How do I know if my application for a school is realistic?
If a school has more applications than places available then all of the applications are put in priority order, according to the admission criteria. You can check the admission criteria for each school.
For example, if the school you want to apply for is a Catholic school it is likely that they will give priority to children who are baptised Catholic and/or those who live in the parish. Solihull Catholic schools require you to fill in a supplementary information form as well as include the school name on your application.
If you want to apply for a Solihull community school or an academy which uses the Solihull admission criteria this is how to find out your priority:
If your child is "looked after" by the local authority, for example, in foster care, or is adopted and was previously looked after, or has exceptional circumstances, your application would be given priority 1.
If you live in the school or academy's catchment area your application would be given priority 2. You can check this on our Online Maps service.
If you live outside the catchment area, but have an older child who will still be attending the school in September 2013 your application would be given priority 3.
If your application is not priority 1, priority 2 or priority 3 it will be given priority 4 as you live outside the catchment area. These applications will be put in order of distance from home to school, measured in a straight line. You can check your approximate distance on our Online Maps service. Measurements taken from other websites such as Google maps will not be valid.
Once you have worked out your priority you can compare it with the priority and distance of the last child offered a place last year. If you have a higher priority, or the same priority and live closer to the school you have a good chance of being offered a place. If you have the same priority and live further away your chance of being offered a place is not good.
Priority and distance of last child offered a place:
Follow this example:
Imagine you want to apply for Langley School
| Is your child in foster care or adopted? | No |
| Do you live in Solihull and in Langley’s catchment area? | No |
| Will an older brother or sister be attending next September? | No |
| How far do you live from Langley School? | 1.25 miles |
The last person offered a place for September 2012 was priority 4 - 0.958 miles. This means that your child would not have been offered a place in 2012 because you live too far away. However, this is only a guide and does not mean your application would be unsuccessful every year.
The number of places available in priority 4 will vary depending on how many applications are made and how many children live in the catchment area. This means that the distance of the last person offered a place will also vary, for example, it will not always be 0.958 miles for Langley School.
You can still express a preference for this school but you should include other schools on your application where you have a better chance of being offered a place.