Grammar places - accepting and declining

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atmyage
Posts: 60
Joined: Thu May 15, 2014 10:25 pm

Grammar places - accepting and declining

Post by atmyage »

I am slightly confused as I thought if you declined a place at a Grammar school like CHG, and accepted to go elsewhere (say Independent), you could not easily go back and be offered a place at CHG, ahead of others on waiting list. Is this the case?

A few of my friends' children did not get offers at CHG due to score cut off and are on the waiting list. We were made aware of a child (from our school) who was offered a place at CHG but they declined the place due to a scholarship/subsidy place at an Independent. Just recently, they declined the Independent and have been offered a place at CHG "very easily". My friends DDs are still on WL - is this possible?
Stroller
Posts: 1546
Joined: Thu May 17, 2012 9:39 am

Re: Grammar places - accepting and declining

Post by Stroller »

Perhaps they weren't offered a place at the beginning and told a white lie until a waiting list place became available?

Or, if it's purely score-driven and they had a really high score as their starting point, either (a) they got a place on the first round and simply never declined it, or (b) when they changed their mind about the place they had declined, their score was high enough to put them at the very top of the list again (easily possible). Waiting lists work on the basis of how high you rank in terms of the admission criteria - they have nothing to do with time. Councils often have reasonable tolerance for a change of mind...
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atmyage
Posts: 60
Joined: Thu May 15, 2014 10:25 pm

Re: Grammar places - accepting and declining

Post by atmyage »

ahhh thanks Stroller, that explains and clarifys - her score was high so she probably went straight to the top.

Ok...
muminbrum
Posts: 362
Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2012 12:14 pm

Re: Grammar places - accepting and declining

Post by muminbrum »

Agree with Stroller - this is a subject that seems to invoke a lot of secrets and lies from both kids and parents. I take it all with a pinch of salt now except for a few close friends.
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: Grammar places - accepting and declining

Post by Daogroupie »

I agree with Stroller's first point.

It is likely that they did not get a place and were on the waiting list but they lied about it and claimed that they had turned down a place. They were some way down the waiting list so it has taken until now for them to be offered a place.

They want to take it so they now need another lie to cover how they can now have a place having told everyone they turned it down.

We know of several families who have lied about their results; mostly top table students who were convinced that they would always be top dog and did not do much preparation. We know of a family whose dd had never even seen a VR paper when she sat DAO a couple of years ago. DG
HappyRobot
Posts: 227
Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2012 12:02 am

Re: Grammar places - accepting and declining

Post by HappyRobot »

Just because you don't accept a place at grammar and change your mind and do then want to accept it, doesn't mean you are lying...though I don't know the circumstances of this particular family.
If you turn down a place at your preferred grammar, they will ask you if you want to be put on the waiting list.
Of course, if you change your mind and there are still places, you will be top of that list while they are still allocating places.
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: Grammar places - accepting and declining

Post by Daogroupie »

Your area must work differently. If you turn down a place at Latymer, DAO, Parmiters, the Watfords, HBS or QE nobody is going to ask you if you want to stay on the waiting list.

They all have so many people who would be glad of that space so why would they waste time with you? DG
Turtlegirl
Posts: 521
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2011 1:54 pm

Re: Grammar places - accepting and declining

Post by Turtlegirl »

We turned down a place at QMGS. We were not asked if we wanted to stay on a waiting list! There is a lot of fudging about scores for grammar schools. In my son's year there were a *lot* of kids who told him they had a place but had decided not to go! I think some of those kids thought that was the case and their parents hadn't told them that they'd not scored highly enough.
quasimodo
Posts: 3854
Joined: Sun Sep 07, 2014 2:47 pm

Re: Grammar places - accepting and declining

Post by quasimodo »

Turtlegirl wrote:We turned down a place at QMGS. We were not asked if we wanted to stay on a waiting list! There is a lot of fudging about scores for grammar schools. In my son's year there were a *lot* of kids who told him they had a place but had decided not to go! I think some of those kids thought that was the case and their parents hadn't told them that they'd not scored highly enough.
This is right.I am aware of children who are going to the independent KE schools who didn't obtain Grammar school places.However the vast majority who applied to both had choices to make.

This shouldn't be confused as I am not saying they are not bright or gifted children.Just that the 11 plus exams did not for whatever reasons allow them to show their talents.
In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

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atmyage
Posts: 60
Joined: Thu May 15, 2014 10:25 pm

Re: Grammar places - accepting and declining

Post by atmyage »

wow...even more confused. I thought it was Stroller's (a) point as were told she had a score of 240+ but as she got a 50% scholarship at KEHS there was no deliberation as to the school of choice. I thought it more likely that she got 25% academic and 25% subsidy but did not speak to the parents directly. The information provided was through a mutual friend. The DD is very academic in school. As our family was going round in circles about CHG/KEHS debate, they had made a choice quickly and rejected CHG within one week of the results coming out. Now it appears that they decided to reject KEHS only a few weeks ago and changed their mind (I personally don't believe their reasons why as it doesn't make sense)

I started to doubt their story as it was too much of coincidence as to the timing, about the same time as some other girls we know were offered places at CHG off the waiting list.

I doesn't matter to me either way but I was just trying to understand the whole process as I understand that places at top grammars are like gold dust.
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