Primary application - ranking question

[jasperc163]

Can anyone advise on this? We want to apply to a village primary a few miles away but may not get in as it is often oversubscribed. Therefore we would put this schoool first and our local village school 2nd.

If we didn't get a place at 1st choice school would we be jeapordising getting into our local village school (very close and a def place if we put it first) if it was oversubsribed, because we only put it 2nd or would we still get a place over a child that is miles away but put it 1st?

Hope I am making sense?!

thanks

[midnightexpress]

OK, not sure if it works the same because we're in Scotland, and so we don't do applications unless we don't want to go with the catchment school, but I was at our catchment school a couple of weeks ago and they told us that if we put in a placing application for a different school we would lose our automatic place at the catchment school.

HTH

[Rainbowinthesky]

I think it would work that you'd only have a chance at your nearer school if there were places left after all teh first choicers had got their place.

[islandofsodor]

No, it wouldn't jeapordise the application. Schools have to allocate places in strict order of admissions criteria and being put as first choice is no longer allowed to be part of that criteria.

[blametheparents]

You should check your local authority's website for information on admissions for the schools you are interested in.
The rules can vary enormously

[nancy75]

in bromley you put your 3 choices, each school looks at your application and decides if you fit the criteia (siblings, distance ect) they then decide yes or no. if you get yes for all 3 schools they give you your first choice. if you get no for no1 but yes for 2&3 they offer no 2 and so on. they don't know what order you have put the schools in so you should still get your closest school if you miss out on the other one. i think this is how it works across england but i could be wrong.

[jasperc163]

thanks everyone

islandsofsodor - is this def the case? Just dont want to risk not getting into either school iyswim as village school isnt that bad but other one is better. I did read somewhere something that the ranking not taken into account unless child was eligible for 2+ schools but worried about taking the risk in case that is wrong.

There is no doubt that we would have a place at 2nd choice if you exclude the ranking issue.

[jasperc163]

sorry cross posted - thanks all. As far as i am aware the schools have no say and it is done directly at LA level....
I looked on the website and it implies ranking not taken into account but not explicit. Maybe i can try to speak to someone..

[SleighGirl]

jasper all leas are different.

Surrey has equal ranking now. They schools have to treat each applicant the same regardless of where you put the school in ranking.

[mazzystartled]

As I understand it the order of preference makes no difference at all so long as you fit the criteria. You are allocated the school highest up your list for which there are places available according to their published criteria.

In our local authority schools are not allowed to put order of choice as a criteria. This may be different in other authorities - you should be able to check whether this applies in your area or your preferred schools on the LEA website.

[islandofsodor]

Yes, that is defonately the case, the rules changed a few years ago and some parents contested decisions in court. A local grammar school and C of E school had to change its entry criteria becasue of it.

[RustyBear]

In our borough all applications are considered by the local authority, not the individual schools (except for the church aided schools which have their own criteria)

They apply the oversubscription criteria for each school listed to every child that has applied to that school to see which ones qualify - so for example if school X has 60 places, the first 60 that fit the criteria will qualify. A child may qualify for more than one of their preferred schools, but they will be offered a place at the school they ranked highest and will be taken off the list for any other schools for which they qualified, which will free a place for a child who previously didn't qualify for those schools. Apart from the aided schools,the school doesn't have any input, and doesn't know which children will be coming until after the parents have accepted the offers.

[SleighGirl]

Rusty Bear that's how equal preference works in Surrey - one heck of a computer programme considering they join in with the London Boroughs too!

[bruffin]

We have equal preference in Hertfordshire as well. From what I am told the schools are not told what ranking you have given, just the fact there is an application. Even the foundation and church schools who have their owm criteria are not told of the ranking.

[jasperc163]

bruffin - i am in Herts so that sounds good.

[BetsyBoop]

schools (in England anyway) are no longer allowed to do "first preference first" etc as it's against the admissions code www.dcsf.gov.uk/sacode/downloads/SchoolAdmissionsCodeWEB060309.pdf
para 2.16

[BetsyBoop]

I'll try the link again...

admissions code www.dcsf.gov.uk/sacode/downloads/SchoolAdmissionsCodeWEB060309.pdf

[BetsyBoop]

is it just me of has the way you can do links changed to not allow spaces?

school asmissions www.dcsf.gov.uk/sacode/downloads/SchoolAdmissionsCodeWEB060309.pdf

[BetsyBoop]

sorry brain-dead person doing link wrong way round..doh...last go...

school admissions code

[MumNWLondon]

Check with LEA - just call them and try and speak to someone to clarify. In Barnet schools do not know of rank only the LEA knows.

[jasperc163]

many thanks - loooks like it shouldnt matter then.