Didn’t get into any choices, placed into Catholic School - help

[morozova89]

Hi everyone, I’m really hoping someone might be able to offer some advice about secondary school appeals in London.

My son has been allocated a place at a Catholic secondary school, which we did not put on our application list. We are a different faith and not Catholic, so being placed in a faith school that isn’t ours feels very upsetting and uncomfortable for our family.

I’m also a single mum and have had to navigate this process on my own, and unfortunately my son’s dad hasn’t been helpful with any of it. I’m originally from Ukraine and not very familiar with the UK school system, so I did what I thought made sense at the time.

We listed four schools, three of which we genuinely believed were realistic choices based on distance and admissions. Sadly he wasn’t offered any of them. I realise now maybe I should have listed more, but I honestly didn’t know.

What has made it even more shocking is that all of my son’s close friends were offered places at our number one choice school, which is in our catchment area and part of the same federation as his current primary school. I know friendships aren’t a ground for appeal, but it has made the outcome quite difficult for him to understand.

My son was born in the UK, is in Year 6, and is doing well at his current primary school, so this has been a really confusing and upsetting situation for us.

I understand that appeals are usually made for a specific school rather than against the one offered, but being allocated a faith school that isn’t our faith and wasn’t on our list feels particularly difficult.

If anyone has experience with appeals, waiting lists, or what steps I should take next, I would be incredibly grateful for any advice. Thank you so much. 🙏

btw we are in London.

I suspect that someone has decided on your behalf that Orthodox Christian or Ukrainian Greek is "practically the same thing". I would raise a stink and start going though the appeals process especially as you didn't even list the school. If you take a look at the schools boards you should find plenty of threads on how to go about appealing.
https://www.gov.uk/schools-admissions/appealing-a-schools-decision
You need to go to your specific local authority to do the appeal. I would make it asap and also talk to the primary school. If there are lots of children feeding through they may have specific feedback.

@morozova89 Chances are there is nothing you can do.

Did you use all 6 choices in the application form? There is literally zero advantage and plenty of disadvantages in not using every one of the 6 options you are given in London.

Most schools in London tend to use distance as the main admission criterion.
Do you know how far you live from each of the schools? Estimate in in google maps https://support.google.com/maps/answer/1628031?hl=en-GB&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid
The council will use its own system, but google maps is a decent estimate

Did the schools or council publish the maximum admission distances?

If you live 1500 metres from the school and the maximum admission distance was 2000 metres, there must have been a mistake and you should appeal.
if you live 3000 metres from the school and the maximum admission distance was 1000 metres, nothing you can do, sorry.

Do the schools use other criteria? Some use random lotteries, but not that many.

OP, I am not religious, and I think state-funded schools which discriminate based on faith are an abomination which would be unconstitutional in many countries. But too many Brits are brainwashed into thinking that whatever is our tradition should never be changed. We would never accept state-funded hospitals discriminating on faith, so why we accept it for schools is beyond me.
Having said that, not all faith schools are the same.
Not all faith schools indoctrinate children as if we were still in the middle ages.

Have you looked into this school? I'd start doing some research into it.

Also find out which schools in the area are undersubscribed or have short waiting lists.
Councils should publish admission results. Any schools for which "all preferences were allocated" or something like that is undersubscribed.
Some councils, not all, also publish a list of schools undersubscribed or with short waiting lists, including in neighbouring boroughs. Eg https://www.lbhf.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2026-03/schools-with-vacancies-or-short-waiting-lists-2026.pdf

Maybe there is another undersubscribed school you might like better than this faith one. Start doing your research now

@TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams I suspect that someone has decided on your behalf that Orthodox Christian or Ukrainian Greek is "practically the same thing".

Why do you say that? London is full of undersubscribed schools, including faith ones.
It is perfectly possible that this was the closest undersubscribed school to the OP

First of all, check whether there’s been a mistake (for example, being in a primary school in the same federation should have placed your son in a higher category in the oversubscription criteria).

There is no “someone” who had decided that one faith or another is “practically the same thing”. Where a child does not fulfil the admissions criteria for any of the preferred schools, they will be allocated the nearest school with a place.

Think about what the preferred school can offer your child that he won’t get at the allocated school, but remember that, to win an appeal, you will need a stronger argument than not wanting a Catholic school.

Join waiting lists for any other schools you would be willing to accept.

Yes what @PanelChair says. Check if a mistake was made, usually relating to distance.

You can appeal and you need to find things about the appealed-for school that are only offered there (eg child plays flute and school has an orchestra).

Go on as many WLs as you like – for any school which you would prefer. Did you list your nearest school? If not you can still go o that WL and you are likely to be high up if you are close.

I would raise a stink and start going though the appeals process especially as you didn't even list the school.

Don’t raise a stink, whatever that means in practice. Unless a mistake of the kind outlined in terms of distance has been made, the admissions process has been followed correctly. If there is no space for your DC at your preferred, listed schools, the LA is quite entitled to offer you a school you did not list.

But there is often a lot of WL movement in London so it may well work out OK.

From my experience many of the Catholic schools are better and there are usually plenty of non Catholic parents seeking places in them because of that. To get state funding they used to have to have a minimum of 15% non Catholic students. I wouldn't be too hasty about rejecting the place especially if you can opt out of things like mass etc. My oldest non Catholic child went to a catholic primary and it was great school.

If your preferred school admits on distance, hopefully you will be close to the top of the waiting list if other friends who live nearby got a place.

interesting, I wonder if you'd give this opinion if a Catholic child had been placed in a Muslim or Jewish school?
OP - consider contacting Humansits UK, they may well be able to offer advice and support on challenging a school place if you are of a different or no religion.

PanelChair is an expert who has posted on admissions threads for many years. So I can confidently say that she is posting objective facts about the admissions and appeals process, not influenced by any given religion or other criterion.

okey doke, was just asking the question.

Sure, Jan.

Yes, she would. Because that’s the process.

This opinion comes from many years’ experience of appeals and, therefore, many years’ training in admissions law.

Appeal panels look at all the circumstances around the decision to refuse admission to the preferred school, and must consider the best interests of the child, but preferences around faith schools may not be enough on their own to win an appeal.

are you ok? I have no idea who 'PanelChair' is or what they're an expert in, I was merely asking the question because it seemed like a situation where unconscious bias could be slipping in - i.e. not wanting to attend a Catholic school is not a reason for appeal because (the assumption is) Catholic schools are 'good' and it's a 'Christian country' - was pondering whether people would still think it wasn't reason for an appeal if a Christian child had been placed in a Muslim school... not sure why your attitude is warranted?

Firstly dont panic.

My son was Y6 last year. We were offered 6th choice school. The good news is that there is always loads of movement. My son was offered 2nd choice school before transition day. 1st choice was aspirational so we would never have got it but you still try.

Accept the place which means you at least have a school. Then check policy on waiting lists. In my borough you automatically go on the waiting lists. After the deadline there is a second round of offers. Most parents applying to independent (private) schools also have a state offer. Once they accept a private offer they then usually reject the state one. This all starts a lot of movement.

After then there is often further movement but it takes a bit of time for everything to filter through.

The council website will tell you how to find out your place on the various waiting lists.

@FlayOtters interesting, I wonder if you'd give this opinion if a Catholic child had been placed in a Muslim or Jewish school?

Moot point. There are way, way, way more Christian (CofE and Catholic) state schools than Jewish or Muslim one. In a densely populated city like London it is not impossible but practically quite rare that a Jewish or Muslim school ends up being the only undersubscribed school, with no other undersubscribed school in the area.

In councils like Lambeth and Wandsworth about half the schools are undersubscribed, for example! That's due to a combination of demographics (families leaving inner London) and the polarisation from having very coveted schools which everyone wants (many partially selective, but that's another topic) and undersubscribed schools which not enough people want.

Regardless, being assigned a school you don't like, including one of a faith which isn't yours, isn't a valid reason to appeal. And I say this as an atheist who thinks that state-funded faith schools are an abomination

Can you visit schoool ask how they cater for non catholics? Can they opt out of religious observances? Get on wait list for preferred school . In london there is movement

Former admissions manager. Every year a number of children in the LA I worked were offered a Jewish school because it was under subscribed including Christian and Muslim kids. A large Catholic school that is under subscribed also gets a lot of Muslim children bring given that as an alternative offer as it is the closest school with a vacancy. We literally don't look at the faith declaration when allocating alternative offers as we're just looking for the closest school with a place.

OP, where in London are you? Some councils and schools publish how much the waiting lists moved between March and August in the past. That is no guarantee but gives you an indication. Some don't.
Eg maybe you are 1500 metres from the school you want, and the maximum admission distance was 1300 in March but 2000 by August. It can happen. Look into it

@Spirallingdownwards
From my experience many of the Catholic schools are better and there are usually plenty of non Catholic parents seeking places in them because of that.

Nonsense. There are good faith schools and awful ones. Just south of the river from the very coveted London Oratory is St John Bosco College, also Catholic, which has been undersubscribed for as long as I can remember, because no one wants to send their kids there. You cannot generalise. You need to consider the specific school

Faith schools tend to be more socially selective. That explains most of the "better" results you allude to. Plenty of research on this, eg https://www.secularism.org.uk/faith-schools/faith-school-facts

The National secular Society and Humanists UK fought the London Oratory in Court, and won, because their old admission policy gave priority to obscure criteria like participation in Church activities, which ranged from flower arranging to donations. This was ruled discriminatory and illegal.

I can't understand how you did not get your 1st choice if you live in the catchment and your child attends a primary school in the federation. There must be an error somewhere. The authority's or maybe yours?

1. Not all schools will have feeder primary schools and those that do may have several, meaning a limited number of students are prioritised from any given feeder
2. People often use catchment loosely to mean a nearby school rather than one with a fixed set of postcodes forming its set catchment area

Most schools in London do not have a catchment, but admit based on distance.
In practice, when people say the catchment was 1,000 metres, they mean that the maximum admission distance was 1,000 metres, but that's not fixed and it can vary from year to year.

Some schools have priority zones.

We cannot really say anything until and unless OP clarifies

the poster says this in the first post.

well, kinda.

But she says federation, not feeder, and that doesn’t negate my first point that a secondary can have several feeder primaries.

And my second point (as per PanelChair above) is that people often say catchment as a shorthand, rather than there being a formal defined area (to note - even if there is a formal catchment, distance may well be a tie breaker even within catchment if the school is oversubscribed)

Yes. I think the poster maybe didn't investigate the system enough. Tough but there is movement especially in London.

I wonder if this would have been so upsetting and uncomfortable had the catholic school been outstanding/sought after/over subscribed😀