VMohaz wrote:
Hi,
Can someone advise how the allotment from CAF works? We get 6 choices in our form, so I say for example put down the first 3 from London schools and next 3 from our local area (my DD has passed all exams so far but for one) -how is the allocation handled?
1) DAO
2) Latymer
3) Non-such
4) DCHS
5) BHS (within catchment)
6) Local comp
In the above case, assuming BHS - choice 5 is what we get as we live in catchment, would we go into waiting list in the top 4? If say she is chosen in choice 1 DAO, do we automatically lose places in the remaining 5 ranked lower than 1? If we change our mind in March/April 2018 before accepting the offer for choice 1 - can we do it? What is the process then, say we want to accept BHS and not DAO in March? Do we go into waiting list in BHS as places would have been allotted then
Please advise.
Thanks in advance
You will be allocated a place at your highest ranked school at which you can be offered one.
So if you can be offered DAO, you will be - and it becomes totally irrelevant that you might have been given of your lower ranked schools. You never find out.
Same goes, all the way down your list and yes, you will either automatically go on waiting lists for higher preferences, or you may have to ask. Ask your LA about this, or better still, read all the information on its website about how the whole admissions process works.
Changing your preferences after 31st October will usually make your whole application 'late' and only considered after all the on-time applications have been dealt with. An exception may be made if you are changing address before a given date, but given the spread of your applications, I would guess that you are aiming to move, or not, after March 1st?
Whatever school you are allocated, if you then decided you really wanted a lower preference, you could ask to
be added to that school's waiting list and hope that a place becomes available. Waiting lists have to be maintained in oversubscription criteria order at least until the end of the first term, so you might go straight in at the top, or you might rank somewhere in the middle, or at the bottom, depending on the highest criterion you meet.
So all in all, make your decision now, rank your schools in your true order of preference and stick with it.
Cross-posted with KCG. You won't be given any different advice from anyone who actually understands how the system works. And BTW we mainly got to that understanding by reading, marking and inwardly digesting (as my dad used to say

) the information provided by our local authorities. And other people's, every time someone asks on here and we go away and look to see what their LA has to say about the (national) coordinated system

.