Stroud High School waiting list for Sept 2019

[Hothoneyandlemon]

Hi. Our DD sat the 11+ at SHS this month as we missed out on doing is back in September last year, and got a score of 281. She is number 5 on the waiting list. I thought this would be a dead cert of gaining a place however the places all unusually got filled prior to this. We are obviously terribly upset but seek to learn if anyone knows from previous years how quickly or even if the waiting list girls end up getting a place, and the rate that the places come up if that makes sense. We really dont want to raise expectations and play the horrible waiting game if it is extremely unlikely that anything will come up.
If anyone has any advice it would be so much appreciated.

[RedMaple]

Hi Hothoney,


I'm a bit puzzled by your comment that "the places all unusually got filled prior to this". Just to clarify, the places were all filled by Allocations Day on March 1st, before the date of the late test that your DD took and this is always the case - any GS just goes as far down the qualified rankings as it needs to to fill its places (unless the school makes a massive error in estimating the number of pupils its needs to qualify). This is the issue with taking the late test in March; effectively the school is always full at the time children take it and then they are added in to the waiting list in order of the ranking they achieve and have to wait for a space to become available; there is no guarantee of one.

There can be movement from waiting lists; however, this will vary a lot from year to year. Basically, you are waiting for one of the placed 150 to either: leave the area or decide that they cannot make the journey from where they are based; decide they want to go to a local school with other friends; stay at their independent school; have a successful appeal or gain a place at another school from their waiting list because of movement there - likely to be Pates or HSFG; or some other reason. Places can become available at any point between now and September, although the appeal movement tends to happen around June as appeal decisions start to come through.

My advice would be to keep in touch with the School and GCC occasionally; start to big up the school offered to your DD to help manage her expectations and try and be as calm/patient as possible. Hope this helps.

[Hothoneyandlemon]

Thank you so much for your reply. I am new to this, this is our first and last child to qualify etc. What I meant was that that as I have been explained...the school can on predictions and other influencing circs offer places but not oversubscribe. The school told me that usually there are just a few places left (in order that they do not oversubscribe). Then at the end of March these places are released to those who were already on the waiting list/those that took the March exam in ranking order. Anyhow, it is what it is and you have explained the last leg of our journey very well.
Very best wishes and thank you for taking the time to reply!

[Totallybemused]

I think what Hothoney is saying is that, considering the number of places that normally come up during March as part of the reallocation process (people declining places due to going private etc), and considering that her dd has got a ranking which, had she taken the test back in September, would have comfortably got her a place at SHS, she is surprised that not only has her dd not got a place as part of the reconsideration process, but she is only 5th on the waiting list. So the number of girls that have taken the late test and scored high rankings has far outnumbered the number of places that have come available. This matches up with what someone else (Mind the gap?) has said about Ribston, ie that her dd has moved down the waiting list, not up, after the reconsideration process, so again more girls have done the late test and qualified higher than her dd than the number of people that have declined their places on March 1st. I agree with Hothoney that I don't think this is normally the case, from this forum in previous years, some people who were a near miss on March 1st have definitely been awarded places at the end of March, ie the schools are able to absorb late test qualifiers as well as a few extras from those that have requested reconsideration, as part of the number of spaces that have come free due to people declining their offer.
So the odd thing this year seems to be that either an unusually large number of people took the late test, or an unusually small number of people declined their places on March 1st.

[Totallybemused]

Sorry - Hothoney, I was typing while you posted. That said, I too am now a bit confused by what you say. As RedMaple said there are definitely no places 'held back' on March 1st, 150 places will be offered, unless the school is undersubscribed. However, places do become available in the following week as everyone has to accept or decline their school place by March 8th, and it is those places that become available as a result of people declining that are then reallocated at the end of March, either to those who have taken the late test or those who have just missed out on March 1st (with the late test sitters inserted into the list according to their score). However, I assume from what you are saying (and the fact that the reallocation results now seem to be out) that your daughter is still number 5 on the waiting list, even after all the reallocation places have been allocated?

[Hothoneyandlemon]

Hi Totallybemused, thank you also so much for taking the time to post. You have it all correct, and yes, our daughter is still number 5 on the waiting list, even after all the reallocation places have been allocated although its not finally over according to Glos CC until 12th of April after which they advised we can appeal (by 26th April).
I am looking into appealing, one owes it to ones daughter, however at a glance there aren't much grounds, but will go through the advice on this forum with a fine tooth comb and see what I come up with.
Best wishes on this sunny afternoon.

[Mindthegap]

Hi yes it was me who said this. It does seem unfair on those who took the test in September and have a ranking to be effectively gazumped by those taking the test in March. I spoke to the school who said there definitely seems to have been a surprisingly little amount of movement this year compared to previous years. They aren't sure why.

[onthefence]

Perhaps the lack of movement is also related to the big birth year/general lack of school places. There are probably fewer people transferring to their local non-grammar if that is already full...

[Bluesky73]

Hi,
my dd is now number 20 on the waiting list for SHS, having previously been 15 places below the lowest rank allocated on March 1st , we were hoping she would at least have moved up a little. It’s frustrating

[Mindthegap]

Onthefence I think you are right. Bluesky oh how frustrating so she has moved down 5 places? You are in very similar position to us. My daughter was 24 away and is now 25.