Third Choice?

[MrsFruitcake]

Preparing an admissions form for DD, to be submitted by 31st Oct.

Can I ask a question? If I don't list a third school choice, what is likely to happen?

If you don't qualify for choices 1 and 2 the council will allocate you a school based on what they have left after everyone else's choices have been processed. That could be a school no one wants very far away.

It depends on the admission criteria, how over subscribed the schools are, and where you would be placed in the selection citeria for the two schools.

If you put down two schools you have no realistic chance of being given a place at, due to their selection criteria, then when the allocations are matched up you may not be allocated a place at either of these schools. The council would then allocate you a place at a school which does have places once they have allocated all the places to the people who do qualify under the selction criteria.

This can happen even if you do put down three choices though, depending on how realistic they are.

In some areas though, putting down 2 schools would be ok - it depends!

I think the rule of thumb is to use all your choices if you can - and put at least one on the list that you are more or less certain you will get into.

Remember it is not a choice, it is a preference.

If your child doesn't qualify for a place at the 2 schools you have listed, your LEA will offer your child a place at the school closest to your home that has places left (i.e. after places have been allocated to all families who have listed this school as a preference).
In my area that would mean the comp that's in special measures!
In many areas where schools are oversubscribed that could mean the worst school in the area or one that's really hard to travel to from your home.
So if you have 4 possible schools and would prefer school 3 to 4 or really don't want school 4, put school 3 down on your list.
HTH