Was I daft to put in a second choice?

[Kardelen]

Unfortunately we have not been given our first choice of primary school ( Reception).

They have offered the second place, and said we will be on the waiting list for our first choice.

Im not happy with the second choice, as it’s further away and have no connections and no one can collect my child apart from me.

i am a working mum, and my husbands health declined since I had applied so he cannot do the schools. I also have a daughter who will be starting nursery in another place so it will be a mission

i hadn’t even applied because I wanted the second choice, but it was merely because I didn’t want to be placed somewhere even further away. This was the second closest school to us.

Now, my neighbours right next to us have applied and got their first choice ( they didn’t put down a second choice). So now I feel extremely daft!

is it true in your experience that if I never had put down another school name I would have got my first choice?!

I will be appealing, has anyone else appealed and got their first choice?

The neighbour also suggested I don’t accept the second offer, as then they may prioritise me for my first choice. is this true in your experiences? Did anyone decline the offer and get prioritised?

or how long was the wait if you did accept the second choice ?

If you hadn’t put a second choice, you’d just have been allocated somewhere you hadn’t chosen at all.

I'm not entirely clear from your post - if your second choice is the second closest school, but is further away than your first choice, was your first choice also your closest school? If so, do you know why you didn't get a place?

Anyway, turning the place you've been offered down won't make you higher priority. Neither would only putting one choice on the form.

No, no no! Your neighbour is talking absolute rubbish. You get no priority whatsoever for only listing one choice, and if you don’t get it you just get put at the nearest school left with places. There is never any advantage to not filling up all your preferences, and you were sensible to put a second choice. You should most definitely accept your current offer and remain on the waiting list for your first choice, as well as any other schools that you now think might work better for you. They were just lucky that their first and only choice worked out for them, but exactly the same would have happened if they had filled all their preferences. Unfortunately, when someone is lucky and only listing one choice works out, they can start spouting the rubbish your neighbour is about that being the reason they got it!

Your neighbour is wrong, you did the right thing and rejecting the offer would be stupid at this stage. This is an official process, not some personal negotiation where you can emotionally blackmail the system.

It’s very clear how they make this decision and not getting your first choice has nothing to do with putting or not putting a second choice. If you had not put a second they would have had allocated you another school which may or may not have been that one. They will not prioritise you if you turn your second choice down as they have offered you a school place.

You did the right thing. Putting a second choice doesn't affect whether or not you get your first choice. If you hadn't put a second choice your child would have been allocated a place at the nearest school to you with a vacancy. In some cases this has been a school miles away.

If you hadn’t put a second choice you would have just been offered a third school. You need to accept the place and stay on the waiting list for your first choice. If you don’t, you absolutely will not be given oriority on the waiting list - you’ll just be given a different school altogether

Your neighbour is stupid and it sounds like neither of you understand how school allocations work. Every year the same daft people claim that not putting any reserve options means the council have to give you your first choice. It’s absolutely not how admissions work. If you don’t get your first choice because more people meet the admissions criteria than you (they live closer/have siblings already there/it’s a church school and they are baptised etc etc) then you will be allocated the next choice that you do meet the criteria for. If you haven’t put a second/third/fourth choice then the council will just allocate an available school to you. Only putting one school on the form is a massive gamble.

If your neighbour got their first choice it’s because they met the criteria ahead of the other people that applied, not because they only applied for one school.

If you don't accept the second choice place, you may end up with no school place. Do you like the idea of home schooling?

Accept the place or they have fulfilled their duty of offering a school and not only will you not get any priority, you might end up with a place at the only school left available and this could be a very long way away.

School applications are a transparent and fair process as far as possible. To game the system, you have to break the rules eg lie about your address. Putting only one school means nothing in terms of priority.

If your neighbour got in then maybe that offer has come down to distance from the school which might indicate you are first in the waiting list, (if there are no other considerations that got them in).
I wouldn’t do anything yet as there is usually some chopping and changing between now and September and you might find you get your first choice by then anyway.

You didn't qualify for your first choice - what you put for your other choices has no bearing on that.

You put a second choice so you didn't end up getting a space at whichever school was left over once everyone had been given one of their choices.
You'd feel even more daft if you hadn't put a second choice and got allocated an even worse school miles away.

Do not turn down the school you’ve been offered.

If your neighbour got in you are likely high up the waiting list and may well get offered a place as people move.

Your neighbour is talking rubbish and has been bloody lucky - they could have ended up anywhere

Did your neighbour request the same school as you for first choice? If so, they may come higher on the priority list, such as siblings, cared for child, etc. Or, as PP said, you will be very high on the waiting list if you are both the same category of priority.

@KardelenWere you on the very edge of the catchment? Are there any other admissions criteria you might not have met? Faith? Siblings?
In any case, accept and appeal as others have said.

She said others she knew only put down one, and got that one.
we pretty much live next to each other so not sure why we wasn’t accepted.

she also doesnt have any other children that attend the school

if you guys have ever been on the waiting list, how long does it usually take? Of course depends on who leaves/moves out but just curious how long you guys had to wait.

also did anyone appeal and be successful?

So sorry, how do I get access to the maps regarding catchment areas?

By putting one, you would have still not qualified for that school and been allocated a random one closest to you after preferences had been reviewed. It is a myth that only putting one is advantageous. By putting a second at least you know that one. Presumably the cut off point for distance is very close by if a neighbour has been allocated it (assuming all else is equal) in which case your dc should be high on the waiting list.

Google

IF you really believe that a mistake has been made then do some research and if there are grounds to appeal do so but putting only 1 school has never ever meant someone has got a school place they otherwise wouldn't have

Waiting list movement is different in different places. Where I live, there's no movement really and I sat at number 1 on the waiting list until Christmas, at which point I moved in order to get into a different school in the New Year. People who live in cities with lots of movement find it all changes very quickly.

Speak to your local authority and find out where you are on the waiting list and the cut off for the last place they issued. It must be close if a neighbour got in and there are no considerations of which you aren't aware.

The only appeal that’s possible is if there has been maladministration and you haven’t indicated that that is the case.

The LA has discharged its duty by offering a school place, so if you turn it down, there is no obligation to find another and anywhere with a space is likely to be further away.

So preference of schools only matters if you would have been accepted at either of the schools and you then get your first choice. If you didn’t put a second choice as other people have said you will have ended up with whichever school has spaces, it still wouldn’t have got you your first choice. You can appeal if you believe the admissions criteria has been applied wrongly in your case, however it doesn’t sound like you have any reason to think that. You can ask where you are on the wait list

If you didn’t put a second choice you could end up with no school at all, it happened to a friend of mine!

Your neighbour is talking tosh. Unless there’s been a mistake an appeal won’t work.

Your letter should explain why you didn’t get the first preference, presumably distance. The council can advise on last offered distance if it isn’t in your letter.