OakR,
I'm not an expert on the process, although right in the middle of it at present, but my understanding is that each school basically allocated according to distance from the school. You can draw circles round each school and if you don't fit in any of the circles for your choices then you will be allocated a place somewhere there is a space.

So if I was stupid enough to choose 6 schools in Brockley then my daughter would get into any of them and would probably end up at the closest school with a spare place (probably Kelvin Grove, Holy Trinity, Kilmoire or Hastletine - all good or outstanding schools).

But if there are no bulge classes this year in Forest Hill ward, then it will be quite possible to live in the centre of Forest Hill but outside the catchment areas of Horniman, Fairlawn, Eliot Bank, Stillness, Adamsrill (with reception in Willow Way), Dalmain, etc. If you are lucky (and possibly of the right religious persuasion) you might get allocated a place at Kelvin Grove, Perrymount, Saint Francis, Holy Trinity, or Christchurch, but it is also possible that you will be driving your 4 year old to Bell Green to get a space place in Hastletine. At least until a place becomes available at a more local school half way through the year, when he or she can make new friends closer to home.

Two alternatives exist; you can put your child up for adoption with a family with an older child at the school of your choice, or you can move house to make it to the top of the waiting list.