Question about primary applications

[Firawla]

Hi
I know you can put down up to 6 schools, then they let you know which one you get but when they send the offers will they offer you only one, or you can get offers for more than one and you then chose which to accept?
I'm wondering this because we have 2 schools nearby and ds will be starting nursery in one of them in january, but I'm thinking of putting the other one as 1st choice but once he started in nursery if I was really happy with it may want to keep him there, I'm not sure yet.
So basically if you got an offer from your 1st choice school does that mean thats it, or if you are near enough to both can you get two offers and chose which one you want? which would give more time to make a desicion

Check your LEA website. The exact rules are slightly different depending on where you live. My LEA publishes a 50 page parents guide which gives the answer to your question and lots more details about appeals etc, etc, etc ...

You put your offers in order of prefererence and get offered the highest preference where there is a space avaiable. So if you get offered your first choice you would be expected to accept it. You would only be able to change if there were spaces available at another school (which there might well not be).

If you know that one school is oversubscribed and the other not, you can put the oversubscribed school first on the basis that you would probably get a 2nd chance at the other school as they would have spare places. But this is a risky strategy as you can't guarantee what will happen in any given year.

I think they are both oversubscribed so don't think that idea will work for me, but thanks both of you I think that answers my Q and I will have a look if i can find the 50 page guide on the LEA site

This is not something which varies from LA to LA. As Redskyatnight says, they will only offer you one school. If there is a place at your first choice school that is what you will be offered.

Redskyatnight's second paragraph seems to imply that your chances of getting into a school are reduced if you make it your second choice (although that may not be what she intended). That is incorrect. You have just as much chance of getting into any particular school regardless of whether you make it your first choice or your last choice. So you have to decide which school you prefer and make that your first choice.

The other thing to say other than agreeing with PRH that you need to make a choice is that you will not be able to change your mind after the cut off date for applications without becoming what is termed a late application. This means that you will get no allocation till after everybody else and hence probably neither of the over-subscribed schools you want. You need to make a choice and stick to it.

Need to add that having a child in a nursery class at school A has no effect on whether you will be offered a place at that school by the LEA. If the schools are both oversubscribed and are community schools the main factor for your eldest child is the distance from home to school. If you qualify for a place at more than one school then the LEA will allocate you your highest preference. The schools themselves do NOT know where you have placed them on the form. HTH