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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Parents who only put one school choice down

191 replies

womblesofwestminster · 25/01/2014 12:05

AIBU to wonder why some parents only put one school choice down when they fill in their primary school application for their child? I've heard several parents claiming to do this. Why put all your eggs in one basket?

Are they that confident their child will get it? Why risk it?

OP posts:
brettgirl2 · 25/01/2014 12:06

I see you live in Westminster. I will put one down for dd2, in catchment sibling at school jobs a goodun.....

MammaTJ · 25/01/2014 12:08

There is one Church school and one non Church school in my town, these are the only first schools here. I did not want my children to go to the grabby, demanding money every other week Church school, so put them down for the other one.

There is only one middle school in this town, I do not want them to travel to school.

There is only one high school, I still will not want them to travel to school.

I will only ever put one school down on their forms.

mycupoffucksrunnethempty · 25/01/2014 12:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

catkind · 25/01/2014 12:08

One friend did this because she physically couldn't get to any other school and planned to homeschool if they didn't get in. Better not to take up an offer that they weren't going to use and someone else might want.

Beavie · 25/01/2014 12:09

I live in a rural area with only one school nearby, we are in the catchment for it so will definitely get a place.

LIZS · 25/01/2014 12:10

Better not to take up an offer that they weren't going to use and someone else might want. The system doesn't work like that though . You would get an offer from somewhere unless you live in a very densely populated area.

RagamuffinAndFidget · 25/01/2014 12:11

We only put one school down for DS1 last year. There was only one school we wanted him to go to so we just put that one. We didn't get a place at first, they gave us a place at a different school, so we went on the waiting list and eventually got a place.

If there's only school you want your child to go to why would you put more than one on the form?

Reincarnatedpig · 25/01/2014 12:12

They are seriously misguided. A colleague put the same school for all choices, I gently pointed out that she could end up with a worse school in a different area, but she was convinced she could beat the system.

WooWooOwl · 25/01/2014 12:13

I did it with dc2s primary application as his sibling was there and it we were almost guaranteed a place.

I wouldn't have done it with a child that didn't have a sibling already in a school with sibling criteria though.

I think people sometimes do it if they know they will go private if they don't get the school they want.

Reincarnatedpig · 25/01/2014 12:15

Meant to say I have sat on primary appeals panels where parents have done this and they have ended up with a school miles away or involving 2 bus changes. It is better to end up in a not do good one locally, than an awful one far away. I live in London so loads of schools but many have small catchments.

Original poster
womblesofwestminster · 25/01/2014 12:15

Ahhh sibling link and the home schooling option. I never thought of those.

Is home schooling really that widespread?

Reincarnatedpig what happened, did she get the place? In my area there are many schools to choose from (including some crap ones).

OP posts:
blackandwhiteandredallover · 25/01/2014 12:16

why would you put more than one on the form? Because otherwise if you don't get your chosen school you will end up with whatever school hasn't filled it's places, possibly miles away.

Whether you put a second choice or not you will still go on the waiting list for your first choice. Why risk a truly awful school miles away?

hippo123 · 25/01/2014 12:19

Because round here you just put down the only local primary school. Everyone in the large catchment area gets in and lots of others outside the catchment area too. The school is rated as outstanding. Not everyone lives in places where a decent school place is like gold dust.

Original poster
womblesofwestminster · 25/01/2014 12:20

hippo123 In my area there is one outstanding school, one good one, and two crap ones.

OP posts:
mycupoffucksrunnethempty · 25/01/2014 12:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Reincarnatedpig · 25/01/2014 12:23

No, unfortunately we can't overturn a decision because the parents just want a particular school. We had one where the Mum had to take the child and the younger two on the tube and bus to get there but there was nothing we could do. She was on the waiting list for other schools so hope she got one closer.

LittleMissGreen · 25/01/2014 12:25

I did with DS2 as I would home-ed if we didn't get the local village school. I had already home-edded DS1 as a different school hadn't agreed with him.

Onesleeptillwembley · 25/01/2014 12:27

We did it for grammar. There was not a chance in hell any of my children were going to the other option. We would have either rented and moved or sold and moved if need be. So there's a reason why people do it. Other 'options' not even worth consideration.

YouTheCat · 25/01/2014 12:30

Many years ago now, but I only put one down for my dd as it had to be the nearest school as her twin had a place in an autism unit and so we would have to wait for his taxi in the morning and make sure we were back in time when he came home.

I knew it wasn't over-subscribed at the time anyway. It wasn't a problem.

People have all kinds of reasons for only putting down one school.

IneedAwittierNickname · 25/01/2014 12:32

I only put one primary school down for ds2, because the only way he wouldn't get in would be if 60 looked after children/statemented children had applied.

crunchyfrog · 25/01/2014 12:33

I did it because there was only one non-denominational school in the area, and I will not have my children sent to a religious school.

LouiseSmith · 25/01/2014 12:34

We live across the road from the worse school. They have had kids run out of school grounds beforehand, where all they did was call the mother. And the parents swear and shout at the school gates. I have put one school which is 20 minute walk from our home. I also stated that if the place wasn't given there he wouldn't be going.

Sukebind · 25/01/2014 12:39

I used to work in the same office as the LEA school application team so I over-heard a lot of their 'phone calls with parents. While some parents (as op-thread) have good reasons for only putting one school down, in our LEA it's never a good idea and most people do it purely because they do not fully understand the system or think they can over-ride it. So, someone will put the same school down 6 times because they think that will ensure them a place. It ends in trouble because if they do not get their only choice (which is sometimes 3 or 4 miles away) they then get upset when they are given a school they don't want which is a less popular school also a fair distance away when there is a school only half a mile from them which they would have got a place at had they listed it. They then have to go on the waiting list for that school.

HandragsNGladbags · 25/01/2014 12:43

Because some people think they will force the LEA into giving them the school that they want, as they don't understand the system properly.

We live opposite an outstanding school and I was going to just put it down on the basis that if we didn't get in we wouldn't get anywhere. My DFriend said that strange things can happen and you should always use your choices otherwise you go in a big pot and can get placed anywhere. So for us it made sense to use the three choices.

JugglingFromHereToThere · 25/01/2014 12:44

People think it will improve their chance of getting that school - but these days, with good robust admissions criteria in all areas I don't think it ever does. I think perhaps it might have worked in some situations in the past. They claim it won't make any difference now, and I think that's generally the case.