Primary school admission form... Please help!!

[MuddledMe]

I posted this in Primary Schools as well so apologies if you read this twice...

I know I'm a dunce but please can someone clear this up for me. I am under the impression that the order you put your six selected schools in on the admissions form (2011) purely affects the way in which you are offered them but not your chances. As I understand it, the schools do not see which position you put them in and the only time this list will come into play is if you get accepted at more than one school (in which case you'll be offered your highest choice). Am I right or wrong? If I put my most likely school sixth and the least likely but slightly preferred schools 1st to 5th will I affect my chances of getting school six? Sorry if this is confusing! Hope it makes sense to someone as finishing application tonight and having a panic!

You're right.

Your details are sent to all the schools you've named on the form. They consider your application according to their admissions criteria and then tell the LEA yes or no. If you get offers from more than one school, the LEA will pass on the one from the school which is highest up your preference list.

That is why it's important to think clearly about the order in which you list the schools. If you are including long shots it may (but I'm only saying may) be better to put them higher up the list, because if you put your dead cert school at number 1, you won't get an offer from any other school even if they would have offered you a place.