Fishface101 wrote:
Whilst I am sure about king Edwards, still trying to way up whether worth putting DS through another test for queen mary’s. If we put two king Edwards schools first on list then put Queen Mary’s as third - but not sure how allocations work. Can anyone shed any light on this? If QM put third then is there any point taking Walsall test?
Your local authority's secondary school admissions web pages / booklet are your friend here, but essenrially, 'how secondary admisdions work' is exactly 'how primary admissions worked when you applied'

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- list your schools in your true order of preference, because your application for each school is ranked against that school's published admissions criteria as if you have only applied for that one school. Your local authority then looks at all the schools that can offer you a place, and the one you are allocated is the one of those which you said that you most wanted. Your DC goes on the waiting list for any schools (for which they qualify, if a grammar school) that you ranked higher than the one you got.
If you apply for a school and are turned down, you have the right of appeal. If the school concerned is a grammar school for which your DC didn't qualify in terms of a required score, you can still appeal, but you have to convince the independenrt appeal panel that your DC is actually of the required academic standard, as well as that their need for a place outweighs the school's need not to take any extra pupil above its PAN.
So if you really want QM in preference to a KE school, then you should aim to put it in first place on your CAF (otherwise, if your DC can be offered a school you put above QM, they won't be offered QM) and if that means that your DC has to sit a separate test, then they have to do that, if you would like them to be offered the school on 1st March.