Single choice on CAF? Would you?

[rubyhettybetty]

Just want to know I am not missing anything

DD2 has passed her 11+ - and the school she wants has sibling priority as 2nd criteria (after looked after children)

There are 120 places

Do I just put one choice on my cAF?

[hermanmunster]

RHB it depends how many have "passed".... what comes after siblings?

I put just one but there were 112 places and catchment + pass was next after LAC+pass and only 38 in catchment passed and I can see the school out of the window.

[Chocolatey Mum]

We live in Kent and plan on only putting one school on our SCAF.

DD passed the 11+ and we will be putting TWGGS as we live within a mile away.

In past years the distance has been around 1.6 and 1.8 miles. So we should be safe.

[Minesatea]

No!

What you need to consider is what school you are likely to be offered if you don't get the one you apply for. By not expressing any other preferences, if you don't get your first choice you get offered whatever is left when everyone else has been allocated. This may be miles away.

There are stories in the press every year of children who have been offered a school place miles away because they unexpectedly didn't get their chosen school. There is no advantage to be gained by only using one choice so why not use the rest?

[Sally-Anne]

I completely agree with minesatea - only putting one choice is a very high risk strategy in all but a very few cases. An area comprising a radius of 1 mile from the school can contain an awful lot more eligible children in one year than another, especially in an urban area.

It might also be that there are a lot more siblings than you realise in any given year and suddenly the distance criterion can drop like a stone.

Compare the pain of writing a name in the second box with that of having to appeal against over-subscription in March ...

[hermanmunster]

Compare the pain of writing a name in the second box with that of having to appeal against over-subscription in March ...

Definitely worth having some control over the possible second choice school.

[Chocolatey Mum]

Ok.ok. I give in.

Actually, we do have the Bennett form signed by the vicar sitting here, so I should add that to the SCAF and send the sup form and baptism certificate to Bennett.

You're all right I know - I don't want to be the indignant mother on the news on 1st March complaining about the admission system in Kent.

Consider myself chastised.

[Sally-Anne]

Ok.ok. I give in.

You know it makes sense ...

Yes, submit the full application to Bennetts, but is there another GS that you want to name ahead of it as well? I'm not in your area, so somehone else is best placed to advise you on that.

[tense]

I would definitely fill in every space on the CAF for all the reasons other posters mention.

The year my DD started secondary her school admitted over 90 siblings. This was unusually high - it's usually about 70-75.

[Desperado99]

I have to say I have put three schools down, even though DD has passed her 11+ and will have no trouble at all being allocated a place (we know the numbers applying, and we are in catchment).

Our second choice (non-selective) is over-subscribed, so we wouldn't want to take a chance of not getting either.