A place in Year 4, and nobody sure who is next
A family relocating overseas gives notice for their Year 4 daughter. There is a waiting list for Year 4, in a spreadsheet, started two years ago. Some of the families on it have since gone elsewhere. Some are siblings of current pupils and should, by your policy, come first. One family's email bounces.
The registrar rings round. Two days later, the place is offered to a family who accepts, and then a sibling family who was on the list rings to ask why they were not offered it.
Waiting lists are kept but not maintained
Waiting lists are started with good intentions, but they are rarely kept current. Families are not asked whether they are still interested, priority rules are applied from memory, and year groups roll over each September without the list moving with them.
- Waiting lists are spreadsheets without a clear order.
- Priority rules (siblings, staff children, assessed and approved) are not recorded against families.
- Year groups roll over but the lists do not.
- Contact details go out of date.
- Offers are made by phone with no record of the reply deadline.
What a stale waiting list costs
Every week a place stays empty is a term's fees lost to the school and a family who could have joined. Offering to the wrong family first, against your own stated priorities, is awkward and can lead to complaints. And the registrar's time goes on phone calls to people who moved on long ago.
Waiting lists we build
- Each waiting family is recorded against a specific year group and entry point, which rolls forward automatically each September.
- Your priority rules are set once, for example siblings first, then assessed and approved candidates, then date of registration, and the list is ordered by them.
- Families are asked each term, by a short email, whether they wish to stay on the list, and those who do not reply are marked for the registrar to check.
- When a place becomes free, the registrar sees the ordered list and makes an offer with one action; the family receives it with a link to accept and a reply deadline.
- If the deadline passes without an answer, the next family is proposed.
- Every offer and reply is recorded, so the school can show that it followed its own policy.
| Rule you might set | Where it comes from | Effect on order |
|---|---|---|
| Sibling of current pupil | Family record in the MIS | Moved up |
| Assessed and approved | Assessment outcome | Moved up |
| Date of registration | Registration record | Orders families within a group |
| No response to check-in | Termly email | Flagged for review |
The priority rules are the school's own policy. The list only applies them.
A place filled properly and quickly
When the relocating family gives notice, the registrar opens Year 4, sees the sibling family at the top, and sends an offer that afternoon with a week to reply. They accept. The whole exchange is recorded on both families' records. The spreadsheet is retired.
The termly check-in does quiet but useful work too. Each term, families on every list receive a short email asking whether they still want a place and whether anything has changed, such as a move of house or a younger sibling now of age. Replies update the record directly. Families who have found a place elsewhere can remove themselves with one click. By the time a place comes up, the list reflects the families who really are waiting, which makes the phone round unnecessary and the offer fair.
Signs your waiting lists need this
- Waiting lists are held in spreadsheets.
- Your priority order is applied from memory.
- Families on the list have moved on without telling you.
- Offers of places are made by phone with no deadline recorded.
- Lists do not roll forward with the year groups.