Got last choice secondary school, hate it, - turn it down?

[TeenToTwenties]

Click bait sorry. I haven't got a child starting secondary. I only have a lay interest in this from reading the boards over the years.

Of course I and anyone else would be totally unreasonable to turn down my offered school unless I already have a place at a private school or I really would be willing to home educate

Accepting an offered school does not impact your chance of a successful appeal.
Most areas you automatically go on the wait list for higher preferences but check rules for your area.
You can get appeals advice on the Secondary education board.

Those numbers don't seem surprising to me, lots of children sit the test for each available place. It'll vary but my nearest grammar school has around 2k applicants for 180 places.

That really isn't how it works.
We put down X and Y and Z and ended up with A.
Because we didn't hit the criteria for the first 3 but A had spaces
If you don't meet the admissions criteria for your choice(s) you'll be offered whatever is available so if your one choice is oversubscribed anything could happen.

Probably because Grammar schools are only in a handful of places. Some areas have schools that are called Grammar schools because that is their name. If you are out of the catchment area you take the test and if they have a few places for the brightest pupils. The rest are just for those that happe to live nearby

Also Grammar schools aren’t for everyone. I know a few people who left the grammar school or turned down the grammar school because they knew what they wanted to do and going to a grammar school would have held them back.