11 Plus Exams Forum

Does anyone has got any offers in Wilson from the waiting list?

Wilson's offered 216 places this year. They have a PAN of 180 which means they would need 36 offers to be declined before they move on to the waiting list. I guess it will be a while yet before they move on to the waiting list.

https://www.sutton.gov.uk/CHttpHandler. ... =25040&p=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks, dilbud71. Full marks to Sutton for transparency.

If Wilson's allocated 216 places, then presumably they have that much capacity for the curent year, whatever the PAN is, and that they were willing to offer that many places. So any declines, they will offer to that level.

"Q. Why have some schools allocated more places than there are available at the
school?
A. Some schools allocate more places than they have available because experience
shows that a number of parents will decline their offer each year. This enables the school
to initially offer a higher number of places than they have available, because they know
that their number will reduce back to their admission number by the beginning of term in
September."

Due to Wilson's proximity to Whitgift and Trinity, there is a large overlap of offers, especially the very generous bursary offers at 11+. Acceptances for the independent schools are a couple of days after National Offer Day and well before the waiting lists usually move, so Wilsons are keen to to get offers to as many of the high scorers as possible. There is a small chance that it could backfire, and Wilsons go over PAN, but if you are local and both Wilsons and W/T offer you a free or near-free place, then Wilsons know that at least 30 boys will opt for the independent sector. So I agree with Dilbud71, 36 offers need to be declined before the waitlist moves. Additionally Wilson's usually write to anyone who came ranked in their top 200 but who chose a different state school ahead of them on the CAF in order to invite them to apply via the waitlist.

Good explanation, Ladymuck. So very remote chance for place from wait list.

Hard to say to be honest. A lot will depend on scholarship offers etc. I think last year Wilsons over offered by just over 20, and then went to 20-odd on their waitlist. They've chosen to over-offer more places this year. My suspicion is that they have looked at their ranked list and in particular the proportion of prep school boys in the top 200, and know that they can comfortably assume at least 36 places will be declined in favour of the independents. Certainly there is room to hope for a move of 10-15 on the waitlist.

If my suspicion is right, then it could also indicate that the new exam format favours prep school candidates who will have been prepared for Whitgift's written essay.

Ladymuck wrote: Additionally Wilson's usually write to anyone who came ranked in their top 200 but who chose a different state school ahead of them on the CAF in order to invite them to apply via the waitlist.

Yes I would like to agree to this, I know of 4 boys this year (including mines) who got letters from Wilson's asking if they would like to put their names in the waiting list (these boys all got their first preference school therefore didn't get from Wilson's in the first round)

Thanks a lot to all for this clarification. I should keep my fingers crossed as my DS really wants to go to Wilson.

Still curious to know that if they have already made 36 extra offers and out of those only 20 children quits in that case can they increase the seats from 180 to 196?

196 as a PAN does not work.

Max Class size is 30 , so 180/30 = 6 class / forms , what do they do with the other 16 ?

Rugby team, may be?