Is it okay to only list your 1st preference in the secondary school application form?

[spanna786]

Hello! It would be great to hear your views on this- I've been totally bewildered by the whole process with all the conflicting information out there. The deadline for submitting the secondary school application is drawing ever closer - and I'm still unsure of what I should be doing.

The headmaster at the my 1st choice school for my 10 year old advised me to only put their school down on the application form. He said that if I put down other options (and the form states putting down 6 choices in all) that I might get the 6th choice, in which case appealing that decision becomes much more difficult as I've would have effectively been given on of my choices.

The school is actually close to me - we just fall into their catchment area, but not other criteria apply to my child (e.g. SEN, or the sibling rule).

Should I do as suggested as only put down the one school? The application form, the council and all the guidance I've read so far suggest putting down 6 choices in order of preference otherwise you might get allocate a really rubbish school that is miles away.

Parents I've spoken to suggest being strategic about what you 2nd-6th choices are - but again that seems a little risky as you might get one of those choices.

Would be grateful if anyone had any advice on this?

Thanks
Spanna

PRH47bridge, it's an academy. They are very sought-after and over-subscribed, so I really don't understand why they have to lie to get people to put them first. They could more than fill all their places while being straight with parents. We didn't like the school much, anyway, so we're not putting them first, so in our case it's academic, but I worry that other parents have been fed a bunch of lies and children's hopes have been raised.

Odd boots you're right of course.

Mandolin - my dd would have been EXTREMELY upset if I'd promised she was going to a certain school and then had to tell her she wasn't. This is clearly something that needs to be communicated to head teachers.

I was wondering whether they are trying to get enough through on appeal that they can put a whole extra class in place, rather than just a few children squeezed in to existing classes. So de facto increasing the PAN, without it being officially increased, if that makes sense.

This same head also told us, 'If we want your child, we'll give him a place,' which sounds as if they are using the appeal process as a backdoor form of selection – in other words, if your child as special needs or is not academic, they won't offer them a place.

The trouble is people are told these lies, get a place anyway and continue to spread these myths.

On my FB a friend had said they really liked school A and wanted to put it down for all 3 choices. I chipped in saying why that was a really bad idea. But then someone else came on saying 'well I put it down 3 times and my child got a place so do it'

She didn't seem to grasp he got a place regardless but happily tells everyone he must have got a place because she only put that school.

I only put one school for my youngest primary place, figuring if for some really strange reason she didn't get in it would be unlikely she would get into the other school in the area either. (Would be full of the other people who didn't get into the school but live closer to the second)

Mandolino: worse and worse

I would be reporting this Head to the Schools Judiciary Thingummy.

I strongly suspect that there are Academies that obfuscate the admissions process and influence the intake, but they don't usually brag about it the one with the suspicious lack of FMS / lower attainers that we visited didn't, anyway

Agree with tiggytape. They must use the same panel for all appeals. The panel will be very unhappy if the school starts presenting radically different cases in different appeals. The only way they can say these things is if their independent appeal panel is not independent at all and just does what the school tells them.

As it is an academy it is overseen by the Schools Adjudicator and the Education Funding Agency. I would report this to both of them. Either the head teacher is lying to make sure the school continues to have a long waiting list, or they are guilty of multiple breaches of the Admissions Code and the Appeals Code. Either way they need to be brought into line,