Didn’t get into any choices, placed into Catholic School - help

Again, that's only because they are socially selective.
Again, plenty of research on that.
Again, the infamous London Oratory, which was defeated in court because its admission policies were ruled discriminatory and unfair, is a perfect example of that.

Pretending to believe in one of the multiple deities worshipped on this planet, pretending to believe that a priest turns a wafer into the body of a deity, and believing in one of the ca. 40-50 denominations of Christianity do not make you a better parent or student.
If anyone disagrees, I'd love to hear why.

We're not catholic but the Catholic schools in our city are highly.sought after and generally above average in terms of behaviour and academics. We are in the Midlands but sounds like it's a wider trend.

Check the GCSE results. You may find out that the Catholic school has way better results than non catholic that you preferred.
Bear in mind that Catholic schools in UK are usually better, with great ethos and kids behave better overall. These are not nun convents but only slightly religious schools. Many parents go to great length to secure the place in such school

I never said OP did. Anyway it was rather rhetorical.

Rather unfair, as OP has said nothing about ofsted or results, only faith.

firstly, are you on the waiting list for the 3 you did put on the form? Make sure you are on all 3 waiting lists.

There is always lots of movement - how far are you from each school?

I wonder if this would have been so upsetting and uncomfortable had the catholic school been outstanding/sought after/over subscribed😀

Yes. I think the poster maybe didn't investigate the system enough. Tough but there is movement especially in London.

well, kinda.

But she says federation, not feeder, and that doesn’t negate my first point that a secondary can have several feeder primaries.

And my second point (as per PanelChair above) is that people often say catchment as a shorthand, rather than there being a formal defined area (to note - even if there is a formal catchment, distance may well be a tie breaker even within catchment if the school is oversubscribed)

the poster says this in the first post.

Most schools in London do not have a catchment, but admit based on distance.
In practice, when people say the catchment was 1,000 metres, they mean that the maximum admission distance was 1,000 metres, but that's not fixed and it can vary from year to year.

Some schools have priority zones.

We cannot really say anything until and unless OP clarifies

1. Not all schools will have feeder primary schools and those that do may have several, meaning a limited number of students are prioritised from any given feeder
2. People often use catchment loosely to mean a nearby school rather than one with a fixed set of postcodes forming its set catchment area

I can't understand how you did not get your 1st choice if you live in the catchment and your child attends a primary school in the federation. There must be an error somewhere. The authority's or maybe yours?

OP, where in London are you? Some councils and schools publish how much the waiting lists moved between March and August in the past. That is no guarantee but gives you an indication. Some don't.
Eg maybe you are 1500 metres from the school you want, and the maximum admission distance was 1300 in March but 2000 by August. It can happen. Look into it

@Spirallingdownwards
From my experience many of the Catholic schools are better and there are usually plenty of non Catholic parents seeking places in them because of that.

Nonsense. There are good faith schools and awful ones. Just south of the river from the very coveted London Oratory is St John Bosco College, also Catholic, which has been undersubscribed for as long as I can remember, because no one wants to send their kids there. You cannot generalise. You need to consider the specific school

Faith schools tend to be more socially selective. That explains most of the "better" results you allude to. Plenty of research on this, eg https://www.secularism.org.uk/faith-schools/faith-school-facts

The National secular Society and Humanists UK fought the London Oratory in Court, and won, because their old admission policy gave priority to obscure criteria like participation in Church activities, which ranged from flower arranging to donations. This was ruled discriminatory and illegal.

Former admissions manager. Every year a number of children in the LA I worked were offered a Jewish school because it was under subscribed including Christian and Muslim kids. A large Catholic school that is under subscribed also gets a lot of Muslim children bring given that as an alternative offer as it is the closest school with a vacancy. We literally don't look at the faith declaration when allocating alternative offers as we're just looking for the closest school with a place.

Can you visit schoool ask how they cater for non catholics? Can they opt out of religious observances? Get on wait list for preferred school . In london there is movement

@FlayOtters interesting, I wonder if you'd give this opinion if a Catholic child had been placed in a Muslim or Jewish school?

Moot point. There are way, way, way more Christian (CofE and Catholic) state schools than Jewish or Muslim one. In a densely populated city like London it is not impossible but practically quite rare that a Jewish or Muslim school ends up being the only undersubscribed school, with no other undersubscribed school in the area.

In councils like Lambeth and Wandsworth about half the schools are undersubscribed, for example! That's due to a combination of demographics (families leaving inner London) and the polarisation from having very coveted schools which everyone wants (many partially selective, but that's another topic) and undersubscribed schools which not enough people want.

Regardless, being assigned a school you don't like, including one of a faith which isn't yours, isn't a valid reason to appeal. And I say this as an atheist who thinks that state-funded faith schools are an abomination

Firstly dont panic.

My son was Y6 last year. We were offered 6th choice school. The good news is that there is always loads of movement. My son was offered 2nd choice school before transition day. 1st choice was aspirational so we would never have got it but you still try.

Accept the place which means you at least have a school. Then check policy on waiting lists. In my borough you automatically go on the waiting lists. After the deadline there is a second round of offers. Most parents applying to independent (private) schools also have a state offer. Once they accept a private offer they then usually reject the state one. This all starts a lot of movement.

After then there is often further movement but it takes a bit of time for everything to filter through.

The council website will tell you how to find out your place on the various waiting lists.

are you ok? I have no idea who 'PanelChair' is or what they're an expert in, I was merely asking the question because it seemed like a situation where unconscious bias could be slipping in - i.e. not wanting to attend a Catholic school is not a reason for appeal because (the assumption is) Catholic schools are 'good' and it's a 'Christian country' - was pondering whether people would still think it wasn't reason for an appeal if a Christian child had been placed in a Muslim school... not sure why your attitude is warranted?

This opinion comes from many years’ experience of appeals and, therefore, many years’ training in admissions law.

Appeal panels look at all the circumstances around the decision to refuse admission to the preferred school, and must consider the best interests of the child, but preferences around faith schools may not be enough on their own to win an appeal.

Yes, she would. Because that’s the process.

Sure, Jan.

okey doke, was just asking the question.

PanelChair is an expert who has posted on admissions threads for many years. So I can confidently say that she is posting objective facts about the admissions and appeals process, not influenced by any given religion or other criterion.