Reading some recent posts I think it might be useful to clarify how the CAF works.

The main point -
List your preferences in your true preference order.

There is no game to be played nor system to be beaten etc etc. You do not have to guess which school you are most likely to get offered.

Simply decide which is your first choice and put it down first and so on.
If you don't get an offer at your first choice you will be put on the waiting list for that school and your application will be assessed for your second choice and so on.
Applications for any one school are all assessed on the same criteria and where you placed them on your CAF is not one of them. Placing a school second or lower on your CAF does not weaken your application to that school.

If you are offered a place at your first choice school you won't be considered for any others so make sure it really is your first choice!

Thanks, this is really helpful

I'm not sure this is strictly the case, sometimes there is a game to play.

I know of at least one school which only ever takes people who put it as first choice because it is over subscribed. This causes the dilemma that if you have three schools as below:

1) you really want but you have a limited chance of getting
2) a good school and the one which only takes 1st choices
3) a much poorer school

In this case should you go 1,2,3 and hope you get 1 because you are exrenemly unlikely to get 2 if you don't get 1

Or 2,1,3 to minimise the chance of getting 3?

There are no games to play, simply put them down in the order you like them. If you don't get your first choice, the second becomes your first choice & you are assessed according to their entry criteria. You are not penalised in any way for not putting them first, it does not move you down the list in any way.

No, there really, really isn't.

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mad?

Unless the school in question is always over subscribed by first choices. Shoebury for example always is.

So if you chose:

A grammar school
Shoebury
Cecil or Southchurch as catchment schools

And if you missed the grammar school you would not get Shoebury.

If you put Shoebury 1st you would have more chance of not getting Cecil or Southchurch

But you would not get the school you really want. A bit of a damage limitation approach I suppose

Yes you would, assuming that you met their admissions criteria. Shoebury would become your first choice if you missed the grammar. Have you read and fully understood KB's link?

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mad?

The head at Shoebury has said that (apart from the selective entry) only people who put Shoebury first will get in.

So perhaps a better example is that if under 303 is scored and your catchment schools are bad you may need to aim for the school you have the best chance of rather than your favourite if it keeps you out of the catchment schools.

For example, with say 290, you should get a place at Shoebury (according to staff there)

The head is wrong. What they mean is put them first if it is your first choice, otherwise you will be offered the school that you gave out first if you meet their criteria.