- Will your child miss out on their first school?
On Monday 540,000 children applied for their places at secondary schools.
However, an estimated fifth of these will have been turned away from their first choice and their parents will have to settle with taking them to second and third choice schools instead.
The competition this year is more fierce than ever. It’s made worst by the fact that 286 secondary schools have closed down in the last decade; 85 of those have been in the last two years.
An estimated two-thousand parents are thought to have resorted to cheating the system, some being successful.
The most common methods are changing their child’s address on their application form to fit in the catchment area of their choice school.
Others have sent their children to live with their grand-parents who’s home is in the catchment.
But, it’s not the be all end all if your child doesn’t get into their choice school. There is an appeal system in place where parents can appeal to the schools and get the decision overturned.
The Advisory Centre for Education, a national schools charity says last year a quarter of all appeals were successful, so don’t give up hope if you have been turned away.
You can find there website after by clicking this link http://www.ace-ed.org.uk/
The official figures of how many children got first, second and third choice schools will be released next week.
