Applying for school, back up choices?

[Pearls18]

So I'm starting to look at applying to primary school for September next year (keen lol) there's only one school I really like, it's our closest one, good experience with military kids, has a "good" rating (there's no outstanding in the area, they're all "good") and it's close to the tube lol. I've never heard of any of my friends not getting into it it's not over subscribed, there's not a waiting list that I am aware of, and they get extra funding for accepting military kids...I think we may be prioritised? Anyway, can I just put that school down, or do I have to list more schools? There genuinely aren't any others I'd want him to go to...!

 

[sweetlullaby]

Over here we have to put down at least 4 but preferably more but every school in our area apart from two is badly oversubscribed I kept an open mind didn't go and see the schools (for a fear I would be put off one or two and have my list shrink to nothing!) I knew the schools anyway having lived in the area most of my life and knew which one's were good. Luckily got LO into our second choice school which I went to as a child and we were lucky as others didn't get a place and now have to travel quite far.

 

[gingajewel]

I did, even though there was only one school I wanted my lo to go too. Part of me was worried that if she didn't get into my first choice school (it wasn't over subscribed etc) the lea place her in any school and there are schools in my area I didn't want her too go to at all.
I think it's worth putting back up schools even if they aren't your first choice just in case your lo doesn't get in.

 

[Nats21]

We had up to 5 to put down, I only gave 4 though. Luckily he got into our 1st choice (attached to the nursery school he went to). The 2nd choice was very near to us too. The 3rd and fourth choices were about 2 miles away. I figured (and hoped) that he'd get into one of these choices xx

 

[hattiehippo]

The problem is if you only put one school and then don't get in for some reason, the local authority will allocate you whatever school has spaces left over and it could be miles away. If you put others close to you even if you don't want them really, at least you won't have to travel miles in the worse case.

We used all 4 choices even though I wasn't happy with 1 of the local schools but I didn't want one over the other side of town instead.

 

[gingajewel]

The problem is if you only put one school and then don't get in for some reason, the local authority will allocate you whatever school has spaces left over and it could be miles away. If you put others close to you even if you don't want them really, at least you won't have to travel miles in the worse case.

We used all 4 choices even though I wasn't happy with 1 of the local schools but I didn't want one over the other side of town instead.

and they do literally just place your child in any school that has a place within your local authority. At least if you put choices down you have some control over what school your lo will go too.

 

[Missnurse]

When I enrolled dd it was in her catchment school and they never asked for additional schools although it works on catchment priority here so maybe that's why?

 

[lindseymw]

As Hattiehippo has said, if you don't get in to your 1st choice, then they will offer a place anywhere.

It happened to a friend. Her daughter already attended a school within catchment area so when it was time for her son to go, she only put one choice (obviously thinking there would be no problems) but she was offered a place in a school 10 miles away (there are 4 other primary schools in our town but she was not offered one of them). She had to appeal and go in front of a panel to explain why she could not get two children to two different schools at the same time 10 miles apart.

 

[embo216]

I know lots of people who just put the one school down

 

[Rainbow82]

Put the next closest school down. Whichever school you your LO goes to will receive the pupil premium which is paid to schools for students who are forces children, travellers, free school meals and u think a couple other categories. If you don't get into your first choice school you will be very well placed for an appeal on the basis that they are better placed to provide for military children than the others. I was a military child and went to a lot of primary schools and can say from experience that it is far better to be at a school with a lot of military, OH was also a forces child and agrees.

 

[Tasha]

I would go and see a few other local ones and get a feel for them just in case. I was at a secondary school meeting the other day and they were saying that there are more and more children every year and no more spaces, so it's difficult. In 2016/17 our borough will no longer have enough secondary school places for all the children in the borough, as you're not far from us then the pattern maybe similar which will be your child's year included (I know it's primary you're looking at but nearly all the primary schools here have increased how many forms per year they have and have also extended buildings etc). Just thought a bit of local perspective might help x

 

[discoclare]

Put a few more schools down. It doesn't do any harm because there was such a big baby boom 2010/2011/2012 that you just don't know how many more children will be applying this year. As another poster said, if you don't get in they will offer you a place at any school - which could well be a crap one miles away.
We did not get into our catchment area community school for this reception intake despite being well within the catchment area and in fact living down the same street as the school. This is the first year that someone living so close could not get a place - the furthest distance offered halved from 2013 to 2014, and when I called to ask how close we were on the waiting list I was shocked that we were 16th! My friend, also living within the defined catchment area, was 30something (she is further from school than me). A place (unsurprisingly) has not yet come up for us from the waiting list and my DD started 2 weeks ago at another local school. Fortunately I had been to visit a lot of local schools (8?) and used all my 6 preferences on the form.
I am not sure that being military prioritises you for the normal admissions rounds at reception and year 7. I know that it can give you some priority if you are applying for an in-year admission (children admitted outside the normal admissions rounds). Say you had been overseas and come back half way through reception and the local schools were all full, they can activate the "Fair Access Protocol" to give your child an "excepted" place (breaching the infant class size rules) in your local school of choice because you are military. Whereas Joe non-military Bloggs would be put on the waiting list and offered a place at the nearest school with a vacancy. I don't believe that they do this in the normal admissions rounds. It certainly didn't mention military personnel in any of the admissions criteria I read for about 15 schools last year! But I may have been missing something and perhaps it would be worth double checking with the council.

 

[R_x]

Do people still do more choices when the LO will have an older sibling at your first choice?

 

[Pearls18]

Thanks, I'm going to put one other school down as second choice. The school we're selecting is the nearest one to base (and our house) and has specialist in house policies for military children such as a special lunch time group just for the military children to gather and discuss things like if one of their parents are away, there's a lot that can arise out of the norm for families like ours so I feel it is important to have a school that is experienced in this, I have been told to mention it in the supporting statement for why we want this school as it is a consideration, so I certainly know it will support our application. I'm not going worry too much about it now but if we didn't get it I would be using it as part of our appeal. But of all the parents I have spoken to on our patch not one has ever not gotten into this school it seems to be the patch 1.5 miles away where they don't get into their first choice as they have the problem of there only being 1 "good" in the immediate catchment (ours are all good) so I'm not too worried about it tbh, we'll see what happens in April.