Admission 2014

[Zingy123]

My Dd will be going secondary school next year. She goes to a catholic school. Here we only get 3 choices on the form.
I prefer 3 other schools to the catholic secondary which has her current school as a feeder school.
We live opposite a dire school which I wouldn't want. If she didn't get her three preferences would she get the school opposite or would they realise she is catholic and place her at the catholic school?
Thanks

[meditrina]

She'll get the nearest school has a place left after the initial allocation round.

You'd be safe picking the top two of the three you like, and having the feeder Catholic school in third place.

[prh47bridge]

Broadly agree with Meditrina. A few LAs will try to find a Catholic school for you but most will not. Even if yours is one of the few that would try to stick with your religious preference there is no guarantee they would be able to do so. Places go first to applicants who name the school as one of their preferences. If you don't make the Catholic school a preference it may already be full up by the time the LA come to looking for a school with a place for your daughter.

You will certainly be safest naming the Catholic school as your third choice, although even then there are no guarantees you will get a place there. If there are a lot of children from feeder schools who come higher in the admission criteria than your daughter you may still end up with a school you don't want. I hope it won't come to that.

[Zingy123]

Thanks going on the last few years the Catholic school had 50+ places left after the initial allocation but I have heard this is a higher birth rate year. I asked last year about them increasing the number of preferences but seem to have been ignored.