waiting lists for other schools so fingers crossed something better comes up for you. It's a horrible position to be in.

@FishfingerFlinger Thanks, it’s pretty crappy, isn’t it? We’re 6th on one waiting list and 27th on another so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. I know one of her friends had a second round offer for a school we would take and rejected it (for Kingsdale incidentally) so we should have moved up one place at least! They’re something like 0.05 of a mile closer than us, it’s crazy how small the distances can be.

Has anyone heard from Kingsdale about waiting list movements yet? It's surprising don't seem to have sent any updates since 3 March.

Would like to find out any intel about Sydenham waiting list too!

Loads of movement. Do enrol in one you have. I know several families who had chosen elsewhere and their DC started in lower choice, loved it, few weeks in got the other one and turned it down. Do go and look and be sure it wouldn’t suit your child. My DC just finishing at a Lewisham secondary (not a popular choice) and has had a brilliant experience.

I was wondering the same, though we are quite far down the list. May I ask where you are on the waitlist?

We found out yesterday that DD got a place. She was 11th on the scholarship WL.

That's wonderful! Congrats

I definitely know people who were quite far from their preferred school and ended up getting in. Some of my dd’s friends (currently yr 7 in various Lewisham schools) have also moved after the start of the year when places came up or when they ended up feeling the school they were in wasn’t right for them. Not ideal, but could be an option too.

@Coco2013 that's brilliant news, congratulations! Sounds like there's hope in terms of movement. I also wonder if there's many who didn't put Sydenham as first choice, but got it and who are waiting for Kingsdale (as that would definitely benefit us!). @Hollyhedge and @selondon28 thanks for the advice, that's reassuring. The waiting game is just so tricky, as I want my DD to get excited about secondary, and I should be talking about her offered place, but also don't want to mention too much in case it ends up being a different school.