Please help I need some advice?

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panicattack!
Posts: 194
Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:30 pm

Please help I need some advice?

Post by panicattack! »

I wonder if someone can help either via the forum or by pm ing me? My DS was fortunate enough to get into a grammar school which at the time he said he liked but now says he really doesn't want to go to. He is on the waiting list for St O's (our first choice).

From EXPERIENCE can anyone tell me if they do work their way down the waiting list all the way through to end of the Summer? Does the list move quite a bit at the beginning of this process (ie when the cut off date for acceptance of offers mid March takes place) and then slow down and then move again a lot in July and August when people are committed to their secondary school and won't change their mind? Is there realistically much point in phoning them and asking and making a "nice nuisance" of ourselves on a regular basis!? Or am I clutching at straws??

How do you sell a perfectly good 3rd choice grammar school to your DS when you both want something else? By the way second choice we didn't get into because of distance.

And yes, I do realise how fortunate we are that we have a very good local gs and on the waiting list for an exceptionally good gs so don't need to know that!

Any help or advice would be great please?? :?
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Post by mystery »

I'm really sorry I don't have any personal experience of St. O's, so you probably don't want to hear from me!

But, if the school operates their waiting list according to the rules, it should not matter whether you phone up regularly or not. When a space comes free for whatever reason, they should start phoning through the waiting list from the top down. If the first person does not want it, on to the second etc. And the waiting list should be held according to priority in the admissions policy. It has nothing to do with how long you have been on the list.

More people can come on to the list at any time. So even if you were"first" one week, you may not be the second week.

You do need to make sure you are on the list all the time, some schools seem to scrap their lists from time to time, and then start over again.

If you are really keen on the school you should appeal. You can still remain on the list too.

In the meantime as a fall back, I would be working on liking the other school. If it were me, I would tell my child there was zero chance of getting in, and then if all goes well, you will have a pleasant surprise at some point.

Technically, a school should not admit people from the waiting list until they have fallen back to "standard numbers." So if your dream school does take in some people on appeal, it will have to wait to drop back to standard numbers before admitting from the list (but some schools do not follow this "to the letter"). So you potentially put yourself at a disadvantage by not appealing. Despite all the official grounds for appeal that you have to have, I've heard people with pathetic cases get into some schools on appeal, and people with great cases fail. It all depends on the panel on the day.

The situation could change any time. You might get an offer of a place off the waiting list part way through year 1, or year 2? Would you take it? You won't know until the time. But if you stay on the lists you will be covering all options.

Are you sure your son isn't being influenced by you in his change of heart?

Schools can change a lot over the years. There is a lot of free-flow between the grammar school sixth forms. At that point, you will be able to make a better informed choice about which is the best choice to suit your DC's specialisms. Unless the teaching is poor, I would have thought your DC will get good GCSEs at whichever one he goes to.

Good luck.
WesterhamMum
Posts: 134
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2008 2:08 pm
Location: Westerham, Kent

Post by WesterhamMum »

Where are you on the waiting list?
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Post by mystery »

Interesting, but it's not really worth getting too excited about it, as you can move down a waiting list as well as up it.
panicattack!
Posts: 194
Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:30 pm

Post by panicattack! »

Thanks for your helpful comments.

DS got into c & s and we liked the school but really wanted a single sex school. He is a very good mathmatician and science orientated and that is why we felt that st O's was a perfect match.

I suppose maybe I need lots of people to come forward with positive experiences of c & s to really motivate him. I also believe it isn't so much the problem of him getting the other school but more the fact he knew it wasn't first choice and that is what has done the "temporary" damage!
:? :(
panicattack!
Posts: 194
Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:30 pm

Post by panicattack! »

Mystery
Why and how can you move down a list? :shock:
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Post by mystery »

A waiting list is held according to the admissions criteria of the school. So let's say it is a school where it is only 11+ score that counts according to the admissions policy. The waiting list will be held in score order, not according to the date people joined the list. So someone could join the list this afternoon with a higher score than your child, and they would be higher up the list.

"waiting" is really the wrong word.
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Post by mystery »

What is C and S? Why not start a new topic with the school name in the subject and you might get some positive firsthand and secondhand experience of the school to console yourselves with.
panicattack!
Posts: 194
Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:30 pm

Post by panicattack! »

Waiting list is clearly wrong as you say! I don't think there will ever be a chance of getting in this summer. I did wonder tho if people made decisions that they werent going to pursue the place if they got a good offer and it came to the end of July and therefore the "list" may then shrink which would be good :?: Or do you think that that may not be the case....
panicattack!
Posts: 194
Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:30 pm

Post by panicattack! »

Sorry C & S is Chis and Sid
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