Grammar schools waiting lists

[SpringBloomSunshine]

My son’s application for year 7 is being considered as late and we didn’t get any offers yesterday on National Offer Day. We have been told by the council that the application will be processed after offer day so I’m assuming it will start to be processed soon. My son is PP, lives within catchment and got a high mark for grammar above the qualifying score.

Our first choice of school is VERY popular and I imagine the waiting list is very long, however I believe that my son could end up quite high on the waiting list due to being PP, in catchment etc.

My question is if the council allocate waiting list spaces and my son’s application hasn’t even been processed yet, will we never ever make that waiting list? Or, is that they process ALL applications even the late ones, before they offer waiting list spaces ?

I don’t know this for sure but have read a number of times that they don’t allocate waiting list spaces right away, they let the dust settle and applications like yours also get slotted into the process. Whatever results from that is the waiting list going forward. Best and most obvious thing to do is to call your secondary school admissions line and speak to an expert, explaining your situation. I did that today and the process was different for our first and second choice so the best thing is to check.

Waiting lists are fluid so your ds application will be assessed and his name may then be added to wl if there are no places available. Some LA automatically add names to wl where it was a higher preference to the allocated school, others you have to request it. Some do a later admissions round in a few weeks, others reallocate to wl as places come up. Meanwhile he should be offered a place at the highest of your preferences with space or another school.

Yes I agree I would call and find out the specific process for your school.

Just to add, being PP doesn't usually feature as a criterion for admission so wouldn't in itself boost him up the WL. Unless you mean LAC? (not the same thing I know but it’s easy to muddle your acronyms).

Hope you are able to get him a place soon.

It’s for a grammar school place so PP is infact a very important criterion to getting a place @clary

Ive tried to do some research online @selondon28 and it seems waiting lists are offered in “rounds” in mid March, end of March,April and then through summer. If this is true then that means if your application hasn’t been processed by the time an allocation is done in a particular round, you won’t be considered. I hope an admissions expert can confirm if this is true or not

I called the LA today to ask this but all they could tell me was wait for your application to be processed. Quite frustrating. I will call them again tomorrow and hopefully speak to someone else who can help.

Could you give the county, OP? Herts does rounds but Surrey doesn’t, AFAIK, so the county may be material to the advice from the experts (I’m not one!)

Thank you @SheilaFentiman
It is Birmingham

Whilst PP affects the admissions criteria, it doesn’t affect the waiting list placement where I work.

The person who said the list hasn’t been generated yet is correct, you need to wait for the end of the first round of offers (16 March here) before you will be added.

Apologies @SpringBloomSunshine – not in a grammar area and did not know that. Every day a school day :)

It’s ok @clary - there’s so much red tape and criteria to navigate

@NewTricks2026 do you work in Birmingham LA?

No I don’t so appreciate the rules there may be different

I have picked a Birmingham grammar school at random and I see it has a maximum of 38 places at criteria 2 for PP boys who achieve the pass mark.

If it is the same at your chosen school (not asking you to specify!) then it would be worth checking past entry stats to see if all criteria 2 places are usually allotted.

You can check the over subscription criteria for the school in question

As a 'late' application, you should definitely now be considered alongside all the other applicants.

If this is the way your grammar school does things, then there are 2 likely scenarios:

• The school didn't fill all their Pupil Premium (PP) spaces. This should put you high on the waiting list, as when ANY place comes up, they should work down the criteria and your DS will be on the waiting list in a high category e.g. maybe category B, after EHCPs/LAC but before distance/score (not sure how they rank for places). There's a good chance he would be no. 1 in this category, or at least high on the list
• If the school did fill all their PP places, then your DS would only be offered one of these places if someone turns it down. However, he may still be high up on the general list based on distance/score, so this might not matter

Near me (not Brum) the grammar school waiting lists do move quite a bit and you would have a decent chance of a place. This probably depends on factors e.g. numbers going private. Hopefully in a few weeks, they will be able to give you a waiting list position.

I think I read your previous thread about them not receiving your proof of address. I hope you won't need to, but I would strongly consider an appeal. It sounds like a procedural issue has cost you a place. However if it can be resolved by a waiting list offer, then that is much simpler.

The allocation of places for KE Foundation schools, which covers all the grammar schools in Birmingham, is here
https://kingedwardvifoundation.co.uk/results-and-offers/

All the schools admitting boys offered places to all PP applicants in catchment. (Bishop Vesey doesn't currently have a catchment and the cut-off under the PP criterion was a score of 210).

On what date did you submit the application and was it because you moved into the area after the on-time deadline? When you mention your son scored highly, did he reach the pass mark for non PP candidates?

Yes that’s right about my previous thread. It appears that in previous years they have never allocated all the PP spaces in the first round on national offer day - this leaves me with hope that once my application is processed it will be top of the waiting list to gain a place under PP criteria for my first choice grammar. I too hope I can avoid the appeal route and gain a place by the waiting list instead. That all depends on when my application in processed - if they allocate the waiting list spaces and my application hasn’t been processed yet, I’ll miss that round. I know waiting list spaces for my first choice grammar will be extremely limited if any so I need my application processed quickly to have any chance of first choice grammar being allocated under the waiting list route.

I’m guessing the LA work through the late applications in received date order. No idea how long it takes them to get to mine which is classed as having been received on 5 December. I’m hoping it’s the first batch they work through and they get to it quickly before the first round of waiting list spaces are allocated.

Hopefully that's a good sign and puts him near (or even at) the top of the waiting list. The LA really should get to your 'late' application before offering out waiting list spaces, given that they received it ages ago, even though it was considered too late for an on time application. (I realise it wasn't actually late!) The Oct deadline is for first round offers but they can't prioritise 'on time' after that point.

One advantage with grammar schools is you generally can't sit the test late, so there shouldn't be many late applicants. There may be a few who didn't list the grammar school on their application but decide to go on the waiting list, or have moved since, but this is presumably rare, plus your DS should be right near the top anyway. Fingers crossed for you.