Year 7 waiting list

[thecherryontop]

Does anyone have any positive stories I could cling to regarding being on a waiting list and getting a place at the start of year 7? Please!

I think that very much depends on your placement and the school in question. There is definitely movement, but if the school is sought after, there is less movement.

Depends on what number in the waiting list they are at. I work at an oversubscribed secondary, with about 160-200 on the waiting list. We would normally expect to offer to the first 5, but this year we have not offered any on the waiting list. Maybe another 2 or so between September and Christmas

We were in this situation when my daughter started secondary. We were 3rd on the waiting list in March and moved to 2nd a few weeks later. We did get in to the school but it was in the last week of the summer term, so my daughter had done all of the transition for the second choice school and missed it for her actual secondary. We had a letter that withdrew the original school place and and changed it over without any warning so although it was what we wanted it was a bit of a shock! The waiting list stays in place in the autumn term.

We successfully gained a place for our daughter through appeal, we found out the 1st week into the holidays so she’s missed out on transition etc.
The top 3 on the waitlist were sibling and 2 in catchment but the school was already 5 over PAN.
I wish you all the best as it’s a stressful time, is it an academy or LA school and what position are you on the waitlist? you can ask the LA your position and the criteria of those in front of you on the list.

There is hardly any movement at ours because we don’t live in an area where people go to private schools or even move house that often. There isn’t much social mobility.

Would also love to hear some positive stories. We are currently 6th on the waiting list (in London) out of 100, which feels too positive to give up all hope but not close enough? Wondering whether there will be much movement at the start of September, as disruptive as that is....and what we do in that position. It's all feeling really agonising right now.

DC1 got into our local very sought after primary. It was in the days when the younger kids started in January. We got the call a few days before Xmas.

Have you asked the school whether people in position 6 on the waiting list in previous years got in?

I used to be a school governor at a comprehensive and I do remember at least one year, the head decided to increase the number of places in year 7 because one other year group was quite small and it was obviously a way to increase school funds without increasing costs. So on that occasion the school offered places to something like the first 10 on the year 7 waiting list.

We were 4th on the waiting list in March. The school we wanted (School A) started one day earlier than the school we got (School B). 4PM on the day before my son would have started at School B, we got a phone call from School A, saying that two kids hadn’t turned up and we could have a place starting the next day. We took it. We had bought all the school uniform for School B, and had none for School A, luckily they both had black trousers and white shirts, he got kitted out from. The second hand shop on the morning he started until we could buy the right stuff! It was the right decision for him, he has thrived at School A.

I’m really hopeful that there will be movement. We are also in London and are number 1 in one school and number 3 in another -we were late applicants as moved. I agree it’s agonising.

@iliketobereasonable oh my goodness, that sounds really stressful but also brilliant in equal measure, glad it worked out in the end! I know we just have to accept whatever happens but the waiting game is hard. It sounds like there's lots of movement in the first part of September then....

@thecherryontop 1st and 3rd place is hugely positive - do you have a preference for either? Sounds very likely you'd get one either before or in the first part of September.

I would be super happy with either one. One is slightly easier to get to but honestly I would make either work and be glad I could do so. I really hope to hear something!

We’re definitely not alone in this! Back in March we were #27 on the waiting list for School A, and by the end of July we’d crept up to #5. It feels so close now, but we know August is usually quiet with the holidays, so it’s a bit of a “sit tight” moment.

When we were at 27, my DS was gutted, but after a few days we focused on all the positives about the “bird in hand.” Now that we’re hovering at #5, though, he’s set his heart on School A again.

Really hoping the private school families holding places as insurance make their final decisions by the August Bank Holiday so we can all get uniforms sorted and minds settled - would be ideal of course.

Fingers crossed for everyone in the same boat, navigating the system.

please keep recent past experiences coming. Thank you. Oh and any stories linked to settling in as the “late arrival” in September /Autumn Term. Thanks 🙏🏽

There should surely be some private school movement. We get a few children a year coming out to our school in Herts for Year 7 where the London waiting lists haven’t yielded. Fingers crossed for you!

This isn't a "normal" year, VAT is having an impact and it was always going to be more impactful in Sept 25.

I was 35/40 ish on waiting list and got a place the day before term started.

Currently 4th on the WL and I'm on edge everyday just waiting for the call 😭 we called today and now they won't give us any Information? They've told us every other time we've called since march? Maybe we had someone in a bad mood today 😔

@thecherryontopand @TDYand @alwaysthebalancingact- did you get places, in the end?! If so, when, exactly? We’re currently rank #4 on Wait List for a school with a PAN of 360. Would love to know what happened to you all, last year! Hope it all worked out?

my DD was number 3 on the waiting list. I turned her offered school down on the day the results came out. And we started the appeal. Then in June she got offered the place. A year later she loves it.

My DC got a place in October. We had been in the 70s in March. Blew us away! We took it 😄

@ButterBeanBouquet I'll be honest, it was such a stressful time! But it all worked out! Three days into the new Year 7 term, I emailed and my DD was 2nd on the waiting list. She was offered a place a few days later and started our first choice school a few days after that, when all the admin was sorted. Was absolutely the best decision we made and she's had a brilliant Year 7. Hang in there, the waiting game is so so painful but wishing you all the best!

Wow, rank 70 to an offer is the biggest jump I think I’ve ever heard of! Glad it all worked out in the end!

Amazing! So pleased it all worked out for you, in the end!

Mine was #100 on waiting list for a London school on offer day & was offered a place on the first day of term, it was an agonising summer.

Incredible. Out of interest, was the school’s PAN?

It happens, just occasionally. The vast majority of waiting list movement has already happened. There will be a small amount of movement 2 weeks after the start of term. The people who have failed to tell the school that their child won't be there aren't going to suddenly comply over the summer, so the school will find out on day 1 that the child isn't coming, but is legally required to hold the place for them, mark them as an unauthorised absence, and attempt to make contact, for 2 weeks - after which they can reallocate the place.

Scenarios where this occasionally happens:

• in a family where the main wage earner is in insecure or itinerant employment, the whole family needs to move to another area of the country to get work
• in a traveller family, especially if one parent has made the effort to register the child for a school but the other parent makes a unilateral decision to leave the area
• in an asylum-seeker family, if bureaucratic policies force the family to be moved to a different area in the interests of spreading the population around
• in a military family with a last-minute posting due to a sudden need to deploy more people overseas (much less likely than the others to result in a last-minute school place, but possible)
• a child living in care who absconds from their place of care and isn't found/brought back before September.

Each of these situations represents a tragedy of another 11 year old who is being totally let down by society and having their life-chances destroyed, so hoping that one of these strikes one of the 120 (or 180 or 240) youngsters who have a y7 place at your first choice school isn't a kind thing to do.

Bit when it does happen, the freed-up place may well go to the person who was 20th or lower on the waiting list because most people once it's 2 weeks into the new term have realised that their allocated school is not so bad and feel that the disruption of the move isn't worth it.