School Admission Form - help please!!!

[MuddledMe]

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 are correct under the equal preference scheme that is in operation in every LA. For each school a list of applicants is drawn up in admission criteria order (Sibling, distance etc). The LA will then look at all your preferences and offer you the one that is highest on your preferences.
So for example if your first preference has an admission number of 30 and you are 31st on the list you cannot be offered a place. They will then look at your second preference and see where you are on the admission criteria list etc etc etc.
That is why I would always recommend that you put down your local catchment school as one of the preferences, even the 6th preference, as it then gives you a good chance of getting an offer of a place for this school even if all your other preferred preferences do not materialise.

That's certainly how it works in our LA, so I would think that you are correct. Might be worth a call to the council in the morning to double check though.

x posted with admission - who knows a lot more about things than me!

Thank you both. I just had this last minute panic that I'd got my facts wrong. My plan is to put our local school last as historically we would always have got in on catchment, and to put our unlikely, but in a perfect world ideal, schools first. I just got myself into a tizzy worrying that said local school would then decide we were unworthy of a place and we'd be left on the school scrapheap with no place at all! Admissions I am guessing by your name you are an expert so huge thanks for clearing it up! Xx

quick question as an aside from this - it seems that different authority application forms have different numbers of schools you can apply for - i've so far read of people who have 4 choices and this one with 6! We have only 3 choice spaces - but i'd love to have 6 ... (certainly enough schools around us to fill 6 choices!! :(

Bluegiraffe,
You are quite correct different LAs do have different numbers of preferences on their application forms. The admission code says that the form must allow parents to express at least 3 preferences for secondary schools. What it says for primary schools is that the common application form must allow parents to apply for any primary school in their home local authority and to give reasons for their preferences. But as it has to be a common application form for all pupils, by default it has to have at least 3 preferences.

Some places used to take into account where you'd put something on the form, but that was (rightly) stopped. It put people in the position where putting down what they really wanted was a dangerous gamble unless it was their catchment school, because if they didn't get their first choice, they'd then go right down to the bottom of the list for the catchment school because they'd only put it second.

So you might find references to that sort of system if you're googling around this subject, but I don't think any schools are able to do it any more.

Thanks admission - our LA form has the minimum then (typical!), just the 3 - certainly doesn't allow us to apply for any primary school in our LA :-( but also, it doesn't give anywhere for us to express reasons for our choices - should it?
I'm going to give them a ring tomorrow just to check on last years admissions/oversubscribing etc. so might check then.

The reasons for your choices do not play any part in the admissions process. The fact that your LA doesn't have a space for you to give reasons is therefore not a problem, although it may mean they get complaints from parents who think they can influence the process this way.

We can only put 3 down and they don't allow you to put reasons as there's no points. It's all done on admissions criteria.

Did my application today - interestingly, the online form did allow us to specify reasons for preference, whereas the paper form does not.
Realise it doesn't make a difference ... but would be good to have consistency wouldn't you think! Ah well, now the 3 month wait begins!!

I dont think it would work where I live as all schools are over subscribed, but this is greater london.
If I put my closest school 6th, I would have no hope of getting it as someone 1 mile further out than me would get a place by putting it first choice
Likewise, the best school around here is still within a mile of us, but we have no hope of a place, so have to put nearest school first.
Best to check over subscribed rates of schools
Also the birth rate has risen dramatically so there are more kids for same number of school places

Maydaychild - That's incorrect. If you live one mile closer to the school than someone who named it as first preference, you will still be higher than them in the school's admissions priorities (assuming you're both being considered under the distance to school criterion), even if it's your sixth preference. So, you're still more likely than them to be offered a place. If you live closer than the distance at which the last place was awarded last year, your chances of getting a place this year are good (although noting is ever certain).

It's your place in the school's admissions priorities which is important, not where you placed the school in your preferences.

i know what you are saying and i agree, but there are simply too many kids round here within 0.4 miles of a school
last year, the 'best' school had 4 places out of 60 available after siblings. Incredible.
The 2nd choice schools were not possible as they were full on their own criteria of distance.
You do have to live on the doorstep of your nearest school to get a place, regardless of preferences. Situation just gets worse if you want a church school.
and our dumb borough consider distance by public highway so if you live on the wrong side of the train tracks.... disaster.
And I can only see it getting worse with the ever increasing birth rate.
Sorry, got a bit off track OP

MayDay, it's not about "agreeing" with LaVie. Your LEA will be operating this system, regardless of how many spaces are left in a popular school after siblings.

Sure. I know what you mean, Maydaychild, about needing in an urban area to live very close to a school to get a place but it's still about distance to school, not about where you put the school on the application form. Most LEAs have adopted straight line measurement of distance from home to school. Does yours still use safe walking route/public highway?

I know, I'm not lamenting my LEA but trying to explain (badly) that all our schools are over subscribed schools
if you don't live on the doorstep, you dont get your nearest or nearest two or three schools
its common to drive past three schools around here to take your kids to school