1 in 3 London kids don't get 1st preference - gross UNDER estimation?

In my borough it's about half and it's the same in the neighbouring borough. Obviously most people are going to put the top schools at the top of their list even it is wildly unlikely that their child will get a place there because they are quite a distance from the school. If people decide to do that they would have to be very lucky to get their first choice.

Whilst there are a number of "black spots" in London (and other areas) where children can live close to many schools but too far from all to get a local school, your complaint seems more focused on the fact your child won't score highly enough in the grammar tests to get into a school you want.

Most London secondaries aren't grammars, so this issue doesn't affect most children. I know many object to the grammar school system in its entirety, but again you don't seem to be saying that - you seem to be saying that selective education is great as long as my kid gets in...

Well apart from the dangerous levels of pollution which are particularly harmful to kids of primary age. Oh and the delightful levels of crime.

Plus London schools aren't better - London schools are disproportionately funded (in many areas twice what other parts of the country get), which is ending soon.

That percentage doesn't sound bad - lots of parents will put a school they know they they have little chance of in first place, and possibly a couple more places, followed by schools they are most likely to get.

My friends just went through this and had to choose which of 50+ schools to even look at, so whittling down a dozen likely options to 6 was hard enough, but would have been content with any of those. I'll be doing it myself in a couple years.

With so many schools to pick from even if you aren't religious or grammar material, why would you fixate on one school rather than a few?

Tgnut - London is fab for children and families, and London schools are the best in the country.

More choice, better quality, more diverse school intake.

t4gnut, London's a fantastic place to raise kids!

At least in London there are lots of schools close together and most of them are good, so if your child doesn't get their first choice they'll usually get another not too far down their list, and not too far away.

You misunderstand. You do not get parental choice, you get to express a preference. Not the same thing.

But if you're silly enough to raise kids in London you get little sympathy from the rest of the country.

Do put real choices in order. It doesn't disadvantage you. It's what they advise you to do.

Someone will say if I've got this wrong, but for each child they look at all of the schools on their list, and then work out if they fit the admissions criteria, etc. So say a school has places for 200 pupils and 600 put it down somewhere on their list, they look at all 600 applications and give them a rank number. If your child is 199, they mark that as yes could potentially have a place.

Of your list of 6, say they determine that you have a potential place in 3. It's only then that they look at your order of preference and will give you whichever school is highest on your list. So definitely put your choices in order, as it doesn't disadvantage you.

On the stats, it's true lots don't get their first choice, but remember too that a lot of parents put really genuinely dim brained lists in. Several parents at DS's primary put down just one school - it's hugely oversubscribed and none of them got in. They all thought if they just put that down they'd have to be given it. What happened (of course!) was that their kids all got placed bottom of the pile for the other schools. Very sad.

We put six choices. Knew it unlikely that we'd get the first two as we were borderline catchment but thought it worth a punt. We put a sensible and far more likely choice as 3rd and that's the one we got. So okay we got our third choice, but that was fair as our first two were pretty unrealistic. It's a bit of a mine field, but it definitely helps to understand it all. Good luck!