WAITING LISTS

Ambridge · Post by **Ambridge** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 8:50 pm

What with me and my posse of old dinasaurs who still use snail mail, they could be waiting a long time methinks

bucks mum1 · Post by **bucks mum1** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 8:53 pm

She used snail mail to send her acceptance/waiting list form back on Tuesday... Received a letter back from Bucks dated Wednesday 4th March this morning.

Certainly very efficient and good news for those still hoping for places off the waiting list.

newbucksdad · Post by **newbucksdad** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:21 am

This has now also happened to us. We received a letter on Tuesday 4 March offering us our third choice. We hadn't yet sent in any response. Then we got a letter on Thursday 6 March offering us our 1st choice. I think we must have been right at the top of the waiting list and someone must have declined a place. We are extremely lucky and this has saved us a lot of waiting.

Two additional thoughts. First, would I be right in thinking that County can keep offering new places to the equivalent number of people on the waiting list that they get rejections for? So if, for example, 3 children decline places at DCGS, County can immediately make new offers to the nearest 3 children by distance. There wouldn't be any need to wait for Child 1 (in Sally-Anne's example) to return their new offer letter before offering places to Child 2 and Child 3. But County couldn't make any offer to Child 4 unless they know what each of Child 1, Child 2 and Child 3 intend to do with their new offers.

Second, I guess this process must end at some stage, otherwise the logistics would become overwhelmingly complicated. So there mut be some sort of cut-off date for these "quick" offers, and then everything gets rolled forward to the April allocation round?

This is all pure speculation on my part, but if anyone can confirm it is correct, it might provide some additional hope for people just outside the distance.

Sally-Anne · Post by **Sally-Anne** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 12:05 pm

Hi Newbucksdad

Glad to hear your good news.

The process is really a rolling one over the next 3 months (or even longer). Admissions will just keep allocating places until as many children as possible receive their first choice school.

This is just guesswork on my part, but I would have thought that there is not much of a hiatus in the process before the next formal round of allocations. Admissions will want to get as many people as possible sorted out quickly, because it will reduce the volume of Transfer Appeals.

Sally-Anne

Marylou · Post by **Marylou** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 12:27 pm

Sally-Anne,

I'm assuming the reason that dates are given for subsequent allocation rounds (even though it appears to be an ongoing process) is so that people can reasonably expect to find out where they are on the waiting list on those dates - even though this is theoretically possible at any time! And also, presumably, those are the dates on which any non-responders are chased up to accept or decline their places?

Best regards

ML

Sally-Anne · Post by **Sally-Anne** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:24 pm

Marylou wrote:I'm assuming the reason that dates are given for subsequent allocation rounds (even though it appears to be an ongoing process) is so that people can reasonably expect to find out where they are on the waiting list on those dates - even though this is theoretically possible at any time!

I think it ties in mainly with the non-responders you mention. The process of chasing them starts immediately after the deadline for acceptances, so w/c 16th March. Once they have had their chasing letters and been given a further period of grace to reply, a second "formal" round of allocations can take place.

Sally-Anne