Refusing admission of my daughter to non preferred choice

[samra321]

We are moving into a different area, already have list of preferred 3 choices of secondary schools, we don't want to send our daughter to other than these three choices. My question is if I don't get my choices, I am not obliged to send my daughter to non preferred choice if I don't want to ?

Of course you're not obliged. You can choose to do homeschooling.

You don’t have to send to a non preferred school, but the council has no obligation to find an alternative. You can home school.

or you can accept the place at the non preferred school and also ask to be put in wait list for one of your preferred schools and you can transfer when a place becomes available.

Or you go private if you can afford it and there is a space. Refusing a state place will not force LA to offer a preferred school although you could appeal and/or go on waiting lists.

You’re under no obligation to send them to a school you don’t want, but the council is under no obligation to find you an alternative and, at that point, you will need to deal with sorting out their education yourself.

If you don’t get or accept your top 3 then they can offer you a place anywhere in your local authority. You don’t have to accept though. You can home school or go private.

I waited it out with my children and home schooled them until places became available at my preferred school.
This was easy though as it was immediately after first wave Covid so they had been home schooled for months anyway. Also it was primary. But I felt it important to ensure they went to the school I thought was best for them, and it turned out to be an excellent decision. We only had to wait a couple of months and the school has been brilliant for their remaining years.

This "waiting" strategy will only work if you're near the top of the waiting list. Waiting lists are ordered in accordance with the school's oversubscription criteria (e.g. by distance to the school), not by how long you have been on them. Your position can go down as well as up.

You'd have to homeschool or go private

You can also appeal for your preferred choice, but refusing another school won't help get into a school.

Is this for Y7 admission or in-year? If the latter and the schools on your list are oversubscribed then YABU.
You need a back-up plan either a private school or other suitable alternative.

@samra321 a few people have said you can appeal for a place at a preferred school, but that is not trivial - you'd have to present a very strong case that your child's need for a place at your preferred schools is stronger than the schools' cases for being full up. (If your only reason is that you don't like the alternatives then you may as well not bother because you won't win).

The LEA have to offer you a school place and then it’s up to you if you accept that place. Like others say you can go private or HE.

If you are moving and it’s an in year transfer, you should be offered your nearest school with a place from your preferred schools. If they are all full, you will get offered somewhere else. If you don’t want it, home educate or go private. Sitting on a waiting list can take forever with ex private dc wanting places too. Some areas have huge pressures on school places.

Are you meaning that you want to refuse any other place because you think they will then give you the place you want? That’s not how it works.
They will try and give you your closest preferred but if there is no space then there is no space and they’ll offer you somewhere else. If you turn it down then they won’t offer another and you can homeschool or go private and keep trying yourself to get a place where you want.

You can see if neighbouring schools in another LA have spaces. If you can get dc there and they are suitable. A school cannot keep places vacant so if that’s any use, look at alternatives.

No, but you don't have the right just to force the school of your choice to take her. The schools will all have a list of admissions criteria and a maximum number of children per year group. The school only has to take your daughter if she meets the criteria AND they have not reached their maximum number in the year group your daughter needs to attend. If the schools you want have reached capacity in your daughter's year, or have a few spaces but have children that better meet their criteria lined up to take those spaces, then you have no right to force them to take her. You either need to officially home educate her, or send her to another school with space.

My question is if I don't get my choices, I am not obliged to send my daughter to non preferred choice if I don't want to

What would you do instead if they didn't get a place at one of the ones you liked?

Yes, what is your alternative plan if you turn down the school offered?

Well you're not obliged to send your daughter to school at all so of course you can't be forced to send her to a school you don't like. You are required to provide her with an education though, so if you decline a state school place you need an alternative, so private or home education really.
You can turn down any place you are offered but that won't make the LEA change their minds and offer you one of the schools you want. If there is a place that your daughter is eligible for at one of your preferred schools then she'll be offered it. If not, the LEAs only obligation is to offer you a place at the nearest school with availability. You can of course look at schools further away that have places or you can appeal and/or go on waiting lists for your preferred schools but both those things can take time and are not guaranteed to succeed so you need to have a plan for what you'll do in the meantime.

Also it is worth pointing out, that when it’s not a standard entry point, if a school has a space it must offer it. Not all schools have waiting lists.