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Anyone still holding onto more than one school place?

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 3:09 pm
by NotEnoughHours
This is more a plea really, speaking on behalf of all parents sitting on a waiting list, waiting for appeal hearings. I heard the other day of a parent who was given a school on 1st March which they have accepted, then was given another school on the second round which they accepted and have appealed and won a third and are currently holding all 3 places! I know they are within their rights to do this apparently, although the ethics are extremely questionable, but if you are still holding more than one offer then please please if you decide which you will be taking then please let the school you will not be sending your child to know so that they can offer the place out as there are lots of us still waiting.
Thank you

Re: Anyone still holding onto more than one school place?

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 3:15 pm
by Guest55
In some LAs you cannot hold more than one state school place - this should be the norm everywhere.

Re: Anyone still holding onto more than one school place?

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 3:20 pm
by twellsmum
Agree with Guest55, people should not be allowed to have more than one school place but it happens all the time. When my older son was on a waiting list three years ago there were quite a few people who got a private school place/scholarship but held on to their state school place for a few weeks whilst they made their mind up, prolonging the agony for the poor s*ds on the waiting list.

Re: Anyone still holding onto more than one school place?

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 3:24 pm
by Guest55
You can't stop selfish people holding on to Private and state school places but it is possible to stop multiple state school places.

Re: Anyone still holding onto more than one school place?

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 4:25 pm
by PurpleDuck
I really hope those still on waiting lists will get good news very soon.

If anyone is still holding more than one school place, whether state or private, please think for second how you would feel if it were your DC on a waiting list which does not want to move...

Re: Anyone still holding onto more than one school place?

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 5:45 pm
by ToadMum
NotEnoughHours wrote:This is more a plea really, speaking on behalf of all parents sitting on a waiting list, waiting for appeal hearings. I heard the other day of a parent who was given a school on 1st March which they have accepted, then was given another school on the second round which they accepted and have appealed and won a third and are currently holding all 3 places! I know they are within their rights to do this apparently, although the ethics are extremely questionable, but if you are still holding more than one offer then please please if you decide which you will be taking then please let the school you will not be sending your child to know so that they can offer the place out as there are lots of us still waiting.
Thank you
Did the local authority in question really not cancel the initial allocation once the second (presumably higher preference) school was accepted? I know that there are differences between LEAs as to whether or not a lower initial offer is withdrawn automatically if a higher preference is offered for which the child has remained on the waiting list, but surely actually accepting the waiting list place should result in the LEA cancelling the first offer? You only get one offer of a place on national allocation day, however many of your preferences you are eligible for, after all - if you are allowed to carry waiting list / appeal places ad infinitum, as well as the initial offer, why not just go back to the old system of making individual applications and seeing how many places you can collect...?

Re: Anyone still holding onto more than one school place?

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 6:23 pm
by NotEnoughHours
Apparently not ToadMum,

I'm not sure whether it is because parents are replying to the school to accept the offers on the second allocation rather than the local authority? I was not lucky enough to receive a second round allocation so I do not honestly know. As you say we might as well apply everywhere and pick!

I'm certain that by September it would be picked up and they would have to decide but in the meantime it makes being on a waiting list so much more frustrating than it already is.
I agree with Guest55 and twellsmum that it needs to be the norm everywhere to just have one offer at a time.

Thank you so much PurpleDuck it is very frustrating!

Re: Anyone still holding onto more than one school place?

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 8:22 pm
by salsa
Yes, I agree. I think it is because after the second round of allocations the waiting list goes to the schools. They then manage the list and appeals, so how are they to know that a child has not informed the school they had a place at? How would they know a parent is appealing to a third school?

I guess this is because those schools in question are academies and therefore their own admissions authority?

Re: Anyone still holding onto more than one school place?

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 8:32 pm
by Guest55
However it does seem to work better in Bucks - all the GS are Academies as are some of the Uppers but the LA controls the allocations of places through additional rounds.

The Secondary admissions booklet says:
"It is really important to remember that if we can offer your child a place from a waiting list in a later allocation round, we will automatically take away any place we have already offered as it will be for a school lower on your preference list on your application. We will not contact you first and we can only offer your child one place at any time."

Re: Anyone still holding onto more than one school place?

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 9:39 pm
by ToadMum
Guest55 wrote:However it does seem to work better in Bucks - all the GS are Academies as are some of the Uppers but the LA controls the allocations of places through additional rounds.

The Secondary admissions booklet says:
"It is really important to remember that if we can offer your child a place from a waiting list in a later allocation round, we will automatically take away any place we have already offered as it will be for a school lower on your preference list on your application. We will not contact you first and we can only offer your child one place at any time."
To be honest I have no idea about whether Southend takes the lower offer away immediately - one of our DC was on twm waiting lists after allocations in her time, but so far down that we stopped enquiring after a month or so :shock: ). However, the LEA manages waiting lists for all schools until the end of August - certainly for the grammar schools, which are all academies, and of course for the schools for which they are still responsible).