Conflicting Advice From Council re CAF

[The GrooveDr]

Hi all,

This is my first post although have been throughly informed from reading over the past couple of months.

My DS is yet to sit the Sutton and Tiffin exam as well as the St Olaves (prepared to move).

He also also eligible for a place at top state schools and over subscribed, The Oratory and Cardinal Vaughn.

My fear is putting the grammar options first on the CAF, him not passing them and with the Oratory and Cardinal Vaughn now taking forth and fifth position on our list, him losing out on place there if was lucky to be eligible for a definate place before it went to their over subscribled lottery selection. Now the common response to this on the forum is that it shouldn't matter because, if were not to pass the grammars, the comprehensives would move up the list. However, when I spoke to Lambeth council, they said that there are only X amount of places at these comprehensives and by placing them so low on my list, could mean him losing out on a place altogether.

They advised that I would be better off hedging my bets by putting the grammar first followed by the one of the comprehensives, and so on.

Any urgent advice would be soooooooo appreciated.

Thanks so much in advance

[grammarmum]

Hi

As I understand the process, schools are not aware of ranking you have given in your CAF form. This means that your local state schools (assuming you are in their catchment) will include your child's name in their shortlist and send it to council. Your local council will then look at your rankings and award a school as per your rankings which means if you do not get any of your choices above state schools, then you will definitely get that.
It would be good to hear other's view on the subject

[mitasol]

Now the common response to this on the forum is that it shouldn't matter

The reason that this is the common response,is it that the Equal Preference system is enshrined in law. (admissions code) http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/adm ... egulations" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Lambeth don't do a particularly good job of explaining equal preference in the admissions booklet but they do say..

It is very important that you select the schools on the CAF in the order that you prefer them.

The following does a much better job of explaining the process
LAMBETH PAN-LONDON SECONDARY CO-ORDINATED ADMISSION SYSTEM
http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/ ... me2012.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

“the Equal Preference System” the model whereby all preferences listed by parents on the Common Application Form are considered under the over-subscription criteria for each school without reference to parental rankings. Where a pupil is eligible to be offered a place at more than one school within an LA, or across more than one participating LA, the rankings are used to determine the single offer by selecting the school ranked highest of those which can offer a place

All preferences for schools within this LA will be considered by the relevant admission authorities without reference to rank order in accordance with paragraphs 1.76 and 2.16 of the School Admissions Code. When the admission authorities within this LA have provided a list of applicants in criteria order to this LA, this LA shall, for each applicant to its schools for whom more than one potential offer is available, use the highest ranked preference to decide which single potential offer to make. [This is the ‘Equal Preference System’.]

You should list the schools in your true order of preference and they are each considered equally. The only purpose in ranking schools is that once all the school lists have been collated, strictly according to the over subscription criteria, the LEA will offer you the highest ranked school for which you qualify. The whole point of the Equal preference system is so you do not have to hedge your bets!

It is extremely unfortunate that someone from the council gave you such poor advice. Perhaps someone was covering in a busy period. The council do provide information where you can get advice on applying for schools (page 4 of the admissions booklet). For your own piece of mind go back and double check with one of the designated advice points.

[The GrooveDr]

Oh thank you so very much for your sound advice. It's been causing me so much stress.

I've just rang them again and asked to speak to somebody in charge. They said they'll get somebody to call me back. Will keep you posted:0)

[Princess]

Hi Groove Dr,

I received the same response from Sutton last year when I submitted my CAF the advice given when I spoke to them was " as I had listed 4 gammar's and 2 comprehensives which were further down my list I did not leave many options open had my DD not passed for any of the grammars as the 2 comprehensives I had listed judging by previous years would not reach my address on allocation day as it would be full". I guess this is where the hedging your bets came in for us when we submitted our CAF. Regardless of what the admissions code states there was still a possibility that my DD would not have received a place on allocation day and the comment from admissions was " they can legally place your child in a school up XX miles away". Yes the schools do not know what order you have placed them on your list, but the individual admissions/over subscription cirteria comes into play and you need to be realistic about where your child falls within the schools cirteria.
My friends DD had no school on allocation day based on the situation above and now sends her to private school as she was not happy with the council allocated school.

[mitasol]

It is advisable to place a banker school as your last preference i.e. one you will realistically be allocated if your other preferences cannot be met - this would be your local catchment school.