Made a stupid mistake

do feel bad and it’s not making me feel any better making comments like this.

Like I said, I didn't intend to make you feel anything, never mind bad. Just to clarify though, it was you yourself that made the comment. I simply agreed with you. Please don't make out as if I came on and had a go at you out of the blue. I just agreed with what you said. Again, I didn't intend it to provoke any sort of feeling.

Putting this school down did not affect your chances of getting your first or second choice. If you had only named two schools you would have been offered another school which you might have liked even less than this one. I haven't read the whole thread but I can see you've been advised to make sure you are on the waiting list for your first and second choices and appeal for them. That is good advice. You won't lose anything by appealing and you might get a place. You will get plenty of help on Mumsnet in preparing your appeal. Just remember that you are appealing for the school you want, not against the school you've been offered. The fact you named this school by mistake is not relevant to your appeal.

It’s admission criteria is Looked after children (in Public Care)
I thought this was policy for all secondary schools.

"Too far away" meaning how far? Secondary aged are expected to be able to travel a distance or use public transport, or may be offered school transport. All schools have what you deem "naughty" pupils, a good Ofsted would suggest behavioural issues are managed. I suggest you tone this down in any appeal.

The admission criteria for the vast majority of schools prioritises looked after children, adopted children etc so that does not mean they have a high intake of 'naughty kids' at all

I know I've made a stupid mistake by putting it. But I don't need to be made to feel any worse I recognise what I did now. Very careless.

I didn't mean to make you feel anything, let alone worse. All I did was agree with your comment and then ask about your DC's involvement.

You did the right thing. Get on the waiting list for first 2 choices. You wouldn't have been offered them even without your 3rd choice and could have been offered a dreadful school 15 miles away (like someone near me).

What's your problem Needthisthread? OP is looking for support not a kicking.

I wasn't 'kicking' OP. I literally agreed with what they said and asked if the DC had any input.

If the OP is so flaky that someone agreeing with them on their own thread is so bad, perhaps this isn't the place for them?

Unless there was another school that was your genuine third preference and that he would have been sure to get into, you haven’t made a mistake. You have (perhaps inadvertently) done the sensible thing of including a nearby and reliable, if not especially desirable, third option in case - as in fact happened - he didn’t get into preferences 1 and 2.

Your brother’s advice was to say, effectively, to the LA “If he doesn’t get into School 1 or School 2, I don’t care where you allocate him”. You were wise not to do that.

There’s still a decent chance you can get him into a higher preference school either through the waiting lists or the appeals process.

And your brother is talking rubbish btw

What's your problem Needthisthread? OP is looking for support not a kicking.
OP it's done now and of course you can appeal the decision for 1st & 2nd choice schools. You also join waiting lists for schools you didn't apply to.
Look in some areas there are no/ little choices, and you have to put something 3rd.

Focus on getting on waiting lists now and getting your appeals organised. There are lots of threads to read on here with brilliant advice.
You will have to accept the offered school though, that is the 1st rule of Mumsnet- otherwise unless your LA will discharge their duty to find a school. Accepting won't prejudice your appeals or waiting lists. Don't worry, just get organised.

Whatever you do, don't decline a school place. I can't stress this enough. The LA is only obliged to offer you one place. Accept the place, even if it's not what you want and go about putting name on waiting lists etc. Do not decline the offer!!!

Was there a hypothetical option 4 or 5 that you wish you had put down? If not you haven't made things worse.

It sounds like you actually did the right thing - 2 choices that you liked and the nearest school as a banker. Exactly what all the admissions experts on MN would advise.

Now you need to get on waiting lists for schools 1 and 2, and if possible any other schools you like the look of.

Your brother, btw, is talking rubbish.

I'd you'd have only put down 2 choices he still probably wouldn't have got them - they were full hence why he's not on list. Hence why he got 3rd choice.

If you hadn't put 3rd choice they'd have allocated him another school - either that one anyway or another one further away.

From what you say there is a very good chance that you would have been offered it anyway, unless your son would have scored highly enough to get into a different third choice school elsewhere. Putting it third certainly didnt effect your ds' chances if getting into your first or second choice school. And if you hadnt put it third he might have been awarded a place at a less good school miles away.

Depends whether he would have faced the same situation as 1 and 2 at another choice.

It would have made no difference to you gaining a place at your first or second choice school, by putting a school you didn’t want as your third choice. In fact, if you had not put it down, as you didn’t qualify for for your first and second choice, you could have been allocated a worse school much further away or your third choice anyway. Your focus needs to be why you didn’t qualify for your first two choices and to double check you have been placed on their waiting lists. As I said, by placing that school third, it would have had no impact whatsoever on why you were not offered your higher ranking schools.

I just feel I've made a mistake by including it in my choices....

Well you have. I can't see why you would do this. You mention your choices a lot in your posts, did your DC not have any input here?