I don’t want my second choice school

[pyraa]

I am unsure DS will get his first choice. I just don’t like the school I put down as second, and I think it’s unlikely he’ll get into his third!

So … what do we do then? Help?

Hmmm - pay to go private? or move?

I have been looking at a prep school. The problem is we have another child, and both of them there would be awfully expensive!

Why did you put it down as second choice if you don't like it?

This. You should have put your third choice as your second if you prefer it.

How far down the wait list for your first choice are you likely to be? You could start at the one you don't want and then move if a place is likely to come up at your first choice.

I liked it when I looked around but it’s so so small, only five children in current reception class.

Thank you. I’m not sure there’s a lot of movement but it’s worth a try.

You've got a few options if that happens, but accept the offered place in the meanwhile anyway.

1. Go onto the waiting lists for schools 1&3 plus any other schools you might prefer.
2. Find out which schools in your area still have places after offers have made and see if there are any that you haven't previously considered that now look a better option.
3. Appeal, though for infant class size appeals you need to be able to demonstrate that either an error was made in the Admissions process (eg they measured the distance to your house incorrectly) and that that error cost you the place, or that the decision making was totally unreasonable. The bar is very high and the likelihood of a successful appeal in those circumstances is very low. You won win an appeal on the basis that you don't like the offered school.

4 Private school

5)Home education

You may find that school 2 is actually OK once you start though. Presumably you had reasons for expressing a preference for it in the first place. Maybe focus on the positives and see how it goes? Unfortunately in some areas there are far more families who want to go to particular schools than there are spaces and not everyone can get what they want, but whilst that's disappointing and can feel like the end of the world at the time, plenty of kids do fine in schools that weren't their first preference. Try not to think the worst at this stage.

To me that would be fantastic. He will get so much attention from the class teachers. I worked as a TA until a few years ago and reception classes with 20 plus children aways strike me as way too big

Thanks @MrsAvocet , that’s such a detailed answer.

It isn’t just individual attention though - it’s social interaction with others. Plus they don’t have a class teacher which is a big concern for me.

Pick your favourite and just send one? (Im kidding)

A suspect a state school with only 5 children per class won’t be open for much longer.

Probably but then it’s still ‘where to send them’.

Do you mean 5 per year and its mixed year classes?

They do have mixed year classes but have decided to teach reception separately which isn’t great for social development. That’s what has really put me off.

What were the entries for choice number 1 like last year? How far down the list of priorities did they get. Last year was low birth rate, as is this one, locally it's very much affected siblings (maybe people didn't want to throw another child into the mix during covid) - so it may mean your top preference is more likely.

Check what your third choice school looked like too, you might be able to walk into a space if you're lucky. You probably won't be put on their waiting list if you get choice 2 so may need to add yourself manually.

There will be some waiting list movement with people moving or going private so always worth a chance.

I wouldn’t send my DC to a school with only 5 in the class, their choice of friends would be so limited.

Start looking at other schools, once you know if they have spaces then you can apply. Get your DC on the waiting list for 1st and 3rd choices if they don’t get in.

If small class sizes are an issue, then perhaps the local prep school wouldn't be the best option. Their class sizes are often much smaller than mainstream schools.

There are definitely more than five children in the prep school classes!

@pyraa It's not always guaranteed, there were only six in the reception class at the school we considered for our DC.

Then we wouldn’t go with that school, would we!

You will now have to wait and see. You won't get allocated third choice if there is a place at second but you can go on waiting lists.

I think it’s unlikely we’d get the third choice even if it was second, it just all seems to be a bit of a mess as there aren’t really any ‘good’ choices (apart from first choice.)

As others have asked - based on last couple of years of admissions stats, where do you anticipate you'd land for preference 1?

edited - preference not choice

Hard to say, it seems to have a surge in popularity but only has ten places and we’re at the bottom with no siblings and not in catchment.