If results have not arrived
Check when your test organiser expects to publish results and compare that with your home council’s CAF deadline. If the dates do not line up, ask the council how to submit preferences while the outcome is pending.
Do not treat an estimated mark, practice-paper percentage or another family’s result as your child’s official outcome. A school may require a second-stage test as well as an initial qualifying result.
If the result is below the selective standard
Read the specific area’s instructions before removing the school. Some review or appeal routes depend on having applied for the school in the normal way.
Kent says parents can still apply after a non-selective assessment, but the grammar preference will be refused at allocation and can then be appealed. Bexley tells families seeking a headteacher review to include a grammar preference while discussing the review with their child’s headteacher. These are local procedures, not a single national review system.
Use the review and appeal explanation to identify which decision you are challenging.
Account for the limited preferences on your CAF
A hopeful grammar preference uses one of the available places on your form. Consider what you would list if the test or review outcome remains unchanged.
Before submitting, make sure the application includes schools you would accept and have a realistic prospect of securing under their policies. A nearby comprehensive can still be oversubscribed, so check that policy too.
Put schools in your true preference order. Naming a grammar school first does not reduce your admissions priority at a lower preference, but it also does not make that lower preference a guaranteed safety net.
If you decide not to name the school
Keep a copy of the decision and understand what changing your mind later would involve. You may need a late application before a refused place can be appealed; late preferences can be considered after the main allocation.
Do not name a school purely because it is a grammar school if the journey, subjects or support would make you unwilling to accept it. Conversely, a disappointing test result is a reason to investigate the published process, not to miss the school application deadline.
A FEW MORE ANSWERS
Still wondering?
Does naming a grammar school override a failed test?
No. The school applies its academic requirements. A relevant review or later appeal is a separate process and is not guaranteed to succeed.
Will listing it first harm a non-grammar preference?
No extra priority is lost merely because the non-grammar school is lower on the form. But it must still be able to offer under its own criteria.
Can we leave the CAF until the review finishes?
Do not miss the application deadline while waiting. Read the local review instructions about naming schools, and submit an on-time application with alternatives.
Official sources
Checked 28 Sept 2026