Choice Advice Service

Are you a parent or carer of a child transferring to secondary school? The Choice Advice Service can provide you with impartial guidance, support and information.

The short address for this page is: www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/choiceadvice

What is Choice Advice?

Choice Advice is an impartial guidance, support and information service for parents and carers who are applying for a secondary school place for their child, who lives in Gloucestershire. The service aims to help families optimise their school choices using available information and local knowledge of what individual schools have to offer. Where appropriate, this will include information about schools which might be in neighbouring local authority areas.

If your child has a statement of special educational needs, you can obtain specialist confidential and impartial support from the Parent Partnership Service

What can a Choice Adviser do for you?

Getting advice from the Choice Adviser will not guarantee your child a place at your preferred school, but the Choice Adviser can help you to assess the options so that you can make the best decision for your child.

A Choice Adviser will aim to make sure you have a full understanding of all the information available. This could include:

• advice on all aspects of the secondary school admissions process
• help with completing the secondary school admissions forms for Gloucestershire and neighbouring authorities
• impartial information about secondary schools, such as facilities, after-school clubs, number of pupils, performance, curriculum and specialisms
• information about provision for children with special educational needs
• details of the admissions policies for different schools
• information on travel and uniform policies
• advice about how pupils are allocated a place if too many pupils apply for a particular school
• support through the appeals procedure, if you don't get your preferred choice

What 'Choice' do I have ?

Although we talk about 'choice', parents only have the right to express a preference for a choice of school for their child. This means that you can state your top four preferences for secondary schools. If your child is in Year 6, you will be given the Transfer to Secondary School booklet 2008 produced by Gloucestershire County Councils School Admissions, outlining the admissions criteria for different schools. 

Is the Choice Adviser impartial?

The Choice Advice service is impartial and confidential. The Choice Adviser will provide information and offer support to help you come to your decision. However, they will not make a decision for you, nor will they recommend or guarantee a place at any school. Confidentiality is always respected and information will only be shared with parents' permission.

How do I contact the Choice Advice Service?

You can telephone Freephone 0800 9888 042 or email choiceadvice@gloucestershire.gov.uk