How the school choice system works?

[121gigawatts]

DD1 due to start reception September 2025. We currently live in a village, on the outskirts of a city, literally just over the border (different council/borough) When putting the 3 choices of school down for DD1, we decided first choice for a large primary school which is rated excellent but within the city we border. It's on the same route to work, about 4 miles from us and we do a few activities in the same area.

Second choice is the local village school, a small one class per year school which is rated good.

Third choice is a school in the next village under a completely different council/borough again, but close to her current childminders.

She currently attends a pre school two mornings a week, which is in the village but not part of the school, and today Dd's nan got speaking to one of the teachers that works there who knows my DD. She told this lady that the village school was not my first choice and explained why. The lady told her that it was likely we would not get first choice as it's out of our area and extremely popular and we would not get second choice of village school either as they like people to have it down as their first choice. Apparently, 11 children from DD's pre school are going there (or have it down as first choice) It's unlikely she will get third choice as it's a church school who ask for attendance at the local church or a letter from your parish. Whilst my child has been christened and attends services occasionally, we are not regular attendees. I just put the third one down as I know it's a good school and know the area. The lady Dd's nan spoke to said it was likely DD would not get any choices and end up in a school across the border which is actually our closest but technically in the neighbouring city and it's one I really don't want her to go to.

My question is, how does the system work, do schools really reject pupils if it's not been their first choice!? In my mind I thought that it was unlikely she would get popular city primary school 4 miles away and would just get given second choice of village primary school and I was OK with that. I can login and change village school to first choice as it's not reached deadline for submission yet. I know of one person who's child did not get any of their parents choices but they do not live in our area. Is it common to not get any of your 3 choices and placed in a random school elsewhere?

If other people have put your second choice as their first choice then yes they will get placed above you. Check the radius your city school has accepted people from in the last year. If it's less distance than you live then discount it and put the village one first. Otherwise you risk ending up in no man's land.

The lady is right.

you could end up with a school miles away and pay for a taxi.

That’s not true. Schools don’t know which order of preference you’ve put them. They will allocate schools according to their admissions policy (and you can get a directory each year showing the basis on which the last pupil was admitted). Preference only comes into play if you are eligible for more than one of your choice in which case they’ll offer you the one your ranked highest.

To explain further.

Local village schools take them in order of allocation.

Usually, looked after children, siblings - these can be half the allocation, then 1st choice on distance - there are usually other criteria inbetween.

Now the school 4 miles away will do the same - if it’s popular - you won’t stand a chance.

You’ll be given what’s left - which could be anywhere

Yes, unfortunately, because the council tries to give people what they want, so gives places to those who put the school as 1st choice, if and after they've met other criteria such as distance/siblings/care orders/church.

It means that all other criteria being equal, someone who put it as first choice gets offered a place before someone who put it second.

You might get a place, but it depends on how many people live closer and put it first.

They're treated with equal preference by the schools - but if you don't come high enough up the list for your choices on distance to be offered a place at any of them, you'll be offered anywhere that has a space, rather than be left with nowhere at all.

School allocation is a mathematical calculation based on admissions criteria. If someone else put your second choice as their first choice, but you didn't get your first choice and are higher in the admissions category, say on distance, for your second choice over the person who put it as their first choice, you would still get preference. If you do not meet the criteria for your first choice, this is eliminated and then it goes down the list.

So some PPs are not correct.

The only relevance of preference order is if you qualify for a place at more than one school. Then you will get the one you place first.

Putting your local school second will not make any difference to the likelihood of you getting a place – unless you are offered a place at your first choice school.

So - supposing you are not close enough to the first pref school to get a place; but you are (say) 500m from second pref school; someone else has listed that school first pref but lives 1km away (I am assuming distance as the main criteria after LAC, EHCP etc) - you will get the place before the 1km away person.

Ignore anyone who says otherwise. They are wrong. If you prefer the 4-mile away school, even if it's a long shot, then list it first.

So @dannimay and @Dragonsandcats are correct and some others are not. DW @121gigawatts you are all good as it stands (tho I would not personally pick a primary four miles away)

Don't listen to gossip at school gate about stuff like this!

It's really interesting how many people don't understand the system. From the replies on here, it seems to be about 50% getting it right.

It's worse to hear that people within schools are also giving the same wrong advice.

Agree 100% with this. There is a lot of misinformation out there so ignore PPs or others who say otherwise.

Two good rules to go by

1. Always put in order of your preference not likelihood of getting in, so you are offered the one you most prefer.
2. Make sure you have at least one school on your preferences that you are likely to get into so you don't risk missing out on all your chosen schools.

Check with your council if you’re not sure but @clary and @dannimay and others are definitely correct.

The admissions criteria are clearly laid out by each local authority. That is the only thing you should be relying on to check how it works. Not what someone says at the school gates. Schools have no idea what order of preference you've put them in.

I seem to remember there being an issue locally where at the open evening some heads had said you needed to put their school first to have any chance of getting in. That is utter rubbish and I hope they go into trouble for it.

The misinformation on this thread is frightening.

do schools really reject pupils if it's not been their first choice!?

No! No! No!

If you are in England the ‘equal preference’ system is law and applies to every local authority.

Schools can only admit according to their admissions policy. Usually looked after / siblings / distance. And the applications for each school are ranked in order as to how they meet those criteria, no matter whether that school was top or bottom on your list of preferences .

Then the LA allocates you the school that can admit you that is highest up your list of choices.

If none of the schools you list can offer a place under their criteria (because you live too far away or whatever) the LA will offer you a place at a school that has places left

It makes no difference what borough it county a school is in, the admissions criteria are the only way they can allocate places. The admissions criteria are published in the schools website.

So:

Put the schools down in the exact order that you prefer them.
List at least one school, in last place if it s not your preferred school , that you are really confident you would get a place in according to their criteria.

Teachers play no part in admissions processes and often seem to not understand the system

Also a place in the nursery has no bearing on the Reception admissions in state schools.

@whydoihavetowork and @Quakingteacup your info / advice is quite simply wrong

Sorry. I was mistaken — I was told my incorrect info by school staff, too! There must be a lot of confusion.
Sounds like you don't need to worry at all, OP. Hope you get one of your top choices.

^THIS!!!

Those who say that schools give priority to those who make them first choice are wrong. Any school that did so would be breaking the law. And, just to make sure, when the LA sends schools a list of those who have applied for places, it doesn't tell them whether applicants made if first, second or third choice.

It is possible you will miss out on all three choices and be allocated the nearest school with places available. However, if you miss out on the village school it won't be because you made it your second choice. It will be because there were too many applicants who were higher priority than you on the school's admission criteria.

If we could adjust the notion that parents are making a choice about schools it would be of benefit.

Parents select preferences for schools, based on several factors and should not regard their preference as a choice, which can have different implications.

Wow, thanks all for these replies. @clary, I am going to go with your advice and stick with my current ranking on the application. The only reason I applied for the one four miles away is because we are likely to move closer to this school in the next couple of years and it is an outstanding school. We currently live by my parents however, they are planning on moving and downsizing and we have decided that we would not live here if it wasn't for family being close by. It is also on the route to work. I do think DD doesn't stand a chance on getting in anyway because of distance but just thought I'd give it a shot. I just didn't want it to end up that she didn't get into local village school because of my preference.

we would not get second choice of village school either as they like people to have it down as their first choice

this is just not true

We would not get second choice of village school either as they like to have it down as their first choice.

Just to add to this this - there is no personal element to school allocation whatsoever. Not sure who 'they' is, whether you mean school or council, but if it's the council, there isn't one lonely person sifting through the applications noting who has put which choice as first or second. As said previously, it is a mathematical calculation, no one sees order of list - if you haven't met the criteria for first, it disappears then on to second, if you haven't met criteria for second that disappears then onto third etc...if you are closer in distance to your fourth choice than someone who put that as their first, you would still get preference!!! (Assuming there is no sibling/adopted that might be higher in criteria etc...)
Any other way or personal element is actually illegal. There are faith admissions that require submission letters but again this all goes through the admissions criteria system.

Thanks @dannimay the lady said the school know who has put down them as their first choice but obviously I now know this is incorrect information. The third school we have chosen says they may require a submission letter but I haven't added anything. The village school is also a faith school, however DD was christened in the church that is part of the school and they don't ask for any supporting documents.

That's usually because of the numbers kicking off at offer day (and then appealing, which costs a lot of money and time) that they haven't been offered a place when it was their lowest preference.

No, the schools do not get to prioritise those who listed them first choice.

I wish people would stop repeating this as though it were fact.

Do you only get 3 choices, OP? If so and you are unlikely to be offered 3rd choice because of faith criteria, you may want to try and identify another school you would have a chance of being allocated that you would be happy with. But it sounds likely you will be offered 2nd choice if there are sufficient places for those who live in the village. You should be able to look up details of prior year allocations on LEA site - will likely show furthest distance allocations.