Wimbledon/Merton reception admissions

[jctt]

Very soon I will have to fill out my sons application form for reception 12/13. I am somewhat confused about the procedure, and also completely overwhelmed with fear about making the wrong choice. I have lots of queries which I will list below. If anyone knows any answers, I'd be very grateful for the advice.

1. I would like to put St Mary's as no.1 (yes my son is baptised and we go to church). However we live in Colliers Wood and therefore I think his chances of getting in are very slim as we live quite far away. 60 reception places are available, but does anyone know how these are split between Catholics and Non-Catholics? A friend of mine suggested 50/50 but I don't think that can be the case.
2. If we can't get St Mary's we would still like a faith school if poss, simply because it still includes bible study, daily prayers, and various elements of the christian faith we believe in. I have not heard one word from anyone in Merton about All Saints school. I visited recently and thought it was a lovely little school and it seems to have a good Ofsted. Does anyone on here have anything they can share with me about this school?
3. Would it matter if I were to put a Catholic school as no.1 and a CofE school as no.2? Would this make his application based on faith seem 'not serious'? I'm concerned St Mary's (or my priest) may see his second choice and be 'offended' by this??? I know that seems a little far fetched but I wouldn't want his (or our) faith to be questioned.
4. I've heard a lot of local opinions regarding Singlegate. Their 'outstanding' Ofsted is now dated..... what is the consensus on the current state of the school, given that the head teacher is now looking after 2 schools. And that there is also a school expansion in place.
5. Similar to question 1. Can anyone advise roughly what % of non-faith places would be available at Holy Trinity, The Priory and All Saints? My son's application to any of these would fall into the non-faith category seeing as he is Catholic and not Protestant.

I think that's all my questions for now. Thank you in advance for any answers you may have. Xxxx

The first thing to say is that the schools do not know how you have expressed your preference, only the LA know that. Therefore the priest cannot be offended if you put a CoE school as second preference as they will not know.
Secondly looking at the admission arrangements for St Mary RC primary in Wimbledon there are 60 places available per year group, now they have agreed to take more. The admission arrangements are typical RC school, so to have any priority your child needs to be baptised catholic and to have attended mass every sunday for 3 years. Next category is baptised catholic with attendance at church mass but not every week for three years. I suspect that unless you fit either of these two categories then you have little or no chance of getting a place at ST Marys and your friend is definitely wrong in there being a split between catholic and non-catholic.
The Priory has 30 places for faith pupils and 30 open places, which are in effect on sibling priority and then distance to the school from your home. Holy Trinity is the same criteria. I cannot find the admission arrangements for All Saints but suspect it will be similar.
I think given the pressure on places that you also should consider your catchment school, as you do have a chance of a place there. You can put that down as your 6th and last preference and you will still have an equal chance of getting a place there. If you do no put down your local catchment school the danger is that you will not get any place at all to start with and then a very poor school.

I agree with you admission in that all 6 places should be used and that schools do not know the order that they are put in. However, if op has to go to appeal, I'm sure schools find out at that point. Again, it shouldn't make any difference as op would 'potentially' be appealing for the school but the question could be asked as to her commitment to her faith. I hope I make sense and not confusing everything.

h