Primary school preferences - what’s the best approach?

[BingGetInTheSea]

Wanted to pick your brains about what the best approach to primary school preferences is, as our eldest is due to start in September and we’re unsure how much trust to put in the system!

Here’s what we’re thinking of doing currently:

1st choice: School A. 2.5 miles away as the crow flies, Ofsted Outstanding & very oversubscribed (BUT we know someone on our road who got in two years ago, so they do consider applications from our area)

2nd choice: School B. Our nearest primary school, Ofsted Good, also oversubscribed. Would almost certainly get in if we put this as our first choice, as we live so close to it.

3rd choice: School C. Our second-nearest primary school. Ofsted requires improvement. Slightly undersubscribed.

We’ve seen and liked all three schools, but 3rd choice is a distant 3rd, and first choice is REALLY lovely.

What concerns us is that if we put School A as our first choice, and don’t get in (not unlikely), we’ll be last on the list to join School B, our second choice, which is also oversubscribed.

Does it actually work like this? Do schools allocate all the first-choice applications first, and then move onto the second choice applications afterwards (or not, if they’re already full)?

If so, are we better off just taking the risk-averse route and putting School B as our first choice instead?

Interested to hear everyone’s thoughts - especially from anyone who works in school admissions!

Thanks

No, it doesn’t work like that. Put the schools in the order you like them. If there’s no space in school A, you will be considered for school B the same as if you’d put it first or second, people who put it first don’t get priority.

No, it does not affect your chances of getting school B if you put it second. You will be ranked according to their criteria, no matter what. Good luck!

The order you put them in makes no difference. Just put them in order of your preference.

That’s great news, thank you!

The answer I was hoping for! I think we might have got a BIT too into our heads about this!

As everyone else has said it doesn’t work that way. The methodology for matching is school centric not child centric.

The way it works is as follows:-

1. For each school every family that has put that school on the list will be ranked according to their selection criteria. So at this point you will be 47 for School A, 23 for School B and 19 for school C.
2. Each school then takes the top X pupils on their list where X is the number of spaces. At this point some children will have 0 spaces whilst others could have 3.
3. The computer then checks to see who has more than one school place. So if each school had 30 places then you would have school B and C. It then cuts off the list anyone who has a place in a school that they would prefer. So you now “lose” your place in School C (but you don’t care because you have School B.)
4. Everyone now shuffles up the lists. So you are now 37th in School A and 19th in School B.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 over and over and over and over again.
6. Eventually there are no children left with 2 or place places and the music stops and you get your school.

Does that make sense?

As above, it doesn't work like that. Schools actually have no idea who has applied until they receive a list of their allocations in April, and they'll never find out what number preference they were on your list unless you reveal it to them (although a declined place is usually a sure sign you we're their first choice, unless you have moved house since applying and that is the obvious reason for declining 😂 ).

Put school A first if it's your favourite. It sounds unlikely you'll get it to be honest, but not impossible. It doesn't matter where you list school B, if it's your closest school with a place and it features somewhere on your list you'll get it if there isn't a place for your child at school A. It doesn't matter where you list it in your preferences, there is no weighing on preferences. If you lose out on school A you go into the pool of considerations for school B automatically and will be considered based on their admissions criteria (distance from school, sibling links etc). Even if someone further away from the school to you puts it as their first choice, you will be given priority on distance. Likewise if someone who puts it as their 3rd choice lives closer to it than you do, they'll have priority.

Edit - @Mumofteenandtween was posting at the same time and has explained it so much better! 😂

This is exactly the kind of explanation I was hoping for, thank you - and @BoleynMemories13 too!

Thanks guys, you’ve massively put me at ease.