Can I only appeal for my first choice school? Can I lodge appeals on more than one school?

[starpatch]

So I will be applying in October for a secondary school place for my child. Its fairly simple if he gets a grammar place. Its if he doesn't that it gets complicated. Would be advised to still put a grammar first, and then appeal for it which constitutes your grammar appeal. But the secondary moderns I would choose would neither of them be dead certs. So I would potentially want to appeal for them also. The good secondary modern in our town we are too far from. The nearest one doesn't have good results at all. The two I am thinking of putting down are not local but based on the information I have would have a decent chance of being offered a place, just not certain. We are in Kent and only allowed 4 choices and also Kent doesn't publish information on last distance offered.

Definitely put the schools in your genuine order of preference (so the grammar first), and I would also include somewhere a secondary modern where you can be fairly sure of gaining a place, if one exists, even if you aren't too keen on it. It's better to have a school you aren't too keen on that's reasonably near you than get none of your preferences and be potentially allocated one you also don't like by the LEA that is miles away.

You aren't limited to only appealing to your first choice school- you can appeal to them all if you like. Also, it may be worth emailing the LEA to ask for the distance of the last offered place in recent years for the schools you are considering if you can't find the information online. I did this when moving house to make sure we'd still stand a chance at the schools we were interested in (though I'm not in Kent) and the LEA replied quickly with the information, which was very helpful.

You can’t appeal to a school unless you’ve been rejected from it first, so definitely put the grammar school. You can also go on waiting lists for schools.

If you need to appeal, then you have to say why you want your child to go to that school, not that other schools are useless, too far etc.

Eleven plus exams

This website has lots of good advice on taking the eleven plus exam, appeals etc and the forum is split into different regions. I found it very useful many moons ago when my were going through the whole process (also in Kent). Eldest dc got into one gs via a waiting list and younger dc went to a different gs after a successful appeal.

The LA should tell you the last distance offered. If it isn’t published, ask for it.

The school might also be able to tell you the last distance offered. In Kent (at least some parts) that doesn't mean as much as in some areas because there can be lots of movement due to grammar appeals etc. This website also gives good information on appeals stats. www.kentadvice.co.uk/individual-schools/kent-secondary-schools-a-academies.html

Thanks so much for all the replies, really helpful.