How does the OC reserve list work?

It is a waiting list kept for each school with an opportunity class. A place on it only opens up when another family says no. When a family declines an offer at a school, it goes to the next eligible student on that school's reserve list.

When outcomes are first released you can get an offer from only one school: the highest of your choices your child qualifies for. So a child can hold an offer at one school and still sit on the reserve list of a school ranked higher. That is why the reserve list matters even to families who already have an offer.

This page is about Year 5 entry in 2027, the children who sat the 2026 test. If you are planning for the 2027 test, see the OC test dates. If you are still reading your outcome, start with how OC results work.

A band is the Department's estimate of when an offer from that list might come, if it comes at all. The OC table has five bands, A to E. Find your child's band below to see last year's pattern.

Read the bands as a guide, not a queue number. Reserve bands are estimates only. An offer from a reserve list is never guaranteed. The bands are based on how parents declined offers at each school last year, and should be treated only as a guide. If families at a school decline at a different rate this year, offers will move faster or slower than the table shows.

The last band is different. In band E an offer is unlikely. If one does come, it would likely be after the school year starts. If your child is in that band, it is sensible to plan for Year 5 at the school they already have.

It is the day you must choose between the offer you hold and your place on any higher-choice reserve list. For Year 5 entry in 2027 it is Thursday 3 December 2026, 3:00 pm, the same day as for selective schools.

• Until then you can keep both. You can keep an accepted offer and your higher-choice reserve positions until the reserve decision date. After that date, students holding an accepted offer are removed from higher-choice reserve lists.
• To stay on a list after it, you give up your offer. To stay on a higher-choice reserve list after the reserve decision date, you must decline your accepted offer.
• Some steps can't be undone. If you withdraw from a reserve list, you cannot change your mind later. Accept by the response due date or you lose the offer. You can accept now and decline later, but a declined offer can't be got back.

Put simply: if you do nothing, your child keeps the accepted offer and leaves the higher-choice lists. Declining means your child could finish with no OC place at all if the list never reaches them, and stay in their current class for Year 5.

Check where you stand, then make one decision before the reserve decision date. These steps follow the Department's rules above.

1. 1

   Keep the offer you have, if you want it

   Holding an accepted offer does not take your child off any higher-choice list until the decision date.
2. 2

   Note your child's band for each list

   Compare each band with the table above. That tells you whether the list may move before the decision date or after it.
3. 3

   Decide before the decision date

   Either keep the accepted offer and leave the higher-choice lists, or decline it so your child stays on them.
4. 4

   Withdraw only when you are sure

   Leaving a reserve list is final, so don't do it just to tidy up.
5. 5

   Watch your email until the end of Term 1 in Year 6

   If the list reaches your child, an email asks you to view the new outcome in your application dashboard.

You choose between the new offer and the one you hold. If you accept a new offer from a higher-choice reserve list, your original offer is declined automatically. If you decline the new offer, you keep the original.

After you accept, enrolment runs through the school itself. After accepting an OC offer, the school contacts you about its enrolment procedures and orientation days.

No. The Department tells you only when your child's position is reached. If your child's reserve position is reached, you get an email asking you to view the new outcome in your application dashboard.

We have not found any public list of positions or movement on the Department's outcomes or band pages. So a quiet inbox does not mean the list has stopped, and no outside site can tell you your child's place. Apart from the email, the band is all the Department gives you to go on.

Until the end of Term 1 in Year 6, a full year after the class starts. For Year 5 entry in 2027, offers from OC reserve lists continue until the end of Term 1 2028 (Term 1 of Year 6), if vacancies arise. That term ends on Friday 7 April 2028.

This tail is much longer than the selective one. An offer can come after your child has spent all of Year 5 in their current class, and the move would be for Year 6 only. You cannot apply for Year 6, but a reserve offer can still place your child into it: An opportunity class is a two-year program in Years 5 and 6. Parents cannot apply for Year 6 only. So a late offer joins a class that is already half-way through its program.

It is worth deciding now whether you would move your child in that case: a new school, a new class and new friends for one year. Some families would; some would not. Either choice is reasonable.

It works the same way, with the same decision date, but the bands and the end of offers differ. Selective reserve offers can come up to the end of Term 1 of the entry year. OC reserve offers can come up to the end of Term 1 in Year 6. See how the selective reserve list works for its own bands, or go back to the OC test guide for the whole year. If you are new to OC, our page on how OC placement works covers choices and offers from the start.

The Department's OC reserve list bands page has its own wording of the bands and the end of offers.