BBC Northern Ireland region started on 19th April 1955 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One Northern Ireland.

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BBC One is a TV channel that started broadcasting on the 20th April 1964. It replaced BBC Television.

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Until 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales (analogue) was known simply as BBC Two Wales. BBC Two Wales (digital) was BBC 2W. From 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales schedules on both analogue and digital became identical

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The Big School Lottery

The Big School Lottery: Episode 2: The Decision

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The Decision

Episode 2

Episode 2: The Decision

BBC Two - The Big School Lottery, The Decision

On national offer day, cameras capture the families' reactions as they hear the verdict.

A look at the often fraught process of selecting a child's secondary school. On national offer day, cameras capture the families' reactions as they hear the verdict.

Series offering an insight into one of the most important and stressful decisions a family can make - which secondary school to send their child to.

Following eight pupils and their parents through the process, the film also has unprecedented access to the work of Birmingham Education Authority, which is the largest in Europe, as it allocates its school places. 

Having made their selection of schools, there is a six-month wait for all of the children before they can discover their fate. Julie Newbold, the Head of Admissions and Appeals at Birmingham Education Authority, is able to handle all the complex school preferences via a computer algorithm which creates the results in just a few minutes - 90,000 preferences from 15,000 children are entered and one school for each child is offered. 

On national offer day, cameras capture the families' reactions as they hear the verdict. 

And for Julie Newbold and her team, the weeks that follow offer day are spent fielding thousands of calls from parents unhappy with their allocation, with over 800 appeals to be heard through the summer.

BBC Two

BBC Two is a TV channel that started broadcasting on the 20th April 1964.

BBC 2

BBC2

BBC Two is a lively channel of depth and substance, carrying a range of knowledge-building programming complemented by great drama, comedy and arts.

Series offering an insight into process of selecting a child's secondary school

Series offering an insight into the often fraught process of selecting a child's secondary school

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The BBC West region started on 1st September 1957 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One West.

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The BBC South West region started on 20th April 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South West.

BBC One South West

The BBC South region started on 5th January 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South.

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BBC One region covering Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

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The BBC East region started on 1st May 1959 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One East.

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The BBC North East & Cumbria region started in 1959 (tbc) as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One North East & Cumbria.

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Formerly part of a wider BBC One South East region that included London and part of the South region. Separated from BBC One London 2001-09-03 following reorganisation of the South East region.

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The Big School Lottery

Episode 2: The Decision

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