2013 primary school admission - order of preference

[slimjim]

Hi,

Is anyone able to confirm whether the order of preference you list for primary school admission is still taken into account when being offered a place next year? i.e. if more than one school is able to offer you a place, the school that is highest on your list of preferences is the one that you will be offered.

I've heard a rumour that in 2013 all schools listed as a preference will be treated equally, so by default you will be offered a place at your nearest eligable school rather than the highest eligable school on your list.

The Southwark admission brochure isn't totally clear on the matter, stating this:

"Once all schools have prioritised applications based on their admission criteria, they will provide a ranked list to Southwark Council?s schools admissions team.

Where a child can be offered more than one school they have applied for, the ranked order will be used to offer the child the highest of the possible offers."

The way that is written suggests that the school that ranks your application the highest is the one that offers you a place. Is anyone able to confirm whether the "ranked order" mentioned above is in fact the list of preferences supplied by the parent, or whether it relates to school's "ranked list" mentioned in the previous sentence.

If anyone is able to catagorically clear this up, I'd be very grateful.

Thanks!

[Cora]

As far as I know the schools have no idea where you rank them. They get told that they are on your list and feedback if they can offer you a place. You will then be offered the place from the school highest up on your list. You will remain on the waiting list for any schools that you put further up the list. By accepting a place lower down on your list will not penalise your place on higher up waiting lists.

Things may have changed but I suspect it's urban scaremongering!

[Renata Hamvas]

Hi Slimjim and Etta, you've got my attention!

There has been no change to the way primary school places are allocated. It is the parents ranking of schools that matters. Schools do not know were you have placed them on the CAF form. Ignore schools that tell you that you have to put them first to get a place, that is rubbish! (I know particulary some of Secondaries say this at the open days, but it's purely to encourage parents to put them top).

What happens is that you submit your form to Southwark (if you live in Southwark). They submit a list of all applicants to each primary school where people have applied (theoretically, you can apply to schools anywhere in London on your form). The school then ranks the applicants according to their admissions criteria, eg taking into account if a child is fostered, SEN, a sibling, distance and religion if applicable to that school etc. The ranked list goes back to Southwark for number crunching. In theory, the top 60 on that list may be the ones eligible for a place at that particular primary, but half of those applicants may have put another school (or more than one) higher on their list. This means that the next 30 are eligible for a place at that school. Again half of those may have a place at another school, and so the list goes down to the next 15, and so on until the school has a list of 60 pupils for whom this particular school was the highest ranking school for which they were eligible for a place.

This system means that of you have a couple of long shots you really like, but think you have a small chance to get into, if you put them 1 and 2, it doesn't reduce the chance of you getting eg the school 100m away that you don't like quite as much and have put 3rd (assuming this school selects on distance). If someone else lives 600m away and puts the same school 1st, even though you have put it 3rd, you are more likely to be offered this school (if choice 1 and 2 can't). It is because of this system that someone could be offered their 6th choice, while another person putting the same school 1st doesn't get it.

If you look at the Southwark brochure, there are several schools which have no last place offered distance. There may be 180 people who have applied to a particular school but if eg there are more popular schools close to it, many people may put the more popular schools higher and the less popular school may not have filled all it's places when all the place crunching is complete. You will automatically go into the waiting list of schools that couldn't offer you a place and are higher than your allocated place on your CAF form.

For those schools that have no last place offered distance, you could have lived any distance away and still got a place. I do encourage that unless eg your child is a younger sibling, that you apply to 6 schools. It is better to be offered a 5th or 6th place school than Southwark to allocate a school place to your child. You and not Southwark knows where is (not as close perhaps to your home as your schools choice 1 and 2), a less popular school close to your work/transport route or Granny's house, friend's etc.

Bulging needs to be considered when doing school applications. Schools usually have a much greater last place offer distance in bulge years and a smaller one that usual for 2 or 3 years after a bulge due to a greater number of siblings. Once I know which schools are earmarked for bulging I will post the list on this forum. Be aware that additional schools may bulge once the applications come in and extra spaces are needed in a particular area. All of Southwark's schools have been assessed whether they can bulge and also whether they could be expanded.

Sorry this is a bit long!

Renata

[slimjim]

Thank you so much Renata for being so generous with your time and providing that very comprehensive answer. It makes complete sense.

Thanks again!