Help me understand secondary school admissions

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

I think I'm beginning to understand how it works (in Englad or just my Local authority I dont know):
Put 3 schools (or 5 depending on area) down that you want and generally meet the criteria to be selected.
Make sure they are in genuine preference order
Looked after children are pretty much awarded the No1 school they choose (totally on board with that)
Then the school uses their criteria on siblings/distance etc
The LA then gives you the name of the school your dc is getting based on getting a place and in order of preference.

So I apply for school A B then C in that order, B and C give me places but the LA assigns me B as it's my preferred choice.

however

What then happens with the place I got at C?

Does the LA go back to school C and say "declined" ..... then does someone else who has been awarded a different school get told "C now has a place"?

You wouldn't get a place at C. Your application is dealt with in order. You get your place at School B - that's the end of it.

Your place at C is thrown back into the pot as soon as the LA system checks your preferences, so it will then be allocated to the next person on their list, who will be told that's their place on 1 March.

For all you know, you may have only got your place at B because someone qualified for A and B and had put A first - no one tells you whether you were 12th or 250th on the original list drawn up under the criteria pre initial allocation.

Obviously once 1 March is past and you are into waiting lists, then you know not only where you are on the waiting list but also if a place comes up!

You are offered B but not C so the next in order qualifying for a place is considered for it instead. If they have been allocated a place at one of their higher placed schools it goes down to next and so on.

You don't get a place at C, you just met their admissions criteria. You are only offered a place at B.
If you turn that down you don't then get a place at C, you get what is left at Z.

Your place at C is thrown back into the pot as soon as the LA system checks your preferences, so it will then be allocated to the next person on their list, who will be told that's their place on 1 March

Ok - so it's quite an active ongoing process? School c are told "next name please"

What happens if I get B, then someone gets A later...but its their second choice so their A "win" opens up...
Do they revisit those who got B and say they can bump them up to their first choice?

@User82517

You don't get a place at C, you just met their admissions criteria. You are only offered a place at B. If you turn that down you don't then get a place at C, you get what is left at Z.

I know the LA wont physically offer me a place at C. I understand that.

What I mean is, during the process, behind the scenes, schools B and C dont know what other schools I got - they are just both happy to offer a place.

The LA then assigns me the place at B, so do they go back to C and say "that person hasnt been awarded this school, give me another name"?

Everytime a place opens up, its offered to the next person on the list, unless they have already got a higher preference

@User82517

You don't get a place at C, you just met their admissions criteria. You are only offered a place at B. If you turn that down you don't then get a place at C, you get what is left at Z.

This

The LA holds the final lists, not schools.

The school dont give the LA the names when places become free, the LA do the deciding and assigning and maintain the list of applicants.

School c are told "next name please"

It's done by computer software at the council!

Yes precisely - that's what I meant by saying you don't know where you were in the original ranked list, there may well be people "above" you ranked against the criteria, but they have qualified for a higher preference too so get offered that.

It's not literally going back to the schools - it's a computer which will just keep working away until everyone has a place, based on all the applications to a particular school (no matter what preference they were) being put in one long list in order. And then a computer working down them!

The LEA computer is doing it all simultaneously and quickly

Everyone who applies is ranked, the school don't just return a list of those who got a place as they don't know your preference order. They rank everyone who applies, then the council allocates the places based on that, they don't keep going back to the school. Schools just get given a list on 1st March saying who has been allocated a place.

Ok.

So does the software make it possible that your name could be drawn for more than one school on your list? Then you get allocated the preferred one?

Perhaps for a millisecond

based on all the applications to a particular school (no matter what preference they were) being put in one long list in order. And then a computer working down them!

So how do they order the list?

If my name is at 3000 of 3000 applicants because I just happen to be at the bottom of the list then I dont get any of the schools I've chosen - even if I do meet the criteria.

The LA handle all of it, the schools don't have any sight of the names until after the places are allocated.

If somebody declines the place at school B, then that place is opened up to the next person who meets the criteria. If that person has already been allocated at school C, then they then have to decline the place at school C and the LA offer that place to the next person who meets the criteria.

But that only happens after places have been allocated and families notified which school they've got.

Yes and I'm on about during the sorting process

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

based on all the applications to a particular school (no matter what preference they were) being put in one long list in order. And then a computer working down them!

So how do they order the list?

If my name is at 3000 of 3000 applicants because I just happen to be at the bottom of the list then I dont get any of the schools I've chosen - even if I do meet the criteria.

Here, that would mean you get allocated to the school with spaces left, even if it wasn't on your preference list. It happens frequently, every year.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

based on all the applications to a particular school (no matter what preference they were) being put in one long list in order. And then a computer working down them!

So how do they order the list?

If my name is at 3000 of 3000 applicants because I just happen to be at the bottom of the list then I dont get any of the schools I've chosen - even if I do meet the criteria.

What do you mean bottom of a list? Lists are ordered in school criteria priority. Obvs someone will be at the bottom of a schools list if they put them on the form, but that person may well be at the top of another list, so their bottom rank would never actually happen as they'd never be on that schools list once the button has been pressed.

Just because you happen to be last on the list of all y6 students in the LA for nothing other than coincidence?

What if School C was next door to your house but by the time the computer got down to your name, school c was full, with the last spot going to the kid at 2999 on the list, even though they live 3 miles away?

What I mean is, during the process, behind the scenes, schools B and C dont know what other schools I got - they are just both happy to offer a place

That's not how it works.

The schools have no input...just the LA.

So theres a list of each school on the computer programme? And your name is on each list of the schools you chose? And how far up that list depends on how closely you meet the criteria?

Oh you mean if you're not ranked at any of your choices? You remain on the waiting list for those choices, but in the meantime you'd be allocated a place at a school that still had vacancies after the process of allocating had happened.