Notification by 28th Feb

[joop]

My ds has received an academic award and we have to let the school know whether we are accepting it by 28th Feb. They state that if we don't they can offer it to someone else by the final acceptance date of 1st march. We are waiting to see if our ds has a grammar place on 1st March but if he does not get the grammar place we will want to accept this award.

Has anyone else been in this situation and how did you get round it?

[hermanmunster]

They know that you are doing this and want to tie you in to the Indie (presumably by agreeing to a significant deposit / terms fees) in the knowledge that your child may well get a state school place.

I have quoted something elsewhere from a school website about this being contrary to some guidelines.... will try and find it.

edit: This what I found - haven't actually found the bumph from the ISC but it might be worth you phoning them. I remember a head of a school in Cambridge saying that they were bound by this.

edit: found this on beechwood's website:
As the Kent 11+ selection tests will now take place in September, some independent schools have moved their 11+ entrance tests forward to the Autumn Term, and will no doubt be offering places to successful applicants soon afterwards. Whenever testing takes place, however, the regulations of the Independent Schools Council clearly state that there should be no deadline for acceptance of places before the first week of March 2011.
At Beechwood, we have therefore decided to keep our Entrance Day in January, because it fits in better with our school year. We believe that this will still give parents plenty of time to come to a decision about their child's secondary education.

[PB Mum]

Are they suggesting they will give the award to someone else. ie. the % 'discount', rather than the actual offer of a place? In this case the ISC 'regulation' may not apply....sad old cynic that I am....but very well done to your DC!

[hermanmunster]

tricky I agree PB, but as acme found out in a similar situation a little negotiation can help... her school was wanting the acceptance by Feb 28th and she spoke to the head:

We have to accept the place by the 28th of Feb, - as you know the state school allocations are 1st of March!

I had a friend who was in a similar situation with a scholarship and rang to tell them that the child had worked very hard and deserved to make an informed decision, if the school declined this request would she really want them educating her child for the next seven years?

and I also told him that I needed to make an informed choice about where ds was to be educated, and couldn't make that until the 2nd of Mar. He said that was absolutely no problem at all.

So - I feel much happier now on all the issues I have raised.

Thank you all

[joop]

Thanks for the replies.

Just spoken to the school and agreed to make a decision by the 4th March !

Now will see what happens on the 1st.

[hermanmunster]

Yay! result.... good luck for March 1st

[Pushy Dad]

We have a friend at St A Girl's Junior. Because the daughter is an internal candidate she had to confirm the Senior school place now so that the school knows how many places to offer to external candidates next week. The problem is that my friend would like her daughter to go to a certain highly rated state school but she won't know whether she has a place there until after the St A Girls deadline.

I'm not sure if the school has extended the deadline.