'Putting your child's name down' at a preferred school

bestpud

Sultana wrote: »

The deadline varies enormously between LAs. Ours is 30th Jan and in some places it's before Christmas.

Yes, we get the decision here in mid-March!

Deadline is January, I believe, and the forms go out in October.

Basically, if you have not received a form by November of the year you want him to start school then ring your LEA and ask when they are out. If they've already sent them then you can ask for one and will still have time.

Also, check your local papers as the school open evenings/days are often held around September/October time, although some will hold them in around June/July time as well.

Janepig

Sultana wrote: »

The deadline varies enormously between LAs. Ours is 30th Jan and in some places it's before Christmas.

Ours has changed and will be at the end of next January for the first time. I don't think the LA had a problem before, but DD's school has got more and more oversubscribed in the last few years, and for this September's intake the deadline was the end of June. It ended up with 25 children getting knocked back for a place and a number of those (particularly ones with siblings at the school) went to appeal. Which is when it became apparent that an April deadline wasn't much use because it was almost the end of the summer term by the time the appeals were done which wouldn't have given unsuccesful parents much time to look for an alternative school.

I think the reason the LA hadn't changed it before is because the English-medium schools in town are collectively 1000+ pupils undersubscribed, so it's just the welsh-medium schools that will have pupils going to appeal. And then there's the issue that there is a legal obligation on the LA to accomodate the wishes of any child whose parents want them to be taught in a welsh-medium school. Basically it's a mess, and next September at least 60 children are going to be knocked back. I just hope it's not DS!!

Jxx

LearningToSave.

our applications for primary places for next september have to be in by 24th october this year.

jellyhead

LearningToSave. wrote: »

our applications for primary places for next september have to be in by 24th october this year.

yikes! our deadline is 12th december for primary schools, and you still have to apply even if your child is in the school nursery.

Which nursery do you want him to go to? If it's a school nursery or surestart centre then applications will go through the LEA and that appears to get the child into the 'system' because everyone I know whose child is at nursery with mine has been sent a letter (by the LEA) about applying for primary school and it mentions their nursery on it. Not sure if children in private nurseries get a letter.

My LEA website has details of the admission policies and deadlines for our area, yours probably will too.

Here there is no real benefit to putting your child's name down early, but if you put their name down a year before you expect them to go then you will be sent an invite to open evenings and a prospectus nearer to the time.

Your boy will go to nursery in september 2010, and school in september 2011 I think.

jellyhead

I still get people asking if I have put my youngest down for the local school. People don't seem to realise that things have changed, and perhaps that's why you are being hassled.

When My eldest started school and nursery they had their own admissions policies and criteria and you put their name on the list at a particular school, but by the time a nephew started school in 2004 the LEA had taken control of admissions, and used their own criteria (I think it was a government policy to make things fairer). There were friends of his from nursery who didn't get into reception at the school next door, because they were non-catchment and the criteria placed them too far down the list to get into a popular school. My nephew got in because his older borther was already at the school.

If the new system had been in place at the time the elder brother applied then he wouldn't have got in either - the old system administered by school itself used to class people as being in the catchment area if the person doing the majority of drop-offs and pick-ups lived in the catchment. So kids in the childcare facility down the road were classed as catchment, and so were those who were walked to school by a relative or childminder in the catchment. Lots of people lied, and pretended their kid got walked to school by granny or aunty, when in fact they were driven to school by mum, from an out-of-catchment address.

Ishtar

I managed to get my daughter into the Foundation unit of the school I want her to attend - we moved 40 miles in May, which meant our previous plans went by the wayside and it was a bit of a rollercoaster ride to get her into this school. Having said that, we have still had to apply for her primary school place (even though the school guarantees her a place now that she's attending the Foundation unit).

My sister already has her son on the list for this school as it is one of the better ones in the area. He'll be two next month.

Our deadline for primary school applications is 14 November.

Might be worth checking the LEA website as they often have the booklets online, which also set out the criteria for selection. In our area it's not as simple as proximity to school - this is way down the list - and I was told when I went to look around the school that I 'should look at my local school'. They are only about half a mile from each other as the crow flies!

Spendless

Nursery and secondary school applications here had to be in on 15th October, Primary have to be in by Nov 14th, so definately check your own council's website to see when their deadline is.

jellyhead

they seem to vary a lot! here the deadline for nursery applications is in march. Lots of mums didn't know about it though, and one mum I spoke to in the swimming pool had no idea there was a deadline, and it was that day. Luckily she was able to apply online that evening.

milliebear00001

You should be able to check what your catchment area school is by contacting your local authority (it's actually now called your 'normal area' school). There will only be one school that applies to your postcode and if you don't want your child to attend there, you are largely at the mercy of other selection criteria, and how popular the school is.

In general, for non-assisted/religious schools, the 'priority criteria' tend to be: children with SEN who cannot be accommodated at a school nearer their home, 'looked after' children, children with a sibling at the school OR who live nearest the school, children whose parent expresses a preference for that school on the basis of religion, children whose parents just prefer that school for other reasons.

Janepig

milliebear00001 wrote: »

You should be able to check what your catchment area school is by contacting your local authority (it's actually now called your 'normal area' school). There will only be one school that applies to your postcode and if you don't want your child to attend there, you are largely at the mercy of other selection criteria, and how popular the school is.

In general, for non-assisted/religious schools, the 'priority criteria' tend to be: children with SEN who cannot be accommodated at a school nearer their home, 'looked after' children, children with a sibling at the school OR who live nearest the school, children whose parent expresses a preference for that school on the basis of religion, children whose parents just prefer that school for other reasons.

For DD's school it's children with a sibling at the school who live in catchment. If you live out of catchment it matters not whether you already have children at the school, if they are oversubscribed then you lose out. Some of the parents who went to appeal in July did so because they already had children at the school but had been knocked back because they live out of catchment. One mother, who has three children in the school was knocked back for her fourth. But luckily that was overturned on appeal and she was allowed in. That's why I'm not holding my breath for DS to get in there because I think they may be changing the catchment for the next intake. Although in all honesty how they expect you to physcially be able to drop them at different schools I don't know.

Jxx