Admissions Help-what's best?

[WantonMother]

We've got to apply for a secondary place for our son by 31st Oct. We're in Bristol but are putting two good schools in North Somerset as our 1st and 2nd choice. They are highly oversubscribed (so unlikely to get a space in either but we live in hope and don't want "what if we had applied?" to go through our heads) as they are outstanding schools. We loved them when we looked around and our closest schools are not doing too well.
The question is, do we leave our third option blank or put our nearest school down so if he doesn't get options 1 and 2 he doesn't just get somewhere allocated that's even worse/further away? If we put option 3 as our nearest school, will they just give him that as it's not oversubscribed and is easier? If we left it blank would they "try harder" to allocate his first two choices? I don't know how it works!

Putting your local school down as option 3 will make no difference to your chances of getting into schools 1 and 2. Your application will be looked at independently for each school you name to determine whether or not you should get an offer from that school. If you qualify for an offer from more than one school you will only be offered the highest preference available.

If you put your local school down they won't ignore options 1 and 2. If you qualify for a place at one of them you will be offered it.

If you don't put a third option they won't try harder to get your son into your first two choices. However, if your son doesn't get into one of those it is possible he won't get into your local school either. He will be allocated a place at the nearest school with places available. That may be your local school but it could be an unpopular school miles away.

Thanks prh47bridge, that has definitely clarified things for me! I'm assuming that as our local school is nearby and not oversubscribed then there should be a place or him but I guess it could go either way!

Just looked you up prh47bridge and realised you are famous for your good advice in education! I've just submitted our application: the nail biting begins! Many thanks again

I live in Bristol OP, but have recently name-changed so looking me up might not help.
The good news is that some children from Bristol, who live close enough, are allocated places in North Somerset schools in recent years.
Some families do move out of Bristol to secure places at these schools, but it has been possible for some children still living in Bristol to obtain places. In recent years the birth rate in the rural areas has been lower than in Bristol so there have been surplus places in these secondary schools. However very recently, some primary schools in North Somerset in areas such as Long Ashton, Portishead and Clevedon are now becoming oversubscribed which suggests that this may only be possible for a few more years.
I am not sure which school is your catchment school OP, but I really wouldn't recommend missing it off the form. Bristol City Council would recommend putting your catchment school as 3rd preference.
"I'm assuming that as our local school is nearby and not oversubscribed then there should be a place or him"
Just because it's not oversubscribed now doesn't mean that it will always stay that way and could mean that you are allocated a much worse school, so if you would prefer school 3 to the school in special measures 2 miles away, please put school 3 down as your 3rd preference!

PS I think I can guess which school your local one and may know pupils there so if you want to pm me please do so.

Not from Bristol but would definitely say do what prh47bridge and catslife say. I have seen it where I live where people haven't been so sensible and have ended up with some school miles away