School choices

[Pandaghost]

Hi
In the process of looking at schools and will need to select 3 choices. The 3 likely choices are all oversubscribed and there are closer schools to our home address (we want a faith school).
Is it possible that we would not get a place at any or do we have to be allocated one choices?

We can't answer that question unfortunately. Although you aren't guaranteed a place at any of them they could offer you a school you've not applied for.

Have you looked at the admission criteria for each school as well as the information about last offer made? This should give you a clear idea of how likely you are to get a place.

No. You do not have to be allocated one of your choices. And if you don't get a place at one of your choices you will be allocated the nearest school with places.

You need to put a banker down as your final choice. Remember, it's better to go to a poor school near to you, than a poor school miles away

As above, if they can't allocate within your preferences (not choices, preference) they will place you in the nearest school with a space.

The answer is no.

Your third choice should be one of the close schools because if 1-3 are over subscribed then you would end up with any school that has spaces and that could be miles away.

Good to know! Thanks all

You will be allocated a place by the local authority, but it may not be at one of your three choices. It will be the closest school to you with a vacancy. You will be put on the waiting list for schools higher up on your list though and there tends to be quite a lot of movement on waiting lists.

No such thing as a choice in State School applications really, its a preference.
No point in putting schools you are unlikely to get as this will meean you are allocated your closest school with a place and you may not want it.

I'm assuming you're in England OP, it may be different elsewhere. But no, the LEA is under no obligation to offer you a place at any of your preferences. And it is expressing a preference rather than making a choice really.
Applications are ranked against the schools' published admissions criteria, so you'll be somewhere on a list for all the schools you put on your form. If you qualify for more than one of your preferences you will be allocated the one you ranked higher. If you do not qualify for any of your 3 preferences the LEA'S only obligation is to offer you a place at the nearest school to your home which still has space after all the applications have been processed. This is important to understand - not your nearest school or your catchment school, but the nearest school that is not full. Unsurprisingly these tend not to be the best schools and depending on where you live could be quite a long way away. That is why it is key that you put at least one school down that is acceptable to you even if not ideal and which you are as confident as you can be that you'll get a place in. Better to have a place in a sub optimal school near home than a sub optimal school miles away. You should be able to find out where the cut off for various schools has been in recent years to help you make that choice. Don't waste all your application slots on schools you have no chance of a place in as then you risk getting a school nobody wants.
You will here lots of rubbish about school admissions but there is no (legal) way to game the system. The LEA will follow the rules. Whatever anyone tells you you can't force them to give you a place in a particular school by only putting one down, only picking over subscribed schools, putting the same school 3 times or any of the other things people tell you will work. Do your research on individual schools, put them down in your genuine order of preference but make sure that at least one is pretty much guaranteed,

You say you want a faith school. Do you attend a local place of worship attaching to that faith? Long term attendance there is likely to trump distance between home and school (to a certain extent anyway), and (correct me if I am wrong) you would make an application directly to the school rather than through the LA.

If this is for a place in the main admissions round (reception 2026), then all applications for state schools are coordinated by the local authority- you apply by submitting a CAF (Common Application Form) through your home LA, even if all the schools you are applying for are in another/ more than one other LA.

What would go directly to the school, in the case of a school giving priority to those of their / another faith, is the SIF (Supplementary Information Form). This in itself is not an application for a place - if the school receives a SIF but is not informed through its maintaining LA that it has been named as a preference on a CAF submitted on behalf of that child, the school cannot consider the child for a place. On the other hand, if a child is named as an applicant by the LA, but no SIF is received, then the application is ranked according to whatever criteria do not rely on 'faith' Information.

And just 'wanting a faith school', wirh no evidence of any faith based activity (or being a looked after child or having an EHCP naming the school), for most schools will put one in the last category, 'all other applicants', normally ranked on distance.

Look at the admissions statistics (last 0lace offered) for your choices and also your nearest schools.
If you would definitely get a place at one of your three preferences in recent years... your plan is safe-ish.
If your local schools have spaces each year... your plan is safe-ish

If there is the barest chance you wouldn't get into either your faith schools or your nearest schools... reconsider this plan. You could be allocated a failing school miles away.

Exactly this. You're not 'choosing' a school as such OP, you're stating a preference. If your 3 preferences are all usually oversubscribed, you won't get any of them if more people than they have places for rank higher than you in their admissions criteria.

You need to carefully research the admissions criteria for all 3. Also look into how far away the last applicant to be given a place at each school lived last year (the information should be available on the LA website). That will give you an idea as to whether any of them are realistic options or not.

Personally I'd pick your favourite 2 of those schools and put a more local school you could live with as 3rd preference. If you're in catchment and they're usually under-subscribed you'll pretty much be a shoe in for that if you don't get one of your first two preferences. It's much better to be allocated a local school you're not overly keen on, rather than risk not getting any of your preferences and potentially being sent miles away to a school you're equally not keen on. The LA will give you the nearest school with spaces if you don't get any of your preference schools. Yes, chances are that will be one of the local ones you're not so keen on. You could get a flukey year though where they're all oversubscribed, and if you didn't list any of your most local schools as a preference you'll be stuffed.

You can always stay on the waiting list of preference schools you don't get into.

Should you get into one of your preferred faith schools OP? If you can see that e.g. out of 30 places 15 went to practicing baptised catholics, 10 to siblings and 5 to catchment and you are confident you fall into the first category then it shouldn't matter if its oversubscribed.

Still wise to put a local school on your list though as others have said.