Moving onto the waiting list of a lower ranked school

Eleven Plus (11+) in Surrey (Sutton, Kingston and Wandsworth)

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

11 Plus Platform - Online Practice Makes Perfect - Try Now
runningmum
Posts: 77
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 1:27 pm

Post by runningmum »

In theory, it can happen at Tiffin girls school, but is rare because most people place it as their 1st choice in October if that is their wish, realising that doing so, does not jeopardise their chances of a place at other schools if they are not successful. Given the numbers who took the test and the high initial pass mark, my calculation is that most of the places have already been allocated to girls who put it as their first choice. Hence your friend can rest assured that her place on the waiting list is unlikely to fall very much, if at all. As far as I know, they do not test children after 1st March, unlike the Sutton schools.
Sherwood
Posts: 57
Joined: Sun Mar 07, 2010 4:24 pm
Location: RBK

Post by Sherwood »

That's reassuring, runningmum! I was hoping the same thing, since there is no advantage to not putting it first if it really is your first choice.

It seems like a lot of different factors are at work this year - more children applying, higher pass mark. I wonder if the final cut off will be more in line with what's normal, or if it'll stay high and only drop by one or two points?

I suspect it depends on whether people put Tiffins down as a backup in case of job loss, but with the economy (apparently) improving slightly they might opt for higher preference independent schools. Conversely, fear of financial uncertainty might mean fewer people turn down their places.

Clearly I'm thinking about this way too much! I guess I won't hear anything for a couple of weeks, but it's so hard to be patient!
piers3
Posts: 37
Joined: Fri Jan 30, 2009 1:08 pm
Location: Clapham

Moving onto the waiting list of a lower ranked school

Post by piers3 »

Sherwood wrote:I'm in the same position as you Lambbone. This is so stressful. I didn't know they could go down as well as up a waiting list (guess I should have read the small print!). *sigh*

Nothing to do but wait. Out of interest, how do you know that people are being added to the waiting lists? Did you hear from the schools, or word of mouth in the playground?

Sometimes I think the less I know about this whole thing the better! :(
Unfortunately this happens every year, last year a friends Ds passed Wallington and Wilsons but because additions to the waiting lists failed to get a GS place. He was devastated and is still angry about the whole process. I hope things go well for you but you must be prepared for the worst.

Always read the admissions criteria thoroughly and the listen to the Heads speech. As stated in previous posts they send you letters 'telling you' to apply and in my case we also received a phone call.

Personally I am against some parents having more choices than others but understand that Parents are only concerned about the best for their children.
Peppermint Patty
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Feb 01, 2010 11:34 am
Location: SE London

Post by Peppermint Patty »

We had this too, and I was so surprised because I was under the impression it couldn't happen!

My DS pased Wilson's, and we ranked it third - great school, but it's a difficult journey. He got his first choice, but Wilson's wrote to say if for any reason we wanted a place on the waiting list we should contact the school. They also gave us the rank score.

But I remember at the Wilson's open day the head distinctly saying that if you've placed another school higher in your preference list and you subsequently change your mind there would be nothing he could do for you.

So why the letters? We didn't add DS's name to the waiting list, by the way.
admissionslady
Posts: 46
Joined: Wed Jan 27, 2010 11:07 pm
Location: Sutton

Post by admissionslady »

I can see this is a minefield! I am obliged to follow the borough's rules of course, and as has been mentioned, anyone can go on any waiting list (if they're eligible) after offer day. I can see how galling it must be to see your child go down the waiting list (I've had plenty of telephone conversations with startled parents)- but we are obliged to add those who request to go on the list in rank order. This is true for all borough schools - I don't think any of us could say "we don't do that".

I've just double checked our letter that we send to successful candidates who've received higher preference schools. We do say to some that they would have got a place had they put us first - but this is simply to make the kids feel good about themselves rather than to induce them to go on our waiting list. The possibility of going on the waiting list at this stage is not mentioned.

This year for the first time we sent much more detailed information about boys' performance in the test. Perhaps when parents see that their child is highly ranked at our school it encourages them to think again? We've certainly had many more this year than in previous years.

It would be interesting to hear from a parent who has done this. I don't interrogate parents when they make this sort of request as I think it might seem as if I were questioning the legitimacy of the request. But I'd love to know what's going on .
carshaltonmum
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Mar 03, 2010 8:31 pm
Location: Carshalton

SGS waiting list

Post by carshaltonmum »

Hi admission lady,
If there are more parents asking for their children to go into the waiting list this year, does that mean there is less chance for us who are in the waiting list to get a place. Last time I checked, my son is 7th on the waiting list, he scored one mark below the cutoff. I was told he has a good chance of getting a place, now I really am getting worried that he might not afterall get a place :(
admissionslady
Posts: 46
Joined: Wed Jan 27, 2010 11:07 pm
Location: Sutton

Post by admissionslady »

Yes, I suppose that is possible, but if other people are putting themselves on my list, does that mean that people who have accepted offers from us have put themselves on other schools' waiting lists? Also, people who have accepted an offer from us might have placed one or more of the other grammar schools as a higher preference, and be on the waiting list for one or more of them "first time round".

We'll have a much better idea of how thing stand in a week or so when we can start making offers from the waiting list. At the moment, I'm still receiving acceptances and declines in every post.
Shaftsbury1
Posts: 214
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 4:32 pm

Post by Shaftsbury1 »

Admissionslady has mentioned that she has been receiving letters of acceptance/rejection,yet when i rang Tiffin to ask if i could send them my acceptance directly,their admissions lady said replies have to come through the council.

Then after the incompetence of my borough (no allocation letter and had to demand a duplicate :roll: ) i did not exactly trust them and so again rang tiffin yesterday and this time was told that they don't hear from councils for another week.

This must slow down the waiting lists even further!
Sherwood
Posts: 57
Joined: Sun Mar 07, 2010 4:24 pm
Location: RBK

Post by Sherwood »

I suppose that makes sense, Shaftsbury1. If the deadline for accepting/rejecting was yesterday, it will probably take the council a week to collate that data and then feed it out to the individual schools.

I was trying to decide whether to phone Tiffin again today, to see if my daughter has sunk down the waiting list. But I don't know if I dare! The date I heard for the second round of offers was 24th March.
admissionslady
Posts: 46
Joined: Wed Jan 27, 2010 11:07 pm
Location: Sutton

Post by admissionslady »

I include an accept/decline form with my offer letter and ask people to reply directly to me as well as to their borough, so I have a clear picture quite early.
Post Reply