home education has meant our child is not able to access secondary school

You will get her fares paid for by the way as it is over the statutory three miles so you won't have to worry about cost.

Well you learn something new everyday ... I never knew Manchester had that policy! I guess it stops some schools getting flooded with applicants from Tameside / Stockport / Salford etc when places are in short supply. I had always assumed it was straight line just like primary. There must be others in the same boat 1.3 miles isn't very close on the South side and 4 miles is a long way in Manchester (the LEA area is actually only a small part of the city itself ). Defo look at a few weeks in a primary and try and jump up the list. Are you on the list for other schools?

Four miles is actually quite close for a secondary school. Mine had to travel three times that distance.

I was in a similar situation with dd. we live a mile from the county border and she went to primary over the border.

The admissions criteria for our county secondary schools are similar to Manchester so she wouldn't have got in. The other county were the opposite. Went on home address and we lived to far away. No priority for the fact she'd been at that county's primary school. So she wouldn't have got in to either county secondary schools. She'd have got into one in our county the far side of town, with no transport, etc, nightmare journey.

We realised at beginning of year six and had to move her primary school. Which was a pita, and they were totally inflexible.

Hope you sort something out.

It isn't a small thing to you & your family at all though. I hate it when people say things like that.
I have no advice but I hope that something is sorted for you soon.

As others have said, you have a school place: the fact that it is not at the school you want simply puts you in the same position as thousands of other parents in the country. I don't know on what grounds you could appeal really, since the admissions criteria are clearly laid out - you must have known this would be a likelihood when you chose to home ed?

So although there isn't a direct bus route, she can take transport from yours to the school offered?

What is the Home Ed scene like in Manchester? have you tried socialising through He groups? I'm sure there is a yahoo mailing list for Manchester. Would she be interested in Guides / Scouts? Is she musical?

of course, I hope you get into the school if that's what you want for her, and I do think the Lea are discriminating, which shouldn't be allowed? Have you tried involving the MP? Some of the Home Ed groups on facebook have some people who are very clued up on the legal side and might give good advice.

4 miles is nothing for secondary, loads of students have double that distance to their nearest one. I'd accept the place and stay on the waiting list for the one you want.

"We have been offered a school which is single sex and 4 miles away."

Ah, so you have been offered a place? You just don't like it? Join the club. You are not special.

IIRC, one of the London boroughs also does this.

OP's DD has been offered a place, just not at first preference. Lots of parents find themselves in this situation.

Challenging the specificity of naming every school in the borough will be worth doing, as it may make a difference to future cohorts.

It's not clear, from what OP has written is whether her DC would have received an offer at this school even had she been in category 4. To be 87th on the waiting list suggests that they do not live particularly close to the school and/or not every child in category 4 received an offer anyhow.

I thought the local authority had a legal obligation to find a child a school place. Perhaps I am wrong. But I'd be very surprised indeed if your child had no place in any school.

We have been offered a school which is single sex and 4 miles away So the LA do have places for your dc but not at a school of your choice ? How many schools did you name on your application ?

Why don't you put your child in a manchester primary for the last few weeks of term and see if it bumps your child up a waiting list. SATs are over and your daughter would have six weeks of fun. Having her in a manchester primary school would increase her chances of getting a place at a school acceptable to you. Are you on a continued interest lists for other schools?

Surely Manchester have to find her a secondary school of some description even if you hate the school.

The trouble is there are not enough places! Can you carry on with home ed and wait for a place to come up at some point in Y7/8? Is she really keen to go to school now or not bothered? Have some more years of freedom if you can! (Or buy 2 years at an independent school?)

These are not named feeder schools

Not sure that is the case. I think most of the secondaries have specific feeder primaries, and when 'it says at a primary' it means the particular schools linked to each secondary rather than a general any primary.

You should refer this to the LGO - it is possible they will find these criteria illegal. However they could then only ask Manchester to change their criteria for next year. They could not ask them to disregard this as a criteria and rerun the process for this year.

Am not sure what you mean by you are in catchment. There is no such thing as catchment in your case. And why would someone from a Leeds school be above you if like you they hadn't attended a Manchester school?