Reviving advice on filling in CAF

[helen0209]

Hi, If I got the offer for 3rd preference of my school. will I be in the waiting list for the previous two schools or just one?and If I accepted the third school, can l still be in the waiting list . If so, how long can I be in the waiting list? Thanks

Yes, you will be on the W/L for any school you ranked higher on your CAF than the one you were allocated. Yes, if you accept the school you will still be on the W/L for any school ranked higher. You need to accept the school you are offered or you could end up with no school! We were offered and accepted the school which was 6th on our CAF, but remained on the W/L for the 5 above, finally getting the 2nd choice school in June.

You will remain on the W/L until Christmas at the end of the 1st term of school - so in your case December 2017. If you want to remain on the W/L after this you need to write to the school and let them know.

[ToadMum]

Hi, If I got the offer for 3rd preference of my school. will I be in the waiting list for the previous two schools or just one?and If I accepted the third school, can l still be in the waiting list . If so, how long can I be in the waiting list? Thanks

This isn't a personal dig, honest but all this information is to be found in the admission information regarding the schools you are applying to (re how long you would remain on a waiting list) and in the 'transfer to secondary school' info on the website of your home local authority. You may (should) even be asked to agree that you've read and understood the information relevant to your application before you press 'submit'.

Generally, you will go on the waiting list for any school above the one you are allocated, although you may have to tell your LA and / or the school that this is what you want (in some areas, though, it is done automatically). However, where for example you have named a grammar school first and your child did not pass the exam, you can only appeal, not go on the waiting list for a place.

[Eileen16]

Hi all, do you have to list a comp on the lea form, we are in walsall. My choice are QMGS, BV. Can i just pick 2 leave the rest blank, score for walsall 370.

[Turtlegirl]

No obligation, no. Since you have a very secure score, there is no point. I didn't list a comprehensive on my son's CAF last year as he had scored comfortably well enough for his chosen school, which he was allocated on March 1st. It still felt a bit nerve wracking though!

[sky55]

Thanks helen0209 for your detailed explanation. Much appreciated. Thanks toadmum too.

[ToadMum]

Thanks helen0209 for your detailed explanation. Much appreciated. Thanks toadmum too.

Having gone through the system twice where we had to complete the CAF before the 11+ was taken, let alone results known, it really makes me weep to see people effectively 'blinding themselves', when the guidance, set out according to the relevant law, is out there

(And out here, of course, if you can trust your responders to get it as 'right' as your local authority has to ).

[Newbiee]

Filing out preferences on the council's website. Is it all we have to do? Is CAF and LA form both the same? Is there anything else i am missing out Please advice

[ToadMum]

Filing out preferences on the council's website. Is it all we have to do? Is CAF and LA form both the same? Is there anything else i am missing out Please advice

The CAF (Common Application Form) is the form - usually completed and submitted online - provided by your local authority, on which you list your preferred schools. Putting the one you want most of all first and then the one you would like if you can't have the first one, and so on down the list. You only submit one CAF - to your home authority - regardless of where the schools are which you want to list on it.

[Newbiee]

Filing out preferences on the council's website. Is it all we have to do? Is CAF and LA form both the same? Is there anything else i am missing out Please advice

The CAF (Common Application Form) is the form - usually completed and submitted online - provided by your local authority, on which you list your preferred schools. Putting the one you want most of all first and then the one you would like if you can't have the first one, and so on down the list. You only submit one CAF - to your home authority - regardless of where the schools are which you want to list on it.

Thanks for the advice ToadMum. Its great relief. rang the schools and they couldn't confirm. i have received confirmation email following my application and it lists the schools in my chosen priority. Just hoping this is it..

[Ricky74]

Twin 1 has not met the qualifying score for BV (he has 201) and the QS is 204.
But am I right in thinking the only way to appeal is to put this first on my CAF and then rejected (even though we won't be added to WL)

In other words, can we appeal without putting it on the CAF form?

Thanks (Twin 2 much easier to sort!)