Continuing interest list at Queens

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SecondarySchool
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:56 pm
Location: Rickmansworth

Continuing interest list at Queens

Post by SecondarySchool »

Could anyone confirm please if children that ask to be put on continuing interest at Queens school are counted as late entries and hence go to the end of the list if it wasn't one of their 3 original preferences?
SecondarySchool
tense
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Joined: Wed Nov 14, 2007 3:02 pm
Location: Herts

Post by tense »

WP has prevously said that schools are required to operate the waiting lists under the same criteria as the original allocation. So children added to the CI list at Queens do not (necessarily) go to the bottom of the list.
watmum
Posts: 192
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 8:32 am
Location: Herts

Post by watmum »

Time for us to "call" WP again!!...when you are next on WP, please can you show us where it is written down about the CI lists, and ones position on them if you add a child on later ....?

With thanks
mitasol
Posts: 2756
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:59 am

Post by mitasol »

http://www.queens.herts.sch.uk/policies ... licy09.pdf

I don't think it is very clear how Queens are running the list.
Queens wrote:When children are not offered a place due to oversubscription, parents may decide to place their childs name on the continuing interest list. Until 31st August names will be ranked in order of merit...
It is possible that they are using late applications rule ("late applications will be considered after all those which met the deadline") to place new applicants to the bottom of the waiting list. A poster on another thread stated they had been placed at the bottom of the list.

I think you probably need to ask them!
gina
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:12 am

Post by gina »

When children are not offered a place due to oversubscription, parents may decide to place their childs name on the continuing interest list. Until 31st August names will be ranked in order of merit...
The Herts Consultation on Admissions should give you the answers that you are looking for.
mitasol
Posts: 2756
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:59 am

Post by mitasol »

I still can't find details of CI policy for Queens.

The consultation documents for 2010/11 are proposing that this will be the last year that you are allowed to express a new preference for the continuing interest list.

http://www.hertsdirect.org/infobase/doc ... lt2010.pdf
PROPOSALS
1) Restrict the opportunity for parents to express new preferences at
Continuing Interest (CI)
Parents can currently re-express their preferences afresh at any point in the
continuing interest process, this proposal would be fairer to all and require
parents to consider more fully how well they met the admissions criteria at the
beginning of the admissions process, prior to making their original application.
HCC would consider applying discretion to exceptional and extenuating
circumstances.
WP
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Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2008 9:26 am
Location: Watford, Herts

Post by WP »

watmum, the rules are in the School Admissions Code:
3.19 Each admission authority must maintain a waiting list for at least one term in the academic year of admission, for every oversubscribed school, and they must include the fact they will do this in their school's published admission arrangements, making clear that children will be ranked in the same order as the published oversubscription criteria. Waiting lists must be clear, fair and objective and must not give priority to children based on the date either their application was received or their name was added to the list. For example, if a child moves to an area outside the normal admissions round and has higher priority against the published oversubscription criteria, they must be ranked above those with lower priority already on the list, subject to the requirements of paragraph 3.21.
As for whether Queens' follow this, I believe they took watdad onto their waiting list last year even though he hadn't ranked them originally, and his son is now at the school. So it seems they do, but watdad could give a first-hand account.
mitasol wrote:The consultation documents for 2010/11 are proposing that this will be the last year that you are allowed to express a new preference for the continuing interest list.
After an overwhelmingly negative response to this proposal in the consultation, they decided not to proceed with it (Cabinet meeting of 16th March 2009, Item 3, section 5.1).
ttmum
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2008 2:13 pm
Location: Watford

Post by ttmum »

Queens wrote:When children are not offered a place due to oversubscription, parents may decide to place their childs name on the continuing interest list. Until 31st August names will be ranked in order of merit...
Does this mean that the waiting list based on distance will only be applied, come 1 September. I thought that they could not exceed admitting 35% based on academic.
gina
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:12 am

Post by gina »

WP

Does the local authority have a responsibility to challenge the Queens waiting list arrangements - they appear not to be published in accordance with the admissions code.
WP
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Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2008 9:26 am
Location: Watford, Herts

Post by WP »

gina wrote:Does the local authority have a responsibility to challenge the Queens waiting list arrangements - they appear not to be published in accordance with the admissions code.
The LA does have a responsibility to vet all the arrangements for clarity and compliance, and the Queens' arrangements are at the least unclear in this respect. (They're not alone in that, of course.) Herts have done a lot of this work over the last two years, but they seem not to have got around to the waiting list part.
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