11 Plus Exams Forum

Can anyone in the know tell me if there is an advantage to calling the school you have a continuing interst in, and whose waiting list you are on. Does it keep your child in mind, or royally cheese them off? I don't know what to do. The waiting is dreadful and I worry that sometimes I do not push myself forward enough for my children. I'm not one of those mums that gets the inside info at school or with the system, or is on chatting terms with the staff and other parents like some I see. Am I letting my child down?

Hi Guest

It's always tricky to know where to pitch yourself, isn't it?

I doubt that ringing the school frequently will do you any favours, to be honest. I would suggest that the most you call the school should be roughly every 2 months - to simply ask for an update on where your child has got to on the waiting list. I think that is a reasonable interval that allows time for things to change, but doesn't amount to pestering.

When you ring for the first time, maybe ask the school when it would be wise to check in with them again? (They may say "don't ring us, we'll ring you" of course, in which case I would just call back in 2 months anyway for peace of mind!)

Sally-Anne

Thank you Sally-Anne. I appreciate your help.

Hi Guest

I'm not sure what region or school your child is on the waiting list for, but I would recommend checking with the School how many offers were made against the actual max. intake whether they operate an over allocation policy.

The reason I say this is that the specific allocation and Waiting Policies do vary from School to School. In Birmingham for the KE Foundation Grammar Schools for example, the actual number of offers made(ie the pass mark) is at the discretion of the Head. Most tend to set a pass mark such that the offers made are significantly more than the places available to allow for rejections. The result is that the Waiting List places don't kick-in until the excess offers have been used up.

This certainly doesn't happen in all LEA or Schools by any means but worthwhile checking the exact situation with the school or LEA. Ask how many offers were made against the max. intake and when the Waiting list kicks in.

Hopefully this won't apply in your case and you will be successful but better to know the facts up front.

Hope you are successful.

Regards

Thank you very much