How are admissions decided for those who do not fulfil criteria?

[Cillapops]

I have just heard that the school I want DD to attend has been oversubscribed. We have until end April until a decision is made.

We live about 1/2 mile outside the school catchment boundary, I have no other children at the school and DD has no special needs. Therefore we are at the bottom of the pile as we do not meet any criteria.

However, there was also a box to fill in about why you would like a particular school and I feel we had a strong case here. Does anyone know how / when decisions are made regarding these additional comments?

I am sure other people have asked this in the past so apologies for any repetition.

Any ideas anyone??

The comments are basically irrelevant unless you have something to say that would get you under one of the specific admissions criteria - religious, for schools that take that into consideration, or a provable special need to attend a particular school. Just saying why you like the school etc isn't relevant and won't be taken into account I'm afraid.

Did you apply to other schools too?

AFAIK, distance is the most frequently used criteria to use.

So once children in catchment have been allocated places, any remaining places are allocated to children living the closest to the school gates. The addresses are put into software which calculates exact distances, sometimes as crow flies, sometimes walking route, depending on the LA.

I do not think that why you want a school has much weight. eg. You attended the school, the school is close your place of work, rarely sways admissions.

The LEA should have a published oversubscription criteria that they apply in these cases.

In our case it usually comes down to distance from the school, and they way they measure it can vary from LA to LA, but they will publish which method they use.

Comments are usually only taken into account for something like SEN or SN, or Religious preference. Things like childcare and knowing other children don't come into it.

The only thing I could think of in our favour was that DD had attended the local toddler group and pre-school since she was 9 months. They have links with the school and therefore she has met the teachers and been invovled with school events. The pre-school is attached to the local church and she has also attended there with us since she was born. The church has links with the school although it is not a church school.

I suppose it was wishful thinking that this would help her get a place. I just wondered if the extra information was ever considered and would be of any help.

Sorry, nothing you've written there will have any bearing on getting your child a place. If you love the school, you can stay on the waiting list once the allocations have gone out though, in case someone doesn't take up their place/drops out in reception etc.

It is most likely distance to the school gate by the most direct route. However if there are more applications within the catchment than places then sorry nothing you say will count and your dd will be rejected.

Don't give up hoping, there will be some who have applied who are further away from you, so oversubscribed does not necessarily mean you will be last on the list. I would look at the cut off point for the school per last years admissions - in the LEA booklet or the school will have this info, plus ask the school how many applied this year versus last year.

As Patricia says, the comments are irrelevant. The places will be allocated strictly in accordance with the school's admission criteria. The comments you have made will not affect your daughter's chances of getting a place at all.

If you don't get into any of the schools you have named you will be allocated a place at the nearest school with places available. If you have named this school as your only preference thinking that would increase your chances of getting in I am afraid you were mistaken. It doesn't work like that.

On a more positive note, things do vary dramatically from year to year. The school being oversubscribed simply means there are more people naming the school as one of their preferences than there are places. Some of them will live further away than you so you will get priority over them (assuming distance is the tie breaker). Some of them will have named the school as second or lower preference and will get a place at one of their higher preferences, which automatically means they won't get offered a place at this school. So don't give up hope yet.

And, as Patricia says, there is always the waiting list.