To change secondary school after application

[QuicklyGoSlowly]

Posting here for traffic.

My ds will be starting secondary in September, we went and visited all the schools he liked and submitted the applications, however since then he has been in absolute tears as he doesn't like the school he wanted as his first choice for various reasons.

So I was wondering does anyone know if I'm able to either remove or change the position of preference for the school once submitted, or is it worth waiting and filing an appeal with the school he wants if he doesn't get a place?

If you change your order now, it will be treated as a late application and won't be processed in the first round, so don't do anything right now!

When you get your allocation, you can ask to be put on the waiting list for the other school, and appeal if you don't get a place that way. Obviously you would need solid grounds for appeal in terms of why the detriment to your child of not attending would be greater than the detriment to the school of taking another child.

If you change it now, it will be considered a late application.. leave it as it is. Accept the place when you get it and go on waiting lists.

You can appeal and thankfully as its not an ICS appeal you don't need to prove a mistake/legal.issue. But they can be hard to win. Nothing to.lose though.

There is nothing you can do now that you cant do having accepted the place, and gone on lists. Their are subsequent rounds so it's not iver til it's over.

Leave the application as it is. As pp have said if you re-apply now you will be processed as a late application after everyone else and go to the back of the queue.

On offer day immediately contact your preferred school and get your son on the waiting list. Do not decline the place you are offered on 1 March unless you are in a position to go private or homeschool.

Did you name your new preferred school as one of your preferences on your application?

It depends on what his 'various reasons' is? If he liked it at first what has changed? Seems an odd thing for a 10 year old to be crying over.

I think it was just the size of the school and the fact he will have to get a bus and not know anyone, whereas a lot of his friends have applied for the other school which is second on our list which I'm sure he will likely get into anyway, but he's just stressing himself out over it.

Don't follow friends.

They will not be friends necessarily by the end of the term.

They may not even be in the same class.
If friends is the big reason then I don't think it's a particularly strong one tbh.

Is there anything wrong with the other school that means it's not suitable?

He may be given a place at the second listed school anyway, so as pp have said, don't do anything yet. And his thinking may change again by March. Don't panic. Follow the advice here when the allocations come out.

Hiya, no practical advice, but just to let you know my son is also due at secondary school in September and is also having the occasional wobble about which one we've put as top of the list. Same reasons as you, he wants to follow his friends. We have had a few chats now and I've explained that it's good to have separate home friends and school friends in case of a fallout with either set, and that he can still be friends with his primary school friends even if they do go to a separate school. He seems to have accepted this reasoning, maybe it will be useful for your DS as well.

If it helps OP I was in exactly the same position last year. 2 schools to choose from, school 1 was a bus ride away and a few but not as many people from her class in primary going there. School 2 in our town, walking distance and where the majority of DD’s primary class were going. Both good schools with good reputations, but quite different in ethos and I thought school 1 would be a better fit for dd and she agreed.

Of course after applications closed she changed her mind and decided she’d rather go to school 2 as more of her friends were going there. I did phone up the LA and was told exactly what you’ve been told here, to wait and see which she was offered and then try and change it after allocation, otherwise it would be treated as a late application.

In the end we stuck to school 1 and it was definitely the right thing to do. After the first few weeks dd didn’t really hang out with anyone from her primary, she’s got lots of new friends and is very popular. She has ASD and making friends isn’t that easy for her so that’s been a relief. And she still sees her friends from school 2 as they meet up after school and on weekends. I say stick to your original choice, there’s reasons you chose that one and the friends thing will honestly be a non issue once he’s there.

Agree to wait until after results. Are either school generally oversubscribed?