Year 3 application - distance and preferences

[therewillbelight]

We are moving house and will be applying for a year 3 place in September. The LA’s vacancy checker shows all nearest 6 schools to our new house don’t have any space for the old Year 2 albeit data were from March pre lockdown. School 7th from the house has spaces but we don’t like the school. We like school 8th from the house more than some other nearer schools.

So we intend to put in schools 1st, 2nd, and 8th from the house. I know for year 3 ICS no longer applies so fingers crossed.

My question is: LA can see I put in school 8th from the house, can they assume that we are OK with that distance and give us school 7th which is well under subscribed across all year groups? I can imagine LA wants to fill undersubscribed schools and reduce pressure at oversubscribed schools.

I know we should always put schools in true preferences, which are those shown above, but just don’t know if we would be given what we don’t really want.

Many thanks

If 7th school is the closest one with spaces as you say (and not a huge distance away, so far that it would be unreasonable to make you travel that far), then you will likely be offered a space there - nothing to do with whether you had listed 8th school or not, but simply because it is the closest with a space!

If 8th school is listed as 3rd preference and there are spaces and no waiting list, you should be offered a place. However seek advice from admissions as areas differ.

If any of the schools you list as preferences have a place available it must be offered to you. However, if none of them do the LA will offer a place either at the nearest school with places available or, if that is an unreasonable distance away, the nearest school best able to handle an additional pupil. You could be offered school 7 but, as a previous poster says, that is nothing to do with whether you listed school 8.