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

seven-day-weekend

I don't like all this 'siblings get in' business.

What if it's your eldest, or an only child? In lots of schools the places are just filled up with siblings and there is no room for other children!

Eldest or only children should not be penalised in this way imho.

milliebear00001

Yes it's a sticky issue for lots of schools the 'sibling/distance' one. In my LA, siblings take priority over catchment, but that's only been a recent change. Some areas say catchment over siblings, some vice versa. I can see both sides myself.

If you apply for your first child to go to a school that isn't your normal area school (or later move away from your first child's catchment) you do run the risk of not getting your second/later children into the same school - I am in this position myself with my second, who is now out of catchment for his sister's school. We figured it was a risk worth taking.

Janepig

I can see siblings vs distance possibly being an issue if perhaps you live in a small village with one local school, with a small intake, and despite living close you are knocked back in favour of someone living out of the area.

In my circumstances though, if I had an only child, or an eldest, who had been knocked back for the school DD is now at, it would be no skin off my nose, they'd just go to another school in the area. I don't think there are any particularly bad ones and there's plenty to choose from (although not all welsh-medium).

However, my circumstances as they are, if DS doesn't get in then how can I be in two places at once for drop offs, plus a 30+ minute journey to work twice a week? Or do I pull DD out of her school after three years there to join her brother? In which case I think even parents of eldest children going to school for the first time or parents of only children, should be able to see that it would be an impossible situation.

Plus of course you often have parents who move slightly out of catchment after one or more of their older children joins the school, then get their youngest children knocked back. Again, is that fair?

As far as DD's school is concerned anyway, I should think that siblings make up a small number of the yearly 60+ intake anyway.

Siblings should not be penalised imho, so what's the answer?

Jxx

milliebear00001

Dunno! In my area, the schools are fairly spread out and my husband (who takes them) doesn't drive, so it would be a real issue for us to get the both to school on time if they were at different ones. I guess I am lucky that my son is likely to get a place because of the sibling weighting. I know I would be annoyed if my child missed out on a place because of it going to an out of catchment sibling though. Especially when I live in nappy-valley with an ever expanding baby population - the situation is likely to occur in the not too distant future.

Another school in my area had 40 appeals last year because catchment children didn't get places. All won and the school had to accommodate them - go figure that one!

Naomim

flubdub wrote: »

I put my son down for a school about a year ago and he was only the 7t child on the list (he was two and a half, and it is by far the best school round here), but that was when I thought it was first come first serve. Its not now, its closeness to the school, other siblings and religion that determine it now.

Anyway, weve moved, and hes going to a school now thats just as good, and has about 1/3 of the kids going there, so thats better I think.
Dont rush about getting kids names down. They ask you to fill a form in when your childs about three and a half (that they give you) saying which school you want your child to go to.
You have until the Feb/March of the september before they start school, to fill it in.
Theres plenty of time.

My DS has just started school nursery in Sept and the application for him to start in reception has to be with the council/LEA by Oct 23rd this year :eek:. Every council is different so your best bet is to check on their website.

You cannot "put your child's name down" these days. You have to apply through the council. You also do not go on first come first served basis when applying for nursery places and don't always get a choice of mornings or afternoon. Our council did not ask what we preferred, DS got afternoons and it's murder with a very tired toddler..

Naomi x

Janepig

milliebear00001 wrote: »

Another school in my area had 40 appeals last year because catchment children didn't get places. All won and the school had to accommodate them - go figure that one!

40 - that's alot!! DD's school had to take an extra 9 in the end I think. They've taken on an extra 5 (count 'em!) LSA's in the nursery department, mainly I think with the extra money that I believe has been made available for this new "early years" curriculum. I don't know if that's an England and Wales or just Wales thing, but I think to impliment it as it should be done there needs to be a member of staff to every eight children.

Jxx

Millie's_Mum

Naomim wrote: »

You also do not go on first come first served basis when applying for nursery places and don't always get a choice of mornings or afternoon. Our council did not ask what we preferred, DS got afternoons and it's murder with a very tired toddler..

Naomi x

This is not necessarily correct, certainly at my Daughters nursery it does go on first come first served and i know that their waiting list is full right up to the entry for 2011 so its perhaps best to check with the nursery you would like

milliebear00001

Nurseries are a bit more complicated. State nurseries (often, although not always) attached to primary schools, are usually applied for through the LA and do not keep their own lists of prospective children, especially if the nursery is part of the school's 'reception' year - for example in a 'Foundation Unit'. Some will take your details (like they do for school applicants) but will pass your form onto the LA for consideration when the time comes.

In addition to those, there are pre-schools and playgroups who are run by committees and are non-profit making. These are free to keep their own lists and can accept children of any age under 5 (rather than the 3-5 age group accepted by most state nurseries) although in practice, many are so oversubscribed that they can only accept children from the term after their third birthday anyway. Some oversubscribed nurseries and pre-schools only offer a few sessions a week to children so that those 'late' to the lists don't miss out completely. This is at their discretion though.

Janepig

Indeed. DD's school takes children full time from the age of 3 up to 11 so once you're in you don't have to apply again. However, one of my friends has children in another school which has separate nursery, infants and juniors sections and she has had to apply for her children to go into each unit when they get to the requisite age, which imo is really stupid.

And which leads me to think of another common occurrence I think for parents out of catchment to put their child's names down at a school - it's because it's closer to their grandparents. For instance, my friend mentioned above drops her children off with her mum before work and he mum then takes them to school and picks them up. However, her mum doesn't drive, so the children are in the nearest walking distance school to her, rather than my friend's catchment school.

Anyway, back to the point - DS is in a "pre-school" at the moment which I pay for, although after christmas he would be covered by the "free three year old" place - he had to have his name on a waiting list for that and it's controlled by the play group, not the LEA. The school he's down for have been fighting plans by the LEA for the last few years to make them take children on a part time basis instead of one full-time intake, and if the LEA succeed next year (which I doubt - parent power!!) then that's where he'll stay until he can go full time.

Jxx

seven-day-weekend

Janepig wrote: »

I can see siblings vs distance possibly being an issue if perhaps you live in a small village with one local school, with a small intake, and despite living close you are knocked back in favour of someone living out of the area.

In my circumstances though, if I had an only child, or an eldest, who had been knocked back for the school DD is now at, it would be no skin off my nose, they'd just go to another school in the area. I don't think there are any particularly bad ones and there's plenty to choose from (although not all welsh-medium).

However, my circumstances as they are, if DS doesn't get in then how can I be in two places at once for drop offs, plus a 30+ minute journey to work twice a week? Or do I pull DD out of her school after three years there to join her brother? In which case I think even parents of eldest children going to school for the first time or parents of only children, should be able to see that it would be an impossible situation.

Plus of course you often have parents who move slightly out of catchment after one or more of their older children joins the school, then get their youngest children knocked back. Again, is that fair?

As far as DD's school is concerned anyway, I should think that siblings make up a small number of the yearly 60+ intake anyway.

Siblings should not be penalised imho, so what's the answer?

Jxx

If the siblings rule did not exist and they just decided on the other criteria, then no child would be penalised because of their family circumstances.

I do actually know one school (admittedly years ago), very oversubscribed, where the intake one year was virtually all siblings and there were only about two places for other children.

I wrote in my application letter for my son's very oversubscribed C of E Secondary School in 1991 that I felt he should not be put 'down the list' because he was an only child (although the siblings rule is not the most important admissions criteria for that particular school). Glad to say he got a place.

As for parents having problems if their children are at different schools, well sorry, that's just part of being a parent. IMHO it isn't the schools job to make your organising easier.