Just confirming I am safe just putting down one school on admission form.

[Claifairy]

LO is recently adopted and therefore number one on our chosen schools admission guidelines. We live opposite the school so I can't see there being any problems but just thought I would ask the experts for confirmation that I am doing the right thing!

[piprabbit]

Why wouldn't you put down second and third choices?
It won't damage your chances of getting into the first choice, but might give you more control in the event of things going tits up with no. 1

[HoratiaLovesBabyJesus]

No, not totally safe. Chances are you will be first in the queue but if there are any local schools you want to avoid it would be worth putting at least a second choice. What have you got to lose? It isn't like it costs you extra!

[IndigoBelle]

Sounds fine to just it down one choice.

[Claifairy]

The only other school is a faith school which is also outstanding! I think we would struggle to get into that school as we are number 6 on the admissions guidelines and to be honest I don't think it is the right school for LO. I just didn't want to risk putting that one down just in case we did get it!

[mummytime]

I would think you are safe, but call the LA admissions to double check. Or just put down another one just to stop you having nightmares between now and March.

[ClementineKelandra]

I thought it was 'looked after' children who got priority. As your dc is now adopted he doesn't come under that banner anymore. I believe he would be treated the same as other applicants.

[Claifairy]

The rules changed for 2013 admissions and adopted children are now included with looked after children.

[EmpressOfTheNorthPole]

Travel makes sense. You sound safe, but I'd put other choices too just in case.

[radicalsubstitution]

I only put one choice down.

It was my designated area school, and just opposite my house. I have a disability, so would have been able to be categorised as strong medical need for a parent.

The chances of not getting a place were so neigligibly tiny, that I didn't bother looking at other schools.

[redskyatnight]

I put one choice down as well. Also had a negligibly tiny chance of not getting a place and (equally relevant) no viable alternative anyway. I think you're fine OP.

[Rooble]

I really wouldn't take the risk. As Clementine said, I think once a child is adopted it no longer counts as Looked After; if you really are literally over the road then it's most likely you WILL get in, but our local primary school - which had one space left over in last year's Reception class, for some reason got 38 applicants more than it had spaces this year. People who had assumed that because their next door neighbour had got in without difficulty 12 months earlier, and therefore didnt bother to put more than one choice down this year, found themselves being allocated a space several miles away in a significantly less "desirable" area.

[RyleDup]

I wouldn't bother op. if the rules have changed for 2013 you should be fine.

[piprabbit]

Claifairy, I'm interested that you have discounted putting down the faith school as no.2 as you don't want to risk your DD going there.
You would only be offered the no. 2 place if you had already failed to get your no.1 choice.

If the faith school isn't an appropriate no.2 choice for you, it sounds like you've thought about alternatives to your no.1 and already have opinions on where and where not your DD would go. Why not put down a school that would be appropriate in the very unlikely circumstances of you not getting your no.1 choice? Or are you happy to potentially end up with being given any under-subscribed school in your area?

[We3bunniesOfOrientAre]

It doesn't cost anything to put a second or third choice down, so I would. Otherwise if something did go wrong then you might end up somewhere you really don't want or with an awful commute.

I didn't for dd2, as with a sibling priority and 60 places and only 15 other siblings I knew we would get a place, unless there was a mistake in which case we would appeal.

For ds I will put down a second choice as there are at least 25 siblings for only 30 places. If he didn't get a place then I would rather a nearby other school than a long commute.

As long as you put your first choice first there shouldn't be a mistake, and if there is then you can appeal and your child will get the place. If you don't put another choice down and the school for some reason is full then you might have a long commute.

[redskyatnight]

I presume that OP (as in our case) doesn't have an obvious 2nd choice, and doesn't want to spend a lot of time trying to find a school that her DC stands a realistic chance of getting into that she also likes?

Assuming the school PAN is the usual 30/60/90 etc it doesn't sound like there is more than a purely statistical probability that she won't get a place.

[radicalsubstitution]

I didn't have any realistic choice.

I could have got DS into a really good faith school in a local village, but wouldn't have been able to get him there on time and then get to work.

There is a massive shortage of places in my LEA, and the only other 'out of caqtchment' schools I could have got DS into are all undersubscribed because they have nottice to improve.

There just wasn't any point putting other schools down.

[Claifairy]

This is why I needed clarity as I assumed - maybe wrongly- that as under number 1 in admissions it would be a definite place. I can't imagine that there would be 60 looked after and adopted children in such a close proximity.

[Houseworkprocrastinator]

i only put down one on ours and it was fine, i would have put more if i was applying for a different school but we are close to it and they both went to the nursery there. i had never heard of anyone not getting a place. i guess if it is a really popular school i would put another but otherwise i wouldn't bother.

[Pleasenomorepeppa]

It depends where you live.
In my area, the people who only put 1 or 2 schools down seem to be the people who aren't offered their choice of schools.

[mummytime]

I did only put down 1 school for DC2 and DC3, because due to sibling rule DC2 was bound to get in. For DC3 we lived so close that with an admission no of 60 it was extremely unlikely that we wouldn't get in (I actually knew there were no other non SEN, non siblings living closer).

For those who don't know the admission arrangements have changed to give looked after and adopted children priority from this year.

[mummytime]

Pleasenomorepeppa - you can't be discriminated against because you don't fill your "choices", but unless you live on top of the school etc. you may not get your "chosen" school. Some people think they can get an advantage by only putting down one school, those are the ones who then complain loudly as they get not school or the one several miles away that no-one wants.

[ArbitraryUsername]

I'm putting 4 choices down for DS2, even though we'll definitely get into all of them (we live very close to a lot of schools, and we'd've easily got into them all in all the years they've published figures for). I just thought I'd feel like a fool if I didn't use all my choices and something totally unexpected happened which meant I didn't get my first (or second, or third) choice.

I used 3 of the 4 choices for DS1's transfer to high school, even though he's guaranteed a place at our number one choice. In our LA children from feeder schools take priority and there aren't enough children in Y8 at the three feeder schools to fill all the places at the high school (it has an admissions number of 360). The high school has a specialised unit for children with very specific SN, but the children who need to go to the school for medical reasons will almost certainly be at DS1's current school which has the same specialised unit (which is not oversubscribed). We also live less than 100m from the high school.

Given all that, I'd be utterly amazed if DS1 didn't get a place. But I stillput down two other choices, just in case. I didn't put down a 4th though, as there isn't another school in the city I'd be happy for him to go to (I've no idea how he could get to any other school, for a start).

[piprabbit]

Arbitary, you sound like me - belt, braces, bit of string tied round your middle, the whole works...just in case.

[KirstyJC]

I have only put 2 schools down for DS2 - number 1 is the one 2 miles away in the next village where DS1 already goes, and number 2 is the one in the next street. (Only one in this village).

It wouldn't be the end of the world if he got the second choice although I really prefer the other school, and he will be going to the Holiday Club there too with his brother.

The only other schools are miles away and we couldn't get to them so I don't see the point. We only put down 2 schools for DS1 and he got our first choice even though it isn't our catchment one.