Secondary school applications - how to improve chances of getting school you want

[TeenTimesTwo]

AIBU to point out that out ways to improve chances of getting the school you want?

1. Apply on time, using your own address by 31 Oct
2. Put the school you really want top

That's it.

Then fill up the form with other schools you like or could put up with, ensuring there is at least one school you are as guaranteed as you can be that you will get in.

Things that won't help:

• only listing one school
• listing the same school multiple times
• only listing outstanding schools you have no hope of getting into.

Other things you could have done or have been luck on that would have given you more options but are too late now:

• find religion / meet religious criteria even if you don't believe
• be rich / well off enough to pay for private (flying pigs)
• move house
• have a clever child (a bit hard to guarantee)

Do not lie. It isn't a victimless issue. It is depriving a child who according to the rules should get a place over yours. Plus councils are getting much better at spotting things.

I have a question if anyone can shed light on it for me.

I’ve listed 3 schools :

1st choice. They don’t do it by catchment but it’s a ‘pyramid’ school as it’s part of a trust (2 Infant schools and 2 middle schools)

2nd choice is the other ‘pyramid’ school

(Both of these are a 10/15 min drive)

3rd choice is a school that is within my catchment area

People have said it’s best to put 3 schools down which I have, but then the same people have told me to get rid of number 3 as that one would be offered to me as it’s within my catchment. DC wants to go to first choice school so I don’t know if I should take it off or if it makes a difference?

Hope that made sense?!

TIA

or copy and paste other people's appeals over things like dyslexia (even though their child doesn't have a statement) for a school that has no special reputation for dyslexia provision but is nice white and middle class and gets great GCSE results, etc. So there are several ways to cheat the system.

That would not work with an appeals panel. We'd need evidence of a special educational need, and a report stating why only that particular school can meet the child's needs.

Definitely plenty that try to pull a fast one though!

none of ours do which means you actually have no idea what schools you might get into from one year to the next. We got into DD's primary school but we wouldn't have either the year before or the year after, the furthest distance shrank by about 6 streets. It's a fucking joke.

People have said it’s best to put 3 schools down which I have, but then the same people have told me to get rid of number 3 as that one would be offered to me as it’s within my catchment. DC wants to go to first choice school so I don’t know if I should take it off or if it makes a difference?

No, school 3 will only be offered to you if you name it as one of your preference on the form.

If you don't name it AND the school happens to still have places once everyone else has been allocated then it is likely you will be offered it.

However you stand the risk of that school filloin up with people who have names it and you might be offered a school 10 miles away.

If the school is one like my local school (150 places per year on average 30-50 children apply) then it's probably worth the risk. if not, put it down as your third choice.

Lottie Keep your catchment school at number 3. You would only be offered it if you don't qualify for 1 or 2. There is no way they would give you 3 if you also qualified for 1 or 2.

If you drop 3 and don't qualify for 1 or 2 then they will give you a school that has spaces after all preferences have been taken into account. That may still be your catchment school but if it is full from people who listed it, you could be given an undersubscribed poor school 8 miles away.

LottieLou

Whether you use the third slot onthe form is up to you. It will only be looked art, (filled in or empty) if Dc has not qualified for preferences 1 and 2.

So, if that happened, and there was no place at either of your top 2, what school do you want? Do you want to express a preference (for a school you don't like much, but at least is easy logistically and friends go there) or jus whatever school (up to 45 or so mins journey) that still has places

A HT who is describing an allocation system which takes account of where on the form a school is listed, really needs to be challenged. That is illegal in E/W (the Admissions Code has force of law) and it may cause parents to e the forms in ways that do not actually reflect their intentions (because people ought to be able to rely on what a HT says). I hope someone who has directly heard this will report it to LEA asking then to confirm that the Admissions arrangements for the school are legal (and not as HT describes) and that they will (if a community school) event HT from repeating it, or if not, that they qua co-ordinator for all admissions authorities on their patch, will write to the governors and ask them to restrain the head from romulgating inaccuracues.

Thank you @AlexanderHamilton and @TeenTimesTwo
I will keep it as number 3 and hope that I will be offered my first preference.

Read the admissions criteria and how far down the criteria the school got for the last admission the previous year. If your child is criteria 4 and they never get past 3 there’s probably no point putting it down.
Get music lessons for your child once they’re about 7. Ds got offers from 3 excellent local schools because they give around 10 music scholarship places. He didn’t end up taking them because he passed the entrance exam for the grammar but I would have been happy with any of them.
If your child is moderately bright then enter them for the grammar exams. If you are moderately bright yourself you don’t need a tutor - you can teach any gaps in knowledge yourself.

Thank you @meditrina

Oh yes and as has been mentioned fill as many of the 5 options as you can. They will look to see which schools your child fits the criteria for and then give you your highest placed choice from those. You gain nothing from only putting down one school and if you don’t get in your child could be placed anywhere.

Don't forget to submit by the deadline!

Thank you OP!
The nonesense I've seen on the fb year group is astonishing.

People saying they loveeee the faith school walking distance away. Except they meet none of the criteria to get a place and its so oversubscribed places never get awarded outside the faith criteria! What a wasted slot on the form ey

Just to anyone getting confused, some areas only offer 3 preferences not 5.

*avoid

Also, if you work in the school most will prioritise your application for that school.

(I appreciate this only applies to a few but as the thread is how to maximise how to get in I thought I would mention it.)

AND: fill in the Supplementary Information Form (if there is one) and submit with all the information needed by the deadline!

A SIF is a form that some schools- typically faith or Foundation schools ,or other schools that are their own admissions authority sometimes ask for.

We had to submit a SIF along with our current council tax bill and Child Benefit letter.

These schools , spreading misinformation! The 'Equal Preference System' is law throughout England and Wales, it can't be altered to suit an admissions policy a la babydragon's example!

And the conspiracy theorists - "if you list an undersubscribed local school last the council will allocate you that school regardless of whether your higher preferences can give you a place". Again: against the law, and it doesn't happen. All that little rumour does is put people at risk of not even getting a place at their last choice school - because if it isn't listed, they will fill that school with other people who did list it, if it is their highest eligible choice. And you will be left with he school that no-one listed....

Oh, and anyone who claimed to have pulled some stunt and got a place would have got the place anyway, unless they did something like rent or use a relatives address.

Playground fake news is rife.

I’m not sure whether it’s been mentioned, but make sure you read the admissions criteria. No point applying to a school if you are outside the catchment area.

Few schools actually use the oversubscription criterion for children of staff and, even when they do, it’s usually very tightly-defined (say, children of teaching staff who have worked at least 15 hours a week at the school for 2 years).

No point applying to a school if you are outside the catchment area.

That's a bit misleading, given some areas have defined priority admission areas (ie formal catchment areas). Our school takes ~50% from 'outside catchment' every year.

But agree, probably not much point applying for a school 20 miles away if furthest last distance offered for your criteria is usually 2 miles.

And for the love of all holiness: Keep the deadline in mind!!!!

Also, if you work in the school most will prioritise your application for that school

Which schools does that apply to? I've never heard that before

Patti It's a newish rule that permits schools to do this, the aim is to help with teacher recruitment and retention I think. Though whether 'most schools' have included it, I have no idea.

We had the "if you don't put us first you won't get in" at open evening.

I've got another tip.

If you subcontracted all this to your other half, check they have actually done the submission (can they forward you the email receipt?).

There was a thread one year where a DH forgot to apply for the 11+ exams …

Thanks Teen, that's interesting and not something that I saw mentioned anywhere in my research for applications this year. If it's not mentioned in the admission criteria then presumably I can ignore it. Is that right?