CAF and preferences

[mum1969]

Having read a lot of threads, there still seems to be a lot of confusion about preferences on CAF. I know many have replied on individual threads but thought it might be helpful to highlight this on a separate one.

Schools are not told where you have put them on your CAF. They are given a list of applicants by the council which they then order depending on how each applicant fulfils their admissions criteria ( I believe this is done by the council for non-selective schools). They then hand this ordered list back to the council who then allocate places taking into account each applicants preferences.The easiest way to show this is by example:

Say you have 3 schools you can list on the CAF (know it is 4 for Herts and 6 for London boroughs but easier to use 3 for an example). Your choice of schools is HBS, DAO, local comp - in that order and you list them on the CAF like that. HBS you are in top 250 - good chance but not guaranteed. DAO rank 130 - may get in on allocation day but should get continuing interest. Local comp - definitely get a place on distance.

When council gets lists back from schools you are not far enough up the lists to get allocated HBS or DAO so council allocates you the local comp. You accept the place but remain on the CI lists for HBS and DAO. After the first round of CI the DAO list moves enough (but HBS doesn't) so you are offered a place there and the offer for the local comp is automatically withdrawn. You accept but still remain on the CI for HBS. At the 2nd round of CI the HBS list moves and a place becomes available there, this is offered to you and the DAO place automatically withdrawn. If at the first round of CI the HBS list moved enough, regardless of movement on the DAO list, you would be offered HBS, the local comp place would be withdrawn and you would no longer be considered for DAO as HBS is your higher preference.

As many have said in different threads - you must list any schools in your TRUE order of preference.

[zippyandgeorge]

Thank you- very informative.

Please can you clarify when these offers are made? Using your example, would the local comp offer be given on offers day (2nd March- I think)? If so, how soon after would DAO, and eventually HBS be offered? Please can you also tell me what CI stands for.

Many thanks. Much appreciated.

[hermanmunster]

CI stands for continuing interesr - implies you would consider a place if one came uo

All offers are on the same day - everyone gets one offer of a school on the ssme day

[VH73]

This has never been clear enough for me. Do I still stay in a CI list, even after I accepted another school's offer?
But this thread answered my question. Thanks a lot. Explains it all.

[ToadMum]

On National Offer Day, the school you will be allocated is the one highest in your list of preferences which has said that it is able to give your child a place, having considered him / her against its published admissions criteria. The LA (or rather the computer program) assumes that
1) having been given a place at School C you are no longer interested in (say, where we are) School D or School E, and
2) you would still prefer School A or School B - in that order - if a place became available there.

Hence the advice that the most important thing is, if you have a hierarchy of preferences, this is the order you must list schools on your CAF, rather than play some kind of "second guessing" game.

[mum1969]

In my example, the initial offer would be on allocation day, 3rd March. CI is continuing interest - this is when you remain on the waiting lists for other schools. The LEA has 2 CI runs - the first a few weeks after allocation day, the second a couple of months later - check your LEA website for exact dates ( think this is week commencing 17th March and week commencing 28th April this year but please do check). This is when places turned down by parents on allocation day are re-allocated. You automatically remain on the CI lists for schools you ranked higher on the CAF if you did not get offered your first preference but you will not remain on CI lists for schools you ranked lower. It is possible to add schools to your CI list after the first CI run. You can also remove yourself from CI lists should you decide you are happy with the school you have been offered e.g. in my example, if you were offered DAO and decided you were no longer interested in HBS you could remove yourself from the CI list for HBS. After the 2nd CI run any places that become available will be reallocated as they become available until the end of August.

Hope this helps.

[mum1969]

Forgot to say - if you get offered a place from a school on your CI list your original offer is automatically withdrawn. It is assumed that a school on your CI list is a higher preference to the school you already have. You cannot hold more than one offer at any given time. In my example - if you had accepted a place at DAO and then remained on the CI for HBS which was then offered, the DAO place would be automatically withdrawn - you would not get to choose between the two schools, you have already made that choice with your preferences.

[hermanmunster]

Forgot to say - if you get offered a place from a school on your CI list your original offer is automatically withdrawn. It is assumed that a school on your CI list is a higher preference to the school you already have. You cannot hold more than one offer at any given time. In my example - if you had accepted a place at DAO and then remained on the CI for HBS which was then offered, the DAO place would be automatically withdrawn - you would not get to choose between the two schools, you have already made that choice with your preferences.

Worth remembering - a lot of people rightly get used to the school they have been allocated, may have visited, bought uniform, met others going , tried out the route etc etc - then suddenly a place comes up elsewhere! hard enough if given the choice for some at that stage but worse if the choice is taken away from you.

[zippyandgeorge]

That was so well explained mum1969- thank you ever so much. It all makes sense now.

Hermanmunster and ToadMum- thank you for the clarification too.

[Mymble]

Forgot to say - if you get offered a place from a school on your CI list your original offer is automatically withdrawn. It is assumed that a school on your CI list is a higher preference to the school you already have. You cannot hold more than one offer at any given time. In my example - if you had accepted a place at DAO and then remained on the CI for HBS which was then offered, the DAO place would be automatically withdrawn - you would not get to choose between the two schools, you have already made that choice with your preferences.

Worth remembering - a lot of people rightly get used to the school they have been allocated, may have visited, bought uniform, met others going , tried out the route etc etc - then suddenly a place comes up elsewhere! hard enough if given the choice for some at that stage but worse if the choice is taken away from you.

I'm sure this must happen quite a lot - do you know of any occasions when someone has changed their mind - for example in the scenario above, decided that they would prefer DAO (original 2nd choice) to HBS (original 1st choice) after all - and the school has been sympathetic to their change of heart?