Waiting list purgatory

[arrgee1991]

Having accepted place at indie and paid deposit we now find we are near top of waiting list for preferred state secondary (0.1 mile away from a place). Most years those in his position get in, but it is not guaranteed. We thought it would all be settled by now, but it drags on and on. Life has been on hold for last year as we would like to move house but until we know we can't even decide on the area as there is a fair distance between the schools.

Anyone else experiencing the doubt of the waiting list?

(sorry if there is a thread on this already, but search for waiting list gives no results as terms are so common)

[scarlett]

Poor you ! I'm not in this position, but we all could easily be, couldn't we ? ( and I have 2 more to go ) so thought I would post my best wishes and hope everything goes to plan for you.

Are you going to /able to wait for the state secondary place...when will that be ?

I'm sure someone will be here soon who will have some reassurance for you.

[Snowdrops]

Argeeee, we're not on the waiting list at the moment - youngest is now in Grammar thankfully, but 2 years ago we were in the same position as you.

On allocations day she was 4th on the waiting list.

One week after allocations day she was 1st on the list.

We then had to wait until (about) 2nd June to get the 'phone call that someone had given backword and she was offered a place (that was about 6 days before the oversub appeal - oh how I laugh now ).

Yes, we lost our deposit, but we knew that was a gamble we were taking when we took the root we did, having the indie as our fall-back position - better to 'lose' £4,000 and get a great free grammar, but with the guarantee of a great indie than not have any good school at all.

My fingers will be crossed for you

[Snowdrops]

Oh, I forgot to say, if the grammar is really the one you want, make sure you appeal for it, don't leave it to the waiting lists, that may never happen.

Make sure you register that you want to appeal as soon as you can and then build up your case accordingly (see the Appeals Forum on this site).

[arrgee1991]

Oh, I forgot to say, if the grammar is really the one you want, make sure you appeal for it, don't leave it to the waiting lists, that may never happen.

Not a grammar, just a good state secondary. We have got appeal form, but right now don't know what we will end up deciding if a place is offered. We knew that if we got both we'd have to decide one way or the other, but when we only got indie, it all seemed straightforward as we thought we had no choice.

We are happy he will be at a good school, we just don't know which one yet.

[pheasantchick]

I hoped that we would be done and dusted now, and looking forward to the next stage. however, we just missed out first choice, and have gone on the waiting list, and are appealing. Fortunately the second choice is a good school also.

It's difficult to know what talk about. I don't want him to get excited about the possibility of school no.1, incase we don't get in, but also don't want to the benefits of no 2 and put him off no.1 I'm fairly certain he still wants no.1, buts theres more boys got into no 2 than expected, so theres a lot of talk about that school. He's realising he'll automatically know more boys at no 2, although as everyone says very few people end up mixing with former schoolmates, even if they were fairly close.

Life isn't easy, and as another thread has said, a bit overwhelming. Decisions, decisions, decisions!

[arrgee1991]

Having accepted place at indie and paid deposit we now find we are near top of waiting list for preferred state secondary (0.1 mile away from a place). Most years those in his position get in, but it is not guaranteed. We thought it would all be settled by now, but it drags on and on.

Waiting list purgatory over! Got accepted at state school. Now have 10 days to decide on which school to send son to. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

[Snowdrops]

Excellent news Arrgee!

Go for the state school, put the money towards uni (but have a good holiday first )

[arrgee1991]

Go for the state school, put the money towards uni (but have a good holiday first )

The holiday can wait

After six months or so, we can finally decide on our future.

Strangely, the decision is more about our daughter who will be applying in four years time. By sending our son to the school we guarantee her place under the siblings rule. We do have a good girl's school nearby, so we may send her there instead.

But we are wary of changes to admissions policy which put us in the fix we were in this time around, when our area got relegated about 6 years ago.

I suspect we will take the state school place as it gives us the most options, and saves us a lot of money.

When we started out we had a best-case/worst-case scenario, and finally we are there with the best case

[Milla]

DON'T do it for your daughter! Don't want to sound mean, but make the decision based on what THIS child needs. It may all have changed in 4 years time so do what is the right thing for your son!