Is it okay to only list your 1st preference in the secondary school application form?

enolagayits0815 - no they absolutely cannot do that! The admissions policy is the admissions policy - these things have to and are done by the book!

Shown!

We have been told by a head teacher that she will guarantee us a place at an out of catchment academy because we have shine an interest, can they really do this ?

Bloody hell - these Head Teachers!

OP: if you are in England the Admissions Code is law. The 'equal preference' system is law (this is the system where the school does not know where on the list you put them, and the position on the list does not affect whether or not the school is able to offer you a place. The position on he list only makes a difference if more than one school on your list of six is able to offer you a place. In that case the LA will offer you the one that is highest up your list.

That is why you must list them in your genuine order of preference.

You will automatically be put in the waiting lists for schools higher up your list if you don't get first choice. You will be put on the waiting list even if you accept your lower choice school.

You can appeal for any school you applied for, and the fact that you have accepted your lower choice will not influence the outcome of your appeal.

You should accept whatever school is offered: there is no disadvantage for waiting lists or appeals if you accept. If you turn it down, there is every possibility that you will never get better school, and that by the time you find that out, your original allocation will have been given to someone else.

Schools do have different admissions criteria, but the application of these within the law and within the system cannot be tinkered with or re-invented by Head Teachers!

Good luck!

You must list schools in the genuine preference you want them - they will not know where you put them. If you don't get a place in school A tgem school B automatically becomes your first choice and so on until a school can offer a place - you are not disadvantaged against others who may have listed the school higher.

If you only put 1 choice which can't offer you a place - or indeed if none of your choices can offer you a place then you will be allocated a school which has space after all places are allocated. Note this is likely to be an undesirable school!

If you are appealing for a place - eg over subscription appeal the onus is on you to show why this is the best school for your child and NOT why the allocated school would be a bad option. You would need to show tgat tge disadvantage to your child of not attending school X is greater then tge dissadvantage to the school of admitting over PAN.

NOOO.

READ THE INSTRUCTIONS

If you meet the criteria for entry you will get school 1. If you don't and have no other school they will allocate you the nearest school with vacancies after all those who chose schools haven sorted.

It will be poor , it may be a long way away. There will be other " not so awful " choices.

Sooo
Use all you choices.
They look down the form and allocate the highest choice for which you meet the criteria.

Head teachers really are a law into them selves.

I remember looking round primaries in 2009 and 1 infant head saying if you don't put us 1st you stand no chance.
We put it as no 2 but don't think we would have got it.
1st preference was local rc school and we not Catholic so don't always have be hugely religious depends on school.

Now we doing senior school apllications

School c year 7 head told all parents at parents evening that unless they were listed as 1st they stand no chance.
Checked with admissions totally untrue schools don't know order of preference.
Also found out they were not oversubscribed 1st round filled up 2nd 8ts fairly near in senior terms so listing it as 3rd preference

School d did one better I missed open evening where the head told all parents unless they list it as 1st and eventually historically those who lost it 1st always get in 2nd round before sept.

When I went to look that was repeated to me.
But worse I advised to decline 2nd and 3rd preference to remain on their waitlist if I really want a place.
I was like I could end up with no place as we live in area of oversubscribed schools even less good ones as more kids than places plus primary boom and local seniors closing she would not have it she was in the wrong so put me off applying.
She Indicated to another parent she tries her best for those parents who wish to have a single sex education .
Not a huge range single sex schools locally.

We talking about a well performing state academy where 12 spaces were for sports.
The rest sibling & distance.
It's either a big lie or a breech of admissions policy.

Good luck op try list 3 in order you want
Even if obscure further away 3rd choice 2 nearest sounds sensible.

Your preference for a same sex school is no reason whatsoever, sorry. If the Headteacher gave that impression they are also wrong on that account.

We only get 3 choices here. I put down 2 - the out of catchment over subscribed school was my first choice, the catchment undersubscribed was our second. We got our first choice (as we're very close to the catchment border) so were lucky.

The only reason I didn't put a third school was that the next two nearest are church school, you have to fill out separate forms for them anyway, and I'm not religious so don't believe in faith schools.

We were told if we definitely wanted our children to go to our first choice then it had to be number 1 on the form, but we were always told to use all our choices.

Well only put down one choice but then it is our catchment school and we live about 100m away from it.

OP you need as others say to put down other choices. If there is a place at your first choice, you will be offered that. You will only be offered a place at choice 6 if the other choices are all full with people who (for eg) live nearer (or fulfil other criteria eg SEN, LAC etc).

So most likely you will get your first choice; but if not, "OK nearby school" is better than "school no one wants 8 miles away".

Off topic a bit but I am amazed by how little teachers seem to know about the application process; a friend who is a primary teacher recently told me how her DS got a place at his secondary (they are out f catchment but not miles and miles away) "because he is so keen on his sport and they have lots of sports teams". Errr nooo, I highly doubt that is a criterion! Simply you live nearer than the other applicants who didn't get in!

The head teacher is either lying to you, or woefully ignorant about how the allocation process works.

My friend tried this. She assumed her 6th child would get in to the school as all her over children went there. She was wrong, ended up with an offer 16 miles away at a failing school.

In short - you need to put down 6 choices.

Heads and other senior teachers sometimes have no idea how admissions work. I have struggled in the past not to contradict what they have told parents.

In your case: you like school A, school B is your catchment one but you're not so keen, however if there is school C which you don't like as much as A but prefer to B even though you don't live as close; then put the order ACB. If you qualify for B as long as it's on your list you will be offered it if it's the highest choice you do qualify for, even in sixth place.
To judge how good a choice you have with B you need to read the admissions criteria and judge where you come. Eg. For my DCs school I qualified under criteria 3 (siblings) for the younger two, so it was a risk for the older one but then a dead cert (they could have 50% siblings).

Ofsted have nothing to do with admissions either.

My mate has just done this with a very popular school miles out of her catchment.

She's going to be gutted come march.

Aside from the risk that your DC will be allocated a place at a truly terrible school miles and miles from home....

I'm pretty sure that being allocated a 2nd choice school rather than whatever the LA have left over won't affect appeals for the 1st choice school one bit.

As I understand it, you're appealing for a place at the desired school, rather than against a place at a school you don't want.

That's fine. Put down 6 choices in the honest order you want them.

I've only put down one choice.
but's that because DD is guaranteed to get in *

In your case it doesn't sounds like a good idea

• barring an extremely unlikely combination of events which are realistically will only occur as a theoretical exercise.

No no no no no! Don't do that!

Like everyone says - if you don't get that school, the LA will offer you a school that they think suitable which could be a school you don't like + is far away. To hedge your bets, you need to put down whichever other schools you'd be happy with further down the list.

Read the admission booklet for your local authority. If you are in England use all your choices or you risk getting allocated a school you reall stop want. Look carefully at the admission criteria and how places were allocated last year but remember it might be different this year. The areas that I know:

1. You submit your form
2. The LA tells all the admission authorities (could be LA or the school itself). The school doesn't know what other schools you listed.
3. School/LA look at all the applications and work out who could be offered a place and tell the LA
4. If only one on your list can offer a place you get offered that one. If two schools or more could offer a place you are offered the one you ranked higher
5. If no school you apply for can offer a place allocation to schools that have places available. So if you only put down one and don't get a place your child gets offered what is left over.
6. Remember to accept the offer in the way specified by the date or it will be offered to someone else (eg people might decide that they'd now prefer to go private or home school then take the school offered

Eg see page 9 of Bradford's booklet but they are different in different places, in particular in places with grammar schools.
www.bradford.gov.uk/media/1470/secondary-school-guide-for-parents-201718.pdf