In thousands of calendars across the length and breadth of England, 1 March will have a circle around it to mark that today is national offer day – when children find out where they will be starting secondary school in September. Some will greet their missives from the council with relief and even joy, marking the end of an ordeal that has lasted for months or even years. For others the news will bring disappointment and perhaps a rancorous appeals process.
After more than three decades of policy promoting school choice, the rituals are well established. Every autumn, secondary schools host open days and pump out literature, wooing the next cohort of prospective students, as well as the keenest families scouting their options a year or two in advance. Parents are encouraged to do their own research, consulting league tables and inspection reports, often supplemented with a good deal of school-gate gossip. Application forms ranking between three and six schools have to be submitted by the end of October, before a four-month wait for a verdict. The dates are different, but the process is similar for primary schools.
As I grew up in Scotland, all of this was alien to me before I began researching it. In Scotland, the vast majority of students go to their local catchment school by default, although around one in eight make a “placing request” for a different school. That reflects the different approach Scottish policymakers have taken, resisting marketisation where governments in England have embraced it.
