Chances Sandringham vs St. George School

[Sallyaltawil]

We live in St. Albans, our nearest school according to the council's website is Sandringham that is coed and non faith, is 1.5 mile away.

We visited St. George's school in Harpenden which is around 3.5 miles away and we really loved it . We fall under the religious criteria.

My question is how can I list my choices in the secondary application , do I have any chance with Sandringham? and if I list St. George's as my first prefrence and did not get it , will I still have a chance with Sandringham

You should list your choices in genuine preference order. This is because Hertfordshire will allocate you a school place based on whether you have met the admissions criteria (rules set out under the admission policy, e.g. siblings, distance etc) for the schools you list and then offer you a place according to your highest preference, if that is possible. It sounds like you are applying based on distance and not on other rules of admission. Applying for St George's above Sandringham won't affect your chances of getting Sandringham if that school is able to offer you a place - so you don't need to be strategic. You do need to be realistic, though as both Sandringham and St George's are oversubscribed and the last distance awarded a place for both those schools is usually less than one mile. So you probably need to look at your nearer options -are you nearer St Albans Girls School/ Verulam (as I don't know whether it's DS/DD?!) than Sandringham so it is wise to use one of your choices for a school that you are more likely to get a place at, even if you prefer mixed schools as otherwise you risk being allocated a school that is undersubscribed or outside St Albans. You are still ok to list that school third or fourth choice, so that you get allocated a workable option on allocation day, and then remain on continuing interest in case a place at a higher preference school becomes available.