ELI5 Waiting lists?

[ConfusedFather]

Can someone explain like I was 5 (ELI5) what/how do waiting lists work?

As I understand, we submit our preferences, and then councils will allocate you a school on March 1st.

At that point, that is the only state school you will be allowed to go to. However, I suspect some may go private and hence leave unused their allocation, which may then be given to the next one in line.

How does it all work then? Do parents have to reply confirming their attendance after March 1st? How long do they have to reply? How are waiting lists managed, maintained, communicated? By when is the last waiting place resolved?

[ToadMum]

Can someone explain like I was 5 (ELI5) what/how do waiting lists work?

As I understand, we submit our preferences, and then councils will allocate you a school on March 1st.

At that point, that is the only state school you will be allowed to go to. However, I suspect some may go private and hence leave unused their allocation, which may then be given to the next one in line.

How does it all work then? Do parents have to reply confirming their attendance after March 1st? How long do they have to reply? How are waiting lists managed, maintained, communicated? By when is the last waiting place resolved?

Some local authorities only require you to respond if you are not accepting the place offered (a really stupid thing to do if you want to remain in the state system, but just (un)common courtesy if you are taking up an indie offer instead) and automatically put you on the waiting list for all preferences - if any - above that offer. Others require a response, whatever it is, whether or not they do the automatic adding of name to waiting list thing.

Where we live, our local authority handles the waiting list for all schools, academy or under LA control, until the end of August. However, this is not the system everywhere - look at the school / local authority website for information relevant to you.