Secondary applications close 31 October. Primary close 15 January.
Check my list

England · September 2027 places

You could be sent a school you never picked.

days left

Secondary closes 31 October

Check my list, free

Free · 2 minutes · no card, no account

Name too few schools and you can get none of them. The council then gives you the nearest school with a space.

  • Is your list safe? We say if it could leave you with nothing.
  • How many to name, and why the number beats the order.
  • What to fix, and the days you have left to fix it.
Closed gates outside an English state school on a wet autumn morning SCHOOL PREFERENCES Name up to six schools 12 3456 4 SLOTS EMPTY four free chances thrown away

Five things parents believe that are wrong

Councils publish these every year. Parents still get them wrong, and it costs them places.

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“Naming one school shows I really want it.”

The school never sees how many you named. You have only removed your backups.

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“Other schools will weaken my first choice.”

They cannot. Your first choice never sees the rest of your list.

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“Put the easiest school first.”

This one hurts most. You give away the school you wanted, for nothing.

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“Long shots lower down protect my top choice.”

Each school decides on its own. Your other choices are never looked at.

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“Write the same school three times and they must take me.”

The repeats are binned. If it is full, you get the nearest school with a space.

How it really works. Every school you name judges your child on its own rules. It cannot see where you put it, or the other schools. The order only matters if more than one says yes. Then you get the highest one.

What March looks like if this goes wrong

An email names a school you have never visited, forty minutes away, that none of your child’s friends are going to.

You cannot change the form. It closed in October. What is left is a waiting list you do not control and an appeal that one in five wins.

All of it decided by a form you filled in one Tuesday evening, in twenty minutes.

The numbers behind it

None of this is secret. Almost nobody looks it up.

3 to 6schools you are allowed to name, depending on your council
1offer your child can hold at any one time
1 in 5appeals succeed, if it comes to that in March

Work out your real distance to each school, and check it against what the school actually took last year. It is the most useful hour you will spend on this, and we show you where the numbers are.

What is free, and what is not

Two different jobs. Only one of them costs anything.

1

Understand how the form works

Eight guides. Free forever. No card, no email.

  • How the order of your list really works
  • How many schools to name, and why
  • What happens if you get none of them
  • The rules schools use to pick children
  • What being late actually costs you

Yours at the end of the check. Nothing to pay.

The difference in one line. The free guides explain the form. The pack builds your list.

Why you can take our word for it

We are new. So here is exactly what we are and what we are not.

Built on the statutory codes

Written against the School Admissions Code 2021 and your council’s own published rules. Not opinion, not forum threads.

Nobody pays us to say anything

No school, council or adviser pays us. We sell one thing, to you, once. That is the only money that reaches us.

We tell you when you need nothing

If your list already looks safe, the check says so and we sell you nothing. Our content is reviewed by a former appeal panel member; we will name them here once that is in place.

Sixty days to change your mind

Reply to your receipt within sixty days and we refund it. No form, no questions.

No reviews here yet, because we have not had customers yet. When we do, they go here in their own words. We are not going to make them up.

Questions parents ask first

Does putting a school first help me get in?

No. Each school looks at your child on its own rules and cannot see where you ranked it. The order only decides which one you are offered if more than one says yes.

Will naming other schools hurt my first choice?

No. Your first choice never sees the rest of your list. Naming fewer schools does not help you. It only takes away your backups.

What if I get none of the schools I named?

The council gives you the nearest school to your home with a space left. It will be a school you did not choose, and it may not be near.

What if I apply late?

Late forms are only looked at after every on-time one. In a busy area the popular schools are full by then.

Is this legal advice?

No. It is information, built on the codes and your council’s own rules.

Not applying tonight?

We will remind you before it closes

Four emails, counted back from your own closing date: when to write the list, when to check the distances, when the extra forms are due, and the day before it shuts. Then we stop. The eight free guides come with it.

Check your list before you send it

Eight questions. You will know if your list is safe, and what to fix, in two minutes.

Check my list, free

Free. No card, no account.

Check my list, free