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

Where in London are you? That may help with advice.

I'm glad you posted this OP. I am in London with a child only in Y2 but already I'm getting anxious as we've moved into an area with no school in which would be included by distance. And now I've no idea how to go about it.

Nearest school is amazing but insanely catholic and requires mass attendance forms so no chance.

Lots of kids on our road seem to go into another borough using an aptitude test.

I don't even know where to start.

Secondary school applications in London are an absolute nightmare and you are unlucky that the timing of your move meant that your child is already in year 6.
Can you speak to your child's teacher and ask for specific advice/ information?
There must be a process for people in your predicament.
Maybe start a new thread with a bit more information about your location in the title? Local parents can offer advice.
For me it is a distant memory of a very stressful time.

About schools themselves people have biases, but clearly the OP doesn't understand the fundamentals of the application process, which most people are pretty aligned on. Do you truly feel that so many parents see others as competition that they'd mislead people on this, when there are hundreds of spaces and many more hundreds of kids applying for each year in most secondaries.

At my kids' London state school there was loads of discussion around this, plenty of opinions about schools but no misinformation about process. OP have you also asked your child? The kids normally also hear a fair bit about where friends are going.

I definitely wouldn’t discuss secondary schools with other parents. They are not neutral. They may see you as competition. They may hate a school based on something they read, or saw 20 years ago. They may love a school, purely because it’s seen as the most desirable school in the area.

They key thing is to understand is the furthest distance people got into each school to guess your chances. Good to look at a couple of years to see if it moves.

Then there are schools with banding tests - to ensure a spread of ability but also have seen comments that it excludes certain sections of the community because you need to be organised etc to apply and sit it.

Grammar schools if you are in certain areas - they will often have a priority area and scores outside that need to be very high.

Faith schools - is they are high performing probably no chance of getting in unless you meet criteria.

Some schools may select on other criteria - eg music / drama and have their own tests for that.

Anything that's not a straight distance application will have additional forms to complete - maybe with different deadlines.

In my daughters 2 form intake primary I believe there was about 20 different secondary school destinations this year. (It's a church primary so people are spread out a little and won't automatically all get in to the same secondary anyway)

Are you on a class WhatsApp or do you have any parents you can talk to? Many parents are obsessed by all of this at the start of Year 6, and many others will have older kids, so there should be quite a few people who know. If not, the local authority usually publishes a very detailed booklet including distances that people got in from last year and other requirements, and if that's still confusing then you can call to speak to the school you like and they can explain how best to apply and if you have a chance

Very importantly… YOU MUST INCLUDE A SCHOOL THAT YOUR CHILD WILL GET INTO.

Apologies for the capitals, but this is crucial. Your local school might be truly appalling… but it’s better than the same school 15 miles away.

The government list includes independent schools, i.e. schools you have to pay to attend. Depending on how you search, it may also include schools in neighbouring boroughs. Your LA's website will have a list of schools to which you can apply within your borough. It will not include independent schools or schools in neighbouring boroughs. If you want to look at neighbouring boroughs, check their websites too. You can apply for schools in neighbouring boroughs through your own LA.

Banding tests are not about getting places on ability. A school using fair banding is not a grammar school. The idea of fair banding is to ensure that the school gets pupils of all abilities. Those who take the test will be put into bands based on their score then an equal number will be admitted from each band. Imagine, for example, a school with 270 places available that uses 9 bands in their banding system. If there are 900 applicants, the banding test will put 100 in each band and then 30 will be admitted from each band. Those in the lowest band have the same chance of getting a place as those in the highest band.

If you want to apply to a school that uses fair banding, your child will need to take the test. However, there is no pass mark for this test. If your child scores 0, they will go into the lowest band and will have the same chance of getting a place as a child that gets the maximum possible score.

You may be able to get a place at a faith school without attending a feeder school and without church attendance. Applicants who meet these requirements get priority, but if there aren't enough of them to fill all the places the remaining places will be offered to applicants that don't meet these requirements. Indeed, some faith schools reserve a number of places for non-faith applicants. This will be set out in their admission criteria.

Most schools in England do not have formal catchment areas. They generally use the distance from home to school as a tie breaker. The LA should be able to tell you the distance for the last pupil admitted last year. Some LAs include this information on their website. When people talk about a school's catchment, they generally mean the area within that distance from the school. It can vary enormously from year to year.

Yes, you can apply freely to schools in other boroughs. The book you're given will only have your borough's schools in it, so if you're close to the boundary, definitely look online for the neighbouring borough's booklet.

You'll need to read the admissions policy carefully for each school you are considering. Some admit on distance alone, some do the banding thing, some admit on the strength of a particular religion and a few on the result of an academic test (grammar schools).

The grammar schools in London (unless you're in Kent) are few and far between and extremely competitive to get in.

Work out which schools your child stands a realistic chance with: eg. there may no point applying for the Catholic school at the end of your road, unless you're baptised and practicing Catholics. And if your child is in Y6 already, you are likely to have missed the pre-registration for the grammar school tests (which mainly take place this month) so you might be able to cross them off too.

If it's not clear in the booklet, you may need to contact your local admissions office or the schools themselves to work out which ones you're in with a chance for. They will be able to tell you the maximum distance admitted last year or which number of their criteria they got down to. I know that round here, although there are perhaps 6 schools within walking distance, there are only a couple we'd stand a chance with because we don't meet the criteria for the others which all have a churchy slant, or admit on distance and the places are likely to go to those who live closer.

Top tip - consider whether the school offers sibling priority: if it does, it may save you from going through all this again in years to come.

Banding tests are used by some schools, the theory being they have an intake across academic abilities. Your DC will need to do them if the school requires it. Schools such as Camden School for Girls do this around now so you would need to contact them. Hackney does them borough wide but at a later date.
Boroughs usually have a secondary school admissions brochure online and they detail all the schools and admissions criteria. These also contain the cut off distance for the previous year or two. You will be able to find your distance from a particular school on the council website for that school.
One thing I will add, waiting lists, in inner London at least, move a lot after offer day.

You should ask for help from your primary school to explain it. They might be able to tell you which schools their pupils frequently move on to.
Talk to the other parents - find out which schools they are applying for.
You have to apply via the borough you live in but can apply to any schools in London. The information your borough provides will only list their schools.
If you go online and look up "Secondary Schools in.....and name the boroughs next to yours you will get a list of them.
Secondary schools in London don't have catchments. They will have different admission criteria. Distance to the school is usually one of the criteria and it's based on how close you live rather than whether it's in your borough.

London doesn't have catchments. Admissions are complicated!

Banding tests - everyone needs to sit them and then they offer places in each band. It is meant to keep the intake more representative of the whole population. You would need to find out how/when you register for the test but don't need to prepare.

Faith schools - if they don't fill all their places, they will offer on distance but often they don't get to that.

You could consider posting your rough location and people may be able to help with specifics. I'm not sure about the book/website discrepancy but it might be to do with the LA e.g. if you live in Lambeth you can apply to schools nearby in Southwark but they aren't run by Lambeth so not in their booklet.