I really don’t understand the secondary school admissions - please demystify this for me.

Oh and definitely do open mornings rather than open evenings. The mornings give you the vibe of the school. That was a really important thing for me.

If your child goes to Brent primary, definitely check if it is a feeder for Queen’s Park community college. I know kids that go there and like it. I have also heard good things about Paddington academy but we are too far away.

Out of your others, St George’s is very strict and very Catholic. I knew Harris Academy before it was taken over and perhaps unfairly, would have not considered it for that. I liked Marylebone boys and it was 3rd on our list (I would have put it as second).

It can be worth putting a school down that you really like, even if chances are slim as you will be put on the waiting list. Also some schools might have art or music aptitude places as well. I applied for a few of those with my DS. Also look at tube routes - a few stops can be much quicker than the bus in rush hour.

@CultureShockInTheSameCountryIsReal I'm really intrigued as to where you used to live! I'm assuming somewhere like Cumbria or Northumberland?

I'm not in London and feeling thankful about that as DS is year 6 but we have other issues such as physically getting to school due to rubbish public transport albeit I am in a major city. Urgh. It's all rather stressful.

OP, I'm not quite sure where you are ?Maida Vale-ish?, but Marylebone Boys and Harris SJW would both be "bankers" I think for you (maybe St Augustine as well if you are including faith schools), so you have room for some non-banker schools. Also, you are correct about Ark King Solomon being an extra 7th choice outside of e-admissions, so certainly worth applying to as well.
You mentioned that your son is at a Brent primary so it is worth noting that, just to confuse you even more (!), some Brent secondaries (including Queens Park Community School for example) give most of their places to children attending named feeder primaries, with distance as a tie-breaker cut off. So might be worth double checking whether he would fall into one of those categories for Brent schools.
Also bear in mind that there is usually a lot of movement after offer day for large London state schools. This means that people can get offered places from waiting lists quite quickly and that the distances offered can, depending on the school, expand a lot further than the quoted numbers you are seeing on the various LA websites (which usually show the furthest distance offered on March 1st).
Good luck!

• St Augustine’s CE

Took everyone who applied - but non-religious is criteria 14 on the list so suspect religion is a big thing. Banding Test

@OhCrumbsWhereNow St Augustine is a very diverse school both ethnically and in terms of religion, and usually (from memory going back a few years) admits a minority of it's pupils under church attendance criteria. I'm not sure how "religious" it is in ethos, but would imagine it is less so, reflecting it's pupil population. Something for the OP to try and evaluate from an open evening or local parents who know the school I guess. I know of two families who have sent kids there in recent years, one non-religious and one Catholic, and both have been happy in general with the school I think.

@Fluffycloudsfloatinginthesky no train is definitely free for 5 -10 year olds with the 5-10 Zip Card. My daughter's card was used at least 4 times weekly between the ages of 5 and 10 - often more. All free !
We are in that area of South London with no tube. Southern Trains are our "tube". She has the 11-15 card now where we do have to pay but despite the blurb saying "half price fares" it's usually much cheaper. I think it's 85p one way from our Zone 3 station to Victoria but the adult version is £2 or £3 something.
(off peak fares ......)

Don't think train is completely free for 5-10, think there is a small charge.

Yes as @AuditAngel says you can get the Oyster 5-10 Zip card which means children travel free on trains within the London Zones. This is very useful in South London where it's mainline trains (Southern, South West Trains, Southeastern Trains etc) rather than the tube.

Not related to schools, but get both your kids Zip cards, little ones don’t need them for the bus but I think under 11’s might be free on the tube with one and reduced train prices.

once you receive them, take a photo of them so you have the numbers for when they invariably lose them.

@Pinkglobelamp yes if the Catholic school gives priority to practicing catholic children and rarely has extra places for non catholic children don't include that one. Basically your nearest that you would qualify for - even if you don't particularly like it.

Great, thanks. My nearest is a Catholic one (we're not) so maybe second nearest too...
It's so complicated, even for long-time Londoners! I can imagine it must have looked bewildering to OP at first.

If I did that I would end up with only 4 schools on the CAF

If you have more slots on your CAF (?6 in London), then for the same reasons given by others re making sure one of your options is a 'banker', it is a much better idea to use them all up (but obviously not with 6 schools which your DC doesn't have a feline in Hades' chance of getting into).

@Pinkglobelamp yes put it as choice 6. If you don't get 1-5 and haven't put your nearest school as 6 those who did put School 6 on their list will take priority over those who didn't - even if you live closer.
You could end up with random school you've never heard of possibly on the other side of the borough.
Always put your nearest school down that you would qualify for because after the usual admissions things like siblings, sen, looked after children etc it mostly comes down to distance from school.

Yep, you put the ‘backup’ one last on your list.

Don't you then risk just being allocated to that school, if it's close and you put it as a choice?
Is the idea to put it e.g. 5th or 6th, so you are considered for schools you prefer, but if you don't get them you still get somewhere nearby?

@Pinkglobelamp because it's better to have a place at a school you might not like so much but is a ten minute walk away vs a random one you get allocated on the other side of your borough that takes over an hour to get to by 3 buses.

Because at least it's close. If you put down 6 options you don't qualify for, you'll get whatever's left with space at the end. In London, where good schools are often oversubscribed, that could mean a Needs Improvement school a few miles away away, instead of a 'just not great' school that's 15 mins walk from your door.

Can anyone explain the thing about it being important to put down a school you can definitely get an offer at, even if you don't like it?

The locrating website posted by a PP upthread is your friend OP. It gives a visual map of all the local secondaries and shows circles of the distance of the furthest place offered last year. It's so clear and easy to use and was a godsend for me in primary and secondary admissions.

For faith schools, it's worth asking around on local forums if you need to be of that faith to get in. I teach in a Catholic school in outer London and, although we get great results, you don't have to be Catholic or even Christian to get in as all the local Catholic parents want to get their kids into the Grammar Schools instead. and also don't like that most of our students are black.

In my limited non-London experience, Open Evenings are the shiny rah-rah wow the kids. (Make some art! See fire in the labs!)

Open Mornings are school in session so you get a bit more of a look at how the school feels during the day. (But it will still be "managed" i.e. extra hands on deck so that problematic truants aren't seen.)

I did lots of open mornings on my own and then took DH and DD to the open evenings of the ones I liked.

That way I didn't end up with DD falling in love with a school based on them having chips for lunch in the canteen or something else that was not a priority.

I only took her out of school for things like banding tests or aptitude tests, but I know when I did the sign out book that there were LOADS of entries for Y6 on 'school open day' visits - so it seemed to be deemed reasonable. Primary ran lots of parent sessions on how to pick the school, what the local ones in the area were and how to fill in the forms etc.

Good luck with it all! You seem to be going about it all the right way. (I've also had lots of fun having a look through the brochures again... fun and games start for me again this year with starting to think of 6th form choices 😱)