Has anyone else with an offer from CLSG got an email this afternoon saying they have now received maximum acceptances and are withdrawing non-accepted offers?

We are quite surprised given deadline given in the offer email is still 3 weeks away.

Exactly the same situation as last year at City...."exploding offers".

You are probably aware of the numbers for each school....those sitting, those interviewed, those who get offers etc....things move fast. Our first school choice was already offering to the waiting list a week or so before the March 6 deadline last year - people now know they need to respond promptly.

Offer letters generally give a deadline but also say that they over-offer.

If the school is your first choice, it's always best to accept ASAP!

Oh dear - but did you not search for threads on CLSG when you were thinking about the school? This charming practice was described last year and has been mentioned at least once on a thread (not directly related to CLSG in the OP) currently active in the Independent Schools section.

I'm assuming that your offer letter didn't make the process completely clear?

(Cross posted with Sla212).

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Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx

HBSeal,
It is no secret that CLSG "explode" their offers. However, this year does seem to be verging on the absurd. Offers will have gone out (I presume) on Friday and so the offers have expired just four days later. Last year they expired on 22 February, 13 days after offers were sent out.
This caused enough ill-feeling last year, when many parents thought they would have at least until the Offer Holders' Morning to make their mind up. I can imagine this year most families thought they might have at least through Half Term to discuss this (and a few who went away for Half Term might not even have got the email).
You can still go on the waiting list (our offer "exploded" and this was suggested, though we had other options and took them). Some families will have piled in and paid the deposit just to give them extra time to think things over and will pull out later. So if at the top of the waiting list and really keen on CLSG, there is still some hope.
I suppose the message for next year is that there is no point applying to CLSG unless you are absolutely sure that you want it above all other schools and are in a position to pay the deposit immediately the offer comes out.

Won't CLSG lose out then - few girls applying and reduced admin fees? Why doesn't the school offer a smaller number of places and go down the waiting list if necessary?

School don't generally like to rely on waiting list candidates. There's a risk for them that people have already made up their mind and they have to go further down the rankings than they want (though candidates at 20-30 on the waiting list for top schools like CLSG are surely very able anyway). However, the CLSG over-offering system doesn't guarantee them the most able candidates anyway (what if the ones quickest on the draw were those who would have been on the waiting list?), so it carries risks of its own.

I am sure there is a balance to be achieved, but offers exploding after 4 days doesn't appear to be quite it.

Just 'new year 7 morning' rather than 'offer holders morning' this year, then? Saves on the squash and biscuits, I suppose

Sorry, don't mean to sound flippant. I actually think it's a pretty poor show to say that 'your DD has a place, let us know by ddmm whether or not you will be accepting it for her', when the school has no intention of honouring all the offers made.

But that's just one of the advantages of Independence, as I have commented elsewhere. No nasty, lifeblood-draining Admissions Code to have to adhere to .

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Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx

Can't help agreeing. They can do what they like. Indie schools are businesses at the end of the day.

It seems very bad form, even compared to last year where there was apparently a "warning countdown" with emails saying how many places were left at various times.

As said, it's a big decision - especially if waiting on grammar or good state school places - and seems to tilt to those families who can drop a £6k non-refundable deposit at drop of hat. Also there will be cases where parents can't logistically have both signed form yet etc. who'll be missing out. It's also bad for state school offer holders who could have no idea that this sort of thing could happen (maybe Prep heads counsel about it). Not everyone reads archived threads on this forum...
CLSG's whole admission process seems to have been a,shambles this year - heard various negative stories at all stages.

Anyway... can we clarify for peace of mind that this is NOT also happening at CLSBoys and we can go to the offer-holders morning in confidence?

CLSG is the only school I've heard of with these exploding offers though....other indies are seemingly somehow getting it just right ie, over-offering at just the right level thus avoiding having to withdraw offers - something that should never be happening.