Any benefit in applying for secondary school place asap?

[hopebeyond]

Our dc is due to start Year 7 next year 2017. The secondary school applications open today but the deadline is not for another 2 months. Is there any benefit in applying now?

We live close to our preferred secondary but won't get in as we are not at a feeder primary (higher priority than distance). But will get on waiting list and hopefully have chance of getting in later in the year if there is any movement (as the feeder primary is no longer given any priority at that stage).

My understanding is that date of application has no effect on either initial place allocation or allocation from waiting list, am I correct?

(We have visited our preferred secondary but not the others yet so would like to take some time to consider the options before applying, but not if this delay will reduce our chances of getting in to our first choice!)

No speed won't make a difference to initial place allocation, if it did then you & I would be there in front of the PC at midnight the night before with our fingers on the submit button :)

It wont make any difference applying early. All the allocations are sorted from 7am the following morning after the closing date (I remember that early start well and I'm glad I don't do it anymore).

Go and visit the other schools and make your choice ideally a few days before closing.

The LEA I used to work at never had a failure of their application website but several others did when too many people tried to apply at the same time (usually at 23.58pm on the last day) .

You could apply now and then edit your application as much as you like before the closing date.

Thank you all, that's very reassuring to hear! We will take our time and look at all the options properly before submitting our application a few days before the closing date.

If that school cannot offer you a place then the school you put second is treated just the same as if you'd listed it first (i.e. people who list a school first don't get any special treatment). You won't jeopardise your chances at other schools by listing the ones you like in the true order of preference

I meet so many parents who don't understand this. Someone I know ended up moving her DD in her first term because she'd been afraid to put down her "real" first choice. I wish there could be a campaign about all the misapprehensions, although I suppose some schools are happy about them, ahem!!

I met someone after the forms deadline, who told me that she'd put her real first choice second, because someone at her borough's admissions department told her that she needed to put the highly in demand grammar school as first choice. The misconceptions don't seem to go away.

The grammar wasn't her real first choice so she may have ended up in the bizarre position of hoping for her second choice and going on the waiting list for it if she didn't get it.

For anyone about to do the forms - put your choices in your genuine order of preference.

I went to one Open Day where the Head actually said "you need to put us first to get in". It really put me off that school that a Head would tell a straight lie.

My next door neighbour told me she spent one of her visits to a primary school impressing on the staff how religious the family were. Whilst it is a Church school they don't use faith in admissions. When I gently pointed this out she said "Oh well, it might help".

HPFA
I went to one Open Day where the Head actually said "you need to put us first to get in". It really put me off that school that a Head would tell a straight lie.

This is true of ds1 school. Any school placed higher than his genuine choice would have been offered as they have 1000 candidates for 120 places and is considered the most academic school in our county. If you qualify there then you qualify for every grammar.

My dd is starting Y7 secondary school tomorrow and some very knowledgeable posters on Mumsnet helped me so much. I agree, I feel there should be a national campaign about how preferences work. I'm pretty clued up and even I had miscomprehension's.

I visited some schools who still told me that I'd have to put them first if I wanted a place. I know dozens of parents who only listed one school. Bizarrely, I also know someone who's dd is started at an extremely sought after school tomorrow - they didn't particularly want the place. Their real first choice was their 1st and 3rd choice. The sought after school allocates via a lottery system and they got a place. They were really shocked. They'd put it down just 'because'. I really hope it works out for them.

My dd is starting Y7 secondary school tomorrow and some very knowledgeable posters on Mumsnet helped me so much. I agree, I feel there should be a national campaign about how preferences work. I'm pretty clued up and even I had miscomprehension's.

I visited some schools who still told me that I'd have to put them first if I wanted a place. I know dozens of parents who only listed one school. Bizarrely, I also know someone who's dd is started at an extremely sought after school tomorrow - they didn't particularly want the place. Their real first choice was their 1st and 3rd choice. The sought after school allocates via a lottery system and they got a place. They were really shocked. They'd put it down just 'because'. I really hope it works out for them.

Sorry for double post. My phone lied about its connection!

If you want a place at a specific high school you should really put them first so the schools that say 'you need to put us first if this is the school you want' is correct.

The admissions teams will look at your first choice on the form (not any random school off your list) and say, do they have space for your child using the admissions criteria? (distance/sibling/feeder school etc) If its yes you get that place first them the rest of your choices are disregarded and your form in effect 'thrown in the bin pile'.

If its a no then they ask, do they meet the admissions for the 2nd school listed? If its a yes you get that school place. If its a no then the same process goes for the next option you put on your form.

They look at the schools in turn not a random selection off your list. If you really want a school you put 3rd on your list then you are less likely to get a place there if you also meet the criteria for the schools you put 1st and 2nd.

Again if a school does a lottery system you wont be put into that lottery system if you had already met the criteria for a school you put 1st on the list.

At 2 schools I visited, in the head masters address they said that to be considered for a place they had to be put first on the list. Both state schools. Just plain misleading.

Thanks heavens for MN!

Tiggy, you should publish a pamphlet on this. It could make you a little fortune

OdinsLovechild - what you have described is totally incorrect and has been for all schools in England for at least 10 years.

What happens is each school gets a list from the LA of those who have applied and sorts it into order using their admissions criteria. If this s a lottery then the continue "pulling names out of a hat". The school does not know where they are ranked.
(If the LA is the admissions authority they do this ranking.)
Then the ranked lists are returned to the LA who then use the parental preference to decide which is the highest ranked school the child qualifies for.
Fortunately it's all done by computer as it would be a nightmare to do by hand.

The school dd got did know they were our second choice as I had a letter from them mentioning that we weren't there first choice but they hoped we would fully accept the place etc.

I was sent that letter along with all the forms to filling for going on a waiting list etc, telling furthest distances for each oversubscribed school.

This was in the South West in 2016.

If you want a place at a specific high school you should really put them first so the schools that say 'you need to put us first if this is the school you want' is correct.

Heads are being deliberately misleading by implying that if you put their school second you will have disadvantaged yourself with your other choices. I have met several parents who've said to me "I really want X school but I'm worried if I do that and DC don't get in I won't get Y school either".

From what I remember the Head at the Open Evening referred to earlier said "In order to maximize your chances of getting a place you do need to make us your first choice." Is there any interpretation of that other than an attempt to deceive?