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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

What happens if we decline offer of top choice school

30 replies

Cook4Meals · 31/10/2021 22:05

Two hours to go before submission deadline and we're still debating order of schools. My way of thinking is that if we place one school over the other and decline 1st choice when offer comes through on 1 March, we will automatically drop to 2nd choice, won't we? This would give us plenty more time to decide when the time finally comes to choose between the two schools. However, could someone please confirm that this is what happens? I have a nagging feeling that if we do this, we'll end up losing out on both our top choice schools and risk being allocated a random school in the end.

OP posts:

spudjulia · 31/10/2021 22:08

I'm not an expert, work in schools but not admissions, and I'm also doing application for my child.

But I think there's a chance that you could be offered 1st choice, then if you refuse it, the 2nd choice school could be full. The 2nd choice is if you can't get into your first choice rather than for if you change your mind. So they won't keep a 'spare' place in your 2nd choice school open for you if they've offered you your first choice.

Cookerhood · 31/10/2021 22:08

No you won't. You could be left with no school at all as the local authority has done their bit offering you a school. If you are offered a lower school you go on the waiting lists for higher ones, but if you get your first choice that is it. You may be able to go on waiting lists but there is no guarantee you would get a place, and you would have lost the other one if you turn it down.

Angel2702 · 31/10/2021 22:08

No if you refuse the school you are given you will be allocated a school that has places not necessarily one of your choices.

RedskyThisNight · 31/10/2021 22:09

No, this is not what happens. You get allocated one school.

If you choose to decline that offer, you will be left looking for a place that is left after everyone else has been allocated theirs. And chances are there won't be a place at your second choice school. There may be no viable places at all, and the LEA would not be obliged to find you one as you'd turned down the offered place. This would be a very high risk strategy.

Just choose which school you prefer What's going to happen between now and March that will change your mind?

MustDust · 31/10/2021 22:09

No, that is definitely not what happens in my area and most others from what I can gather. You order your preference and get offered the first of your choices you meet criteria for (against all other applicants). The other 2 choices then effectively disappear. If you then decline first place you need to find a school which does have space which around here would be the bottom of the table school. Have you read the admissions info for your area?

NiceTwin · 31/10/2021 22:10

It doesn't work like that.
You may or may not get your 2nd choice, it depends if they have any spaces left after going through the 1st choice applicants.

lanthanum · 31/10/2021 22:10

No, the places in your second choice school will already have been allocated to other people. If they do their best for you with the preferences you've put down, and you decline that place, you'll then be looking at what's left. Your nagging feeling is right.

LIZS · 31/10/2021 22:10

No you would have to go on a waiting list unless it were undersubscribed.

Smartiepants79 · 31/10/2021 22:10

You’ll only get offered a place at the second choice school if it’s not already full.
They don’t save spaces for people who put them second just in case they want one.
In many areas you’re lucky to get offered a place at any of your choices. Never mind first choice.
Lots of people don’t get any of their preferences. Once a local authority has offered a place then that’s their job done, decline the offer and you’re on your own.

Starlightstarbright1 · 31/10/2021 22:11

No . My understanding.

If you got choice one and choice 2 was full you would either go on a waiting list for 2 or another school with space.

PanicStationsAhh · 31/10/2021 22:11

I agree with pp, that's not how it works

Zodlebud · 31/10/2021 22:11

This is not how it works. If you turn down the place you are offered then the LA is not obliged to offer you another - they have done their duty in providing you with a school place.

You would need to accept the place and then go on the waiting list for the other school otherwise you could end up with nothing.

Seeline · 31/10/2021 22:11

Do not refuse what you are offered. Accept it and then get on to the waiting list of whichever schools you decide you would accept. The LA do not have to do anything if you turn down the initial school and you could end up with nothing.

TheWholeWorld · 31/10/2021 22:12

Two hours before submission deadline and you don't know how school admissions works

PP have it right. You get given one school and if you decline you can be left with no school.

eddiemairswife · 31/10/2021 22:13

If you are offered a school and decline it then you are on your own. The LA has done its duty and offered you a school. You would have to re-apply for any other schools you are interested in.

gogohm · 31/10/2021 22:14

No, the choices are your preference now, you get one place offered, they try to get you your top , if not second and so on. After today, if you change your mind you are behind everyone who submitted on time

ChildOfFriday · 31/10/2021 22:15

No, this is not what happens. You will only receive one offer on Offer Day. By listing a school first on your form, you are effectively saying that it is the school you would like above all others, and so even if both your first and second choices are able to offer you a place, you will only be offered one school- the first choice, and will be removed from the list of the second choice. You can choose to decline this school, but, unless the second choice school is undersubscribed, you would then need to go on the waiting list for it for a place that may never come up.

General advice is never to turn down the place offered, even if it's a school you hate. Go on waiting lists for other schools you prefer by all means, but if you decline the offered school without another place then the LA has fulfilled its duty by finding you a school place, and has no obligation to find you another.

Can I ask what is making the decision so difficult? There is no 'risk' or game playing involved- you should put the schools in the genuine order of preference that you prefer. I understand it can be difficult to decide which school would be best for your DC, but there are no 'tactics' involved in deciding the order.

BluebirdHill · 31/10/2021 22:15

If you have two you like, then happy days - put the hardest one to get into top, then the other one, and let the chips fall where they may.

Original poster

Cook4Meals · 31/10/2021 22:19

Thank you all for confirming what I thought may happen as worst case scenario. We'll now definitely decide right away.

OP posts:

ChildOfFriday · 31/10/2021 22:22

@NiceTwin

It doesn't work like that. You may or may not get your 2nd choice, it depends if they have any spaces left after going through the 1st choice applicants.

The OP is incorrect, but so are you I'm afraid. The system is not first preference first, and has not been for many years. Schools do not know where you ranked them. Each school you list is essentially a separate application, and every applicant (whether it is 1st choice, 6th or somewhere in between) is ranked in order of the admissions criteria. The only time that the order matters is if more than one school is able to offer you a place, in which case the LA will offer you the school of these that you ranked highest on your list. If you put a school 6th and I put it 1st, but you meet the admissions criteria better than me, you would get the place above me (assuming your schools 1-5 were not able to offer you a place).

Schools cannot and do not prioritise people who listed them first.

Original poster

Cook4Meals · 31/10/2021 22:25

This is our third child, our two eldest are in different secondary schools. DC3 would either follow in the footsteps on DC1 or go to another excellent nearby secondary which, I think, is more suitable for her academic needs + she has a SEN plan in place from primary. DC3, however, is adamant that she would feel more comfortable in DC1's secondary, but of course she would feel that way is she knows that school quite well. We couldn't visit the other school this year as were banged up in isolation due to covid at the time of our appointment and there were no other chances offered to visit the school. She watched their online recording, which was excellent btw... so even more dilemma added there.

OP posts:

ChildOfFriday · 31/10/2021 22:43

@NiceTwin I've just realised that I may have misinterpreted your post. If you are referring to places being offered after Offers Day, you are of course correct that the OP would only get a place straight away at her original second choice after turning down the first choice if they had places left after Offers Day. I initially read your post as schools offering to those who listed them first on the preference form above other people in the initial allocation round, so apologies if that was not what you meant.

Hercisback · 31/10/2021 23:14

Give her preference some weight especially if she has friends going there.

Why not put hers first then see what happens with the allocations?

Original poster

Cook4Meals · 31/10/2021 23:38

@Hercisback - thank you, we went with her choice in the end as close friends are more likely to go there too. DC3 is a highly sensitive child and good at weighing up choices, she said she would feel more sad if she got offered the other school and lost out on this one than if it happened the other way around.... we really couldn't "argue" with that.

OP posts:

NiceTwin · 01/11/2021 10:12

@ChildOfFriday my post was written ambiguously.
It made sense to me, lol, but I could see how it could be misinterpreted and was waiting to be told

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