Secondary National Offer Day 2026

[LancreWowhawk]

Is anyone else anxiously awaiting news of secondary school allocations for September 2026? If so, come and bite your nails with me!

We've applied for 4 schools in our London borough, 3 girls schools and then our 4th choice is co-ed. Last year, we'd have got whichever one we put first, which will be down to changing demographics in London, so I'm hoping the same is true this year. As recently as 3 years ago, we wouldn't have got either of our first 2 choices on either faith or distance grounds, so I'm not counting my chickens!

We should be safe with either of our 3rd or 4th choices, as there's no year we wouldn't have got either of them, but still - I just want to know now!

i don’t think they give banding!

nope we didn’t get a space but they had told me I was in Cat A for other Christian category in December. I believe it’s the distance which was the difficulty for me! Can I ask roughly how far you were . I’m on a wait list but unlikely I think! Thanks!

if you don’t want to put on forum , please DM !! Really appreciate it!

Hi
so I'm not waiting this year but was last year and was the most stressful time ever but just want to give some parents a bit of hope if you didn't get first choice.
I got told I had to put down 5 schools and my 4th and 5th was no where near my home and knew no one that was going there so assumed they wouldn't even be in the running. However I got offered 4th choice. I could have cried and felt sick, my son went to school the following day and his whole friend group had got the 1st choice apart from him. I'm not advising anyone to do this but I declined the offer as wanted to give it to someone who wanted that school and I had no intention on going there even if it got to sept I would of homeschooled if I had to. I called up in April and was 20th on the list for 1st choice. In July before summer hols they sent me a list of schools that had places which I refused and the following day we got offered his 1st choice.
Just because you don't get offered your 1st choice please don't panic as there is so much movement from now until summer. Fingers crossed for you all.

I was in a similar position 3 years ago - but we did accept the fourth choice, and it has actually turned out to be the best school for him. A place never came up at the school all his friends went to, and the second and third choice schools when we looked into them would have been completely wrong for him, so we took him off the wait list for those.

Just a word of warning - had we turned down out fourth choice I believe we would have been offered a school that was actually slightly closer to us (though in a different borough) and which we did not want at all - so we'd have lost the place at the fourth choice and ended up in a worse school.

So it was the right thing for us to accept the fourth choice. It was tough and heart breaking at the time, seeing all his friends go to the one school, and our son have to start afresh knowing no one, but the school is really inclusive and have been amazing in helping him cope with secondary school.

Honestly @Walkthelakes I think you are over thinking this.

Loads of people move house so that they are in catchment for good schools. This has been going on for generations. What 'system' do you think you / people are playing?

Everyone knows that property around good schools has a premium attached to them. You have chosen to sacrifice a bigger house / more holidays to move to an area with better schools - that's fine.

I personally have never heard anyone say 'OMG. I can't believe you are moving to that area, it's got great schools - you shouldn't be doing that!'

received a letter from the first choice school I accepted, they want information on applicaa app? Does anyone know what applicaa app is and what info they need? The letter is very vague in explaining.

Applicaa is CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software for schools. As a parent, you and your child are regarded as customers. It is mainly used by sixth forms and colleges for admissions to Y12 and beyond, but they seem to be increasingly used by schools for things like automated emails to parents and pupils, managing events such as parents evenings, tracking progress, etc.

I believe the information collected is customisable by the school, so I doubt anyone can tell you what information they need.

It'll be for adding things like another parent or alternative emergency contacts, email addresses, mobile numbers, maybe allergies, medical conditions, declaring ethnicity, first language, faith, photo permissions, that sort of thing.

Thank you

My daughter didn’t get her first choice and we were disappointed. She’s now come to terms with the fact that she’s been offered another school.

However we are third on the waiting list and have an appeal hearing at some point , likely to be in May or June.

Is being third on the waiting list a likely sign she will get first choice by the summer ?

We are keeping this to ourselves because we don’t want to disappoint her.

3rd does sound very promising.

Though if people move into the area or apply to go on the waiting list and are higher up the admissions criteria than you you can also go down the list.

Ok thanks . Still 3 months left until the summer holidays .If the appeal is unsuccessful, I gather we can still be on the waiting list ?

Im also a civil servant so hope this will help with the appeal ?

Yes, you can still be on the waiting list.

Places come up even in the first week of term when people simply don't show up.

Not sure why being a Civil Servant would help with your appeal - unless it means you are good at compiling a case with the evidence, or that your dd would somehow be at risk at the allocated school (as is sometimes the case with Dc of police officers, for example)

Why would that help with an appeal?! You either need to show a mistake was made with the application which denied your dc a place or appeal for a place at the school by showing that the needs of your dc outweigh any detriment in admitting an extra pupil.

The original application form asked if either parent was a government worker.I ticked ‘yes’ but it didn’t ask anything else ie what job.

Part of job involves managing offenders, so child could be a risk with offenders children in the local school.

my son was 14th on the waitlist last april
and he got offered a place by June, I really hope you have the same outcome.

Has anyone realistically ever been offered a place from waiting lists from Grey coats or Marylebone in London? I’m still
hoping and very near the top in both school waiting lists but just feels unlikely as seems like no movement really at the moment! :-/

Thank you , I am glad you got your school

We got our first choice last week from 14th on the waiting list on 30 March. Loads more movement in our area than normal. Good luck!

The 'Crown servant' question on application forms refers to para 2.21 of the Admissions Code. It isn't (or shouldnt be) a general 'Are you a civil servant?' question.

Being e.g. a police / probation officer with a routine significant involvement with the parents in catchment for a specific school may be a reason why someone might not want their DC to attend that school, but Children whose parents have professional involvement with parents of the criminal fraternity in the area of another school cannot be a legal oversubscription criterion for a school (see paragr.9(f) of the Admissions Code). So although someone might put as their personal reason for wanting a particular school - as they must be allowed to do - because I rarely have to deal with criminals whose DC attend this school, it can't be taken into consideration when the application is ranked.

So does the local authority just email you if a place that’s your on waiting list for comes up?

Ours does but no idea how much it varies

Yes you will get a offer email which you have to reply too.

We got a phone call, not an email. Wonder if each Council is different.

Oh really? Yes maybe they have different process's.

We are Surrey if you happen to be too!