Most giving up of places on the GS list is early on and coincides with people having to pay deposits etc for indies. However some people hang onto both schools to make a decision later in the summer, or they may be waiting on a place at a specific GS with the indie as a back up. If they get the GS or decide to go there, they may forfeit their indie deposit and possibly some fees but they think it is worth it. What is comes down to is the fact that there is likely to be movement in the indie reserve lists for as long or longer than the GS listsCurious to know if anyone has had experience getting a place at an independent school while still on the reserve list after the acceptance deadline. We were waitlisted for DS first choice school and had hoped for some movement earlier this week but were told that the year group is full.
We opted to remain on the reserve list, but at this point, are the chances very slim that someone will give up their place and lose their deposit? I feel like we are holding out hope over the next couple of weeks that there are several people still deciding about Tiffin or other grammar school offers who might give up their independent school place.
On the other side of the coin though, many indies significantly over offer (GS cannot do this) and have to have many rejections before they go to the reserve lists - they absolutely want to be full and also prefer to maintain their popularity and not to be seen to going to the reserve list. I remember one indie in the Midlands whose mantra was "no-one ever turns down a place here" - of course they did but they probably didn't have a reserve list so you couldn't tell
Statistics: Posted by hermanmunster — Sat Mar 08, 2025 12:01 pm