Question for Admissions...

[MuddledMe]

Just a quick question... Does the additional information you can enter under 'reason for preference' on the primary school application form enhance your chances of selection in anyway? We are not applying for faith places, although we are applying to faith schools, so we are only eligible under distance criteria for all our selections.

Thank you for your help! X

No it's not looked at unless you go to appeal. We hoped it would be taken into consideration but for most LAs it's done by computer so they don't even look at it.

no, it has no bearing on it at all. The criteria is set out by the LEA or the school and that is the only info they use.

Agree with others. Even at appeal it doesn't make much difference, although the panel will read it.

I suppose if you put something like 'because we're going to have an address next door by end of March' or because 'ds is currently going through the process for getting a statement' might be relevant, but not much else is really.

I think it is more a way of stopping parents from ringing up to 'plead their case', they can stick it on a form instead and not take up hours of staff time.

Oh, and I once came across:

'because I am adopting a child that already goes there so my child will be a sibling soon'

They got the place btw. Wonder when that will become a regular strategy .

My ds has got into an oversubscribed school. Perhaps I should offer him up for adoption for a large fee

There is no problem with putting something like "we are applying for faith schools because we want our child to be educated in a faith school."
It will not however make any difference to the actual process of places being allocated because this is entirely driven by the admission criteria for the schools in question.
The only slightly negative point of making such a statement is that any appeal panel will have access to the application forms and a panel would be quite within their rights to ask questions relating to what you have put. So if for instance you appealed for a community school it would be a valid question for the panel to ask why this school which is not a faith school (especially if you got allocated to a faith school that you did not want). Saying it has a good ofsted report is unlikely to win over any panel member in those circumstances.

Thank you all. I've decided to go with putting nothing (just pressed send in fact to submit form!). I figured that the only thing I could realistically put would be 'distance to home' and, as you say 'Admissions' I didn't want such a statement to prejudice me if I needed to appeal for a school farther away having been offered a less desirable school closer to home. And so the wait begins! I'm keeping everything crossed for some good news come April 4th next year. Watch this space...

Our LEA says that if, for example, you want a faith school you can say so in the additional information section. Then, if you don't get any of your choices and they are allocating you the nearest school with spaces, they may allocate you a place at the nearest faith school with places even if there is a space at a non-faith (or different faith) school that is closer.