Your priority is different from your preference
Priority is where your child stands under a school’s admissions criteria. Preference is where you put that school on your CAF. The School Admissions Code prohibits giving extra priority simply because a parent ranks a school first.
This means a child listing Local School B second can rank ahead of a child listing B first, if B’s admissions criteria give the first child higher priority. Your preference order is used to decide which available place you receive.
Three possible outcomes
- Grammar A cannot offer; Local B can. B can be offered even though you listed it second.
- Grammar A and Local B can both offer. The council offers A because you placed it higher.
- Neither can offer. A second preference is not a reservation. The council considers your remaining preferences and, if necessary, an alternative school with a place.
These examples describe the ordinary coordinated Year 7 process. The interactive CAF example lets you compare the first two situations with reversing the order.
Why a second-choice place can still be missed
A family may believe its child was refused because the school was second, when the actual reason was distance, a priority category or oversubscription. Ask for the reason for refusal and compare it with the current policy.
For a grammar school, a qualifying result also needs to be valid for that particular school. Passing another area’s test may not satisfy its academic requirement. For a non-selective school, catchment, siblings or other priority rules may still matter.
Put a realistic alternative in the right position
Visit and assess your non-selective options before submitting the CAF. Check the official allocation information, the route to school and whether you meet the relevant criteria. Then order all your schools by which you would actually choose.
If you prefer B to the grammar school, put B first. If you prefer the grammar school, putting B first just to “protect” it can produce an offer you wanted less when both schools could have offered.
Keep enough acceptable alternatives on the form. Listing only one school does not improve the chance of a place, and the number of preferences allowed is set by your home council.
A FEW MORE ANSWERS
Still wondering?
Does the second-choice school fill up while the first decides?
The normal coordinated round is not a queue in which first preferences use up places before second preferences are considered. Schools rank applicants under their criteria; councils then coordinate the highest available offer.
If both schools could offer, can we choose between two offers?
Normally the council makes one offer: the higher school in your preference order. You do not receive a menu of all the places that could have been available.
Can a realistic second choice still refuse us?
Yes. Its popularity, priority groups and available places still matter. Being nearby, having visited or calling it a backup does not itself create an entitlement.
Official sources
Checked 28 Sept 2026