What are the chances to get the secondary school I want even though we are closer to another one?

[TransitionPrimarySecondary]

So we are 20min away by walk from Highgate wood school, in comparison to Greg City academy, 8min away

I am def not going to put Greig city academy even as my last option

I did check the catchment area for HWS over the last few years and we should be ok with it, any chance that we are given Greig city academy even if it is not in our application?

There is a chance, yes. We got none of our preferred schools and were given an absolutely awful school, which was our nearest school.

In most LAs if you don't get any of your choices, they'll give you the closest one that still have places after they've done all the allocations based on preferences. This is why it's usually recommended to put your closest, as a bad school nearby is better than a bad school miles away. Only you can say if your closest is so bad you'd be willing to risk this.

Have you looked at the local authority info to see the furthest offers the school made last year? You should be able to find out.

I would still put the nearest school as your last choice, otherwise you may get allocated the nearest with a space which could be a long difficult journey and a truly awful school, at least your daughter can walk with friends locally 8 minutes away.

Both are Good, and Greig has better attainment and progress 8 scores than HWS. What is it that makes if so awful that you don't want to put it even last on your form?

Last distance offered for secondaries in London (other than a select few) has been widening for the past couple of years due to overall falling primary numbers/ people leaving London etc. I know families a similar distance from HWS to you who didn’t get a place on offer day (got Greig City) and within a couple of weeks had places at HWS.

I am having now mixed opinions. 90% of locals tell me do not let your child go there the behaviour is awful. Just one mum told me that it was an "ok" school. Everyone recommends any other school but that one. I will attend all events and will base my decision on the gov results as well

We did (North of England) We didn’t even put the closer 2 as any of the options. We got the one we wanted which was further away. As did everyone in the class who opted for the further one. As long as you’re in the catchment area, you’ve got a chance.