Late admissions and choice order. Does anyone understand the process?

[TheRealAmandaClarke]

Help wanted please
I have to make a late application for primary school for DS.
I have three choices.
I know which school is the first choice for him to go to but it is slightly out of catchement.
I a ok with him going to the catchment school, but really keen for him not to be allocated a place at another specific local school (not sure if its in catchment but I guess the least popular schools are the ones with spaces).
Does anyone know whether It jeopardises a placement at a second or third choice to list a preferred school that is out of catchement? i guess i mean, if he doesnt get his first choice does that mean he could miss out on the second choice and gets dumped in the unpopular school?
Thanks.

No it doesn't. You will be considered against the criteria for all the school on your list regardless of the order you put them in. The order only comes into play if you are within the cutoff point for more than one school. In that situation they offer a place at your highest ranked school and remove you from the list of the others.

What is more likely to be a problem is the late application. Your application will only be considered after all the on time applicants have been placed. If all of the schools on your list are full by that point you will be offered a place at the nearest school with an available place and put on the waiting lists of the ones you listed.

No it doesn't do any harm to put an optimistic first choice in. Put the schools you want, in the order you want them, but put a realistic school as at least one of your three choices in order to minimise the probability of being allocated the school you really don't want. Consider the size of the school and their popularity to decide what's realistic.

How old is ds? Unless it is a standard entry point the concept of choice is more restricted as the in-year application process applies.

Great. Thanks everyone.
Ds is 4. This is his reception application.

yes it is true that as a late application your application will only be considered after the on time applications, not good news.

BUT after offer day, should you be put on waiting lists your application will be considered with all the on time applications who are on waiting lists. better news.

AS a late application your application will not be considered until after all the on-time applications have been considered. As such you will go on the waiting lists for the 3 schools you have put on the application form but the preference order will have no bearing on any allocation of places.
Given that you are a late application it is quite possible that there will not be any places at any of the schools you prefer. So as a back up plan I would also start looking at other schools in the area as you may well get offered one of these.

Its very frustrating. The application is late because of a house move. Grr.

Check the school admission criteria very carefully. Whilst the cut off date for on time applications is the 16th January, many LAs accept that people do move house in the period between January and April. Many have a later cut-off date providing the person can prove that they have moved house into the area. I also know that some are quite flexible on the later cut off date and will accept a late application as being an on-time application providing that you can prove the move has happened.

Thank you.

Admission - Are they really allowed to do tat ? I thought there was no circumstances where a late application would be treated as a on-time application.

Yes they are. Each LA can make its own rules on late applications. Some treat all late applications as late. Some allow late changes to an on time application. Some allow late applications for people moving into the area.