primary admissions- do i need to tell them why we want each school?

[krisskross]

the online form offers you the choice to say why you have applied for each school. its not obligatory, it just says you may wish to give the religious or philosophical reasons why you have applied for this school.

I am surprised as i thought the general school application (ie not the supplementary form from church schools) was entirely administrative- not asking your reasons.

Anyone got any advice? Do i need to write an essay about each school choice?

Really?
Our LEA just asks for the name of the school and any supporting reasons (of relevance - which are e.g.medical or statemented /siblings etc.) Anything else is ignored i.e. your personal reasons

The regulations require the LA to have a space on the form for you to give your reasons for choosing each school. It is, however, entirely pointless. Nothing you put in that space makes any difference to the outcome. You can safely leave it blank. Writing an essay would be a complete waste of time. Chances are no-one will read it.

I have just done DD's application and did not put why I chose each school iyswim.

I just listed them in order of preference.

From what I remember of the form we filled in and what I was told when I rang up, it was deemed helpful to note in 'reasons' anything relevant to published admissions criteria-e.g. if you were applying on faith or sibling grounds. You still need to provide necessary proofs of those grounds, though, so if they are provided then I wouldn't worry if the form hadn't been filled in. And that was only for my LA.

But, no, it would be daft to write anything other than a word reference to those criteria-nobody will care about why it is the best school for your kid if that reasoning isn't part of the admissions criteria.

I phoned my LA about this. They assured me that they were all read; but that last year none of the 100 words bits made any difference. I was also told it was 'social/medical' even though it says 'religious/philosophical'. I'm struggling with this as i have social/medical reasons that aren't 'extreme' enough to warrant a letter from the profession - which is the other bit on the form. I'd love to know if anyone has had any joy with including their 100 words!?

Imo the only time when that space actually does something is when you can use it to explain why you should be given preference according to the criteria of the LEA (which can of course include religious reasons if you are applying to a faith school).