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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:
higgle · 25/01/2014 15:13

I only put one secondary school down, we intended to move if we didn't get it.

HSMMaCM · 25/01/2014 15:18

One of our local schools had a year where only siblings got in and not all siblings had a place. Someone living opposite the school with no siblings did not get in.

AwfulMaureen · 25/01/2014 15:20

I didn't only put one choice down for DD2 despite DD1 being in the school already....I was far to aware that ALL kinds can happen. What if loads of kids in care suddenly needed the spaces? Then I'd be buggered....I put my 2nd and 3rd choices too.

hazeyjane · 25/01/2014 15:33

Another one who only put one down, there is only one school suitable for ds, and if he doesn 't get a statement and therefore a place, then I will HE.

missymarmite · 25/01/2014 15:47

Because there is only one secondary school within a 12 mile radius. To go to another school would involve an hour long journey by bus along very slow rural B road, which I would not be willing to pay for, when the nearest school is only a 5 minute walk away. Likewise, the nearest primary is just a short walk, while the next would involve a car ride at the very least. If I 'choose' a school that needs transport I would have to pay for said transport, whereas if I have a school imposed upon my child at the very least I could argue for free transport.

JennyOnAPlate · 25/01/2014 16:03

It's very risky to only put one choice, no matter how close you live.

At dds school, 45 out if 60 places were taken up by siblings the year she started. There were children living a few minutes walk from the school who didn't get in as a result.

Mumoftwoyoungkids · 25/01/2014 16:06

I'm a firm believer in arbitrage. Cost of filling in all 5 choices is nil. Value of avoiding schools I don't like - high.

Our first choice is our catchment school (which according to the admissions lady has not rejected a catchment child in the 12 years she's done the job) and our second choice is seriously under subscribed (only 40 catchment kids for 60 places) so we didn't go and visit the other choices but we read the Ofsted, looked at the websites etc.

SIL was horrified though - she genuinely believes lots of choices make you less likely to get first choice.

missymarmite does give a good reason though. Not applicable in our case - we live in a city.

cece · 25/01/2014 16:20

I made sure I filled in all spaces on my form. The school I wanted is actually our 6th nearest school. Hence if my dc didn't get in there were 5 nearer schools they may have been given. As I wasn't keen on them for various reasons I made sure I completed the rest of the form with schools that were even further away but within a reasonable travelling distance. I didn't want to be allocated a school I had not stated a preference for.

MrsAMerrick · 25/01/2014 16:25

We only put one choice down for primary and secondary. We live in village with a primary school that also serves 4 neighbouring villages, so several other children would have been turned down before dc1 failed to get a place, and in living memory no child who lives in catchment has ever failed to be offered a place.

Same with secondary, looked after children get priority but the next category down is " child lives in catchment and has attended catchment primary". Then it goes on distance. Our village is nearer to the secondary than three or four of the other catchment villages, so again they'd have to have turned down loads of other children before my two failed to get a place.

Round here, if you are applying for your catchment schools, then you don't put a second choice down. Our catchment primary and secondary are both (deservedly) rated "outstanding"by Ofsted, so some parents who are out of catchemnt apply. I suppose they then put their catchment school as a backup choice.

I gather its different in London though.

tiggytape · 25/01/2014 16:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Plomino · 25/01/2014 16:47

We only put one school down because there were only two schools to choose out of and there was no way they were going to the other one . We had one child already at the desired school, so were gambling on that being good enough to get the other one in, although the criteria has now changed . That said , it was a huge gamble , because at the time, if they didn't get in, then the local authority actually didn't have to then find them a place at all , so we would have been homeschooling or eating beans on toast and paying for private education , which would have crippled us financially .

Original poster
womblesofwestminster · 25/01/2014 16:47

namechanger1979 are there no outstanding schools in your area?

It's a tough decision: convenience vs quality. Here's what I did:

1st choice: outstanding school 20min walk away.
2nd choice: good school literally on the doorstep.
3rd choice: outstanding school on outskirts of catchment.

OP posts:
mummytime · 25/01/2014 16:52

I put one choice for DD2. But she qualified under the sibling rule AND we lived so close that I knew there was only 1 child of the right age who lived closer. It also has a PAN of 60.
For secondary I've put two. The Second is the one her sibling goes to and she will definitely get a place.

namechanger1979 · 25/01/2014 16:57

Ive no idea if there any "outstanding" schools nearby.... Only pn mumsnet do parents agonise over whether a school is good or ouystanding.
We are in a village and if i applied for a different primary for ds3 then it would mean a car journey and not going to the same school as 2 of his siblings. the village school is very much part of the community. Small class sizes and great pastoral care are more important to me than ofsted bollox

Original poster
womblesofwestminster · 25/01/2014 16:57

I haven't got a clue what's going to happen with my application, as it's for DC1. Poor PFB.

THE NERVES!

OP posts:
Original poster
womblesofwestminster · 25/01/2014 16:59

Only on mumsnet do parents agonise over whether a school is good or ouystanding.

There must be a measurable difference between good and outstanding, for Ofsted to issue the award.

OP posts:
JugglingFromHereToThere · 25/01/2014 17:00

I think that's great advice tiggy and these threads can be very helpful to people going through the whole school options process ....

I especially liked your comment "Nothing you can do with the list can improve your chances of qualifying (for a school) because either you do or you don't"

From what I recall you have a lot of experience about all this and often offer people advice on their personal situations too, for example if someone is going to appeal ? IIRC Smile

yorkshirepuddings · 25/01/2014 17:05

I did. DS attended the very small village primary. We live in the village and it was undersubscribed.

For secondary he went to the local comp. We are in catchment and school has more places than children in catchment.

It very much depends where you live. I heard that 97% of children got their first choice secondary school in our LEA . We don't all live in London or agonise over school choices. People tend to send to the local school here.

mousmous · 25/01/2014 17:08

I don't quite get why you get to put down choices at all, when the admission system computer says no assigns the places without taking the preferences into account.
(at least that's what it feels like in my area of london).

whatever5 · 25/01/2014 17:13

I think they do it because they don't really understand the system and think that if they only put one school down they will be more likely to get it.

I know someone who put down the only secondary school she thought acceptable five times on the form (we are supposed to write down five choices). She nearly had a nervous breakdown when her child was offered a place at a very badly performing school miles away instead of one of the okay schools nearby that her neighbours' children went to. It was too late to move at that point so she and her DH had to send their child to a private school which they couldn't really afford.

phlebas · 25/01/2014 17:18

we only put one choice down for dd (secondary) - there was only one local school we were happy with & if she didn't get in we planned to continue to HE her. As it happened she didn't get a place (super-selective) & we ended up applying late to an outstanding comp in an adjacent LA - we were hoping for an in year place to come up at some point pre-KS4 ... in the end she got in (completely unexpectedly) from the waiting list to start year 7.

DanceWithAStranger · 25/01/2014 17:21

mousmous, in our area the system does take preference into account - our first-choice school (which is massively over-subscribed) strongly recommends that people put them first as otherwise they won't get a place.

PenguinsDontEatKale · 25/01/2014 17:26

Dance - if they use preference criteria then they are breaking the statutory admissions code. Section 1.9 from a quick Google.

Preferences are relevant because you will be offered the highest ranked school for which you fulfil the admission criteria, but not because putting a school as a higher preference improves your chances of getting a place.

PenguinsDontEatKale · 25/01/2014 17:26

Sorry, that's assuming you are England and Wales that should say. Not sure about elsewhere.

softlysoftly · 25/01/2014 17:28

I'm confused as to why you all say that siblings get in before catchment?

On our criteria it goes:

Looked after or statemented children
Children with medical needs applicable to school
Children in catchment
Siblings out of catchment
Everyone else

Is that just wales? Head of our chosen school says that they have several parents who have not / will not get siblings into the school this year. That's why once DD1 is in we can't bloody move house!