Any disappointed child who missed being selective by one mark or less may still get a place. Bexley council says once the selective school exhausts all selective applicants, the admissions team will consider pupils 1 mark below the selective threshold. This is known as the reserve list. Good luck to all affected parents.

Yes they’ve always done this and it has been documented a number of times on this forum but it is always helpful to have a reminder. I wasn’t aware though it was capped at one mark below, it has been in the past offered to this with a lower score and if they exhaust that pool then it goes lower again.

Townley has been reported to have gone several marks below cut off but that was as good few years ago. Also a child with a pass even if 20 miles away will be entitled to a place over a child with one mark off on the doorstep of the school. Also a child with many points below cut off but is deemed selective on appeal will also qualify over a child who just misses out but didn’t appeal. The clue is the years where the Bexley secondary booklet says all selective offered usually means they had to dip below the cut off.

Thanks Pettswoodfiona. That’s v interesting re: appeals.So should I advise a parent whose child missed out by less than one mark to appeal then? Her child tried the headteacher review with the council - unsuccessfully. Thanks

Appeals and waiting lists are separate processes. They are not mutually exclusive and can be done side by side so apart from time and emotional investment there is often little to lose by trying an appeal. Schools do have to find their time for dealing with appeals though. There are deadlines to apply for appeals and on offer day for anyone not getting first choice the LA will have supplied information on the appeal process - or should have done.

I also believe you would have had to include the relevant school on your CAF in order to be given a place from the reserve list.

Sorry to correct you but you can apply late to any school and go on their waitlist according to their oversubscription criteria. This is why in the superselective schools the score requirement can often go up on first reallocation. I don’t know about appeals though, I think for appeal you may have had to have put the school down and then been rejected first. You can’t appeal for a school you haven’t been rejected from.

You should be able to appeal being turned down from a late application.

NB some areas give the immediate right to appeal (but not an automatic place on the waiting list) for schools which 'rejected' someone who didn't get a place because they were allocated a higher preference (I have to say, I find this a it bizarre, without a formal reordering of one's preferences).

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