Possible appeal necessary - concerned!!

lincs-mover

Good evening all,
If anyone can offer advice on our predicament as follows I would be very grateful to hear it..-

We are about to move house from Cambridgeshire to Lincolnshire with a son in Year 1, and twins who will be going into Reception Year this coming September.
There are two large primary schools in the town we are moving to, as well as three much smaller primary schools in the surrounding villages. ALL primary schools indicate that this year they may well be over-subscribed for their Reception intake.
I am desperate for our three children to attend the same school, yet need to place my son in a school for the Summer Term as we will be moving next month. We are therefore placing our son in the school closest to our home (0.4 miles away) which may have places for our twins in September, but may not. It is bad enough having to move our son from one school at his age, and I will be heartbroken ( as will he!!) if after having placed him in his new school after Easter, and having applied for Reception places for his sisters, we are informed that the school is over subscribed and that there is no room at the Inn so to say. Has anyone heard of this situation before or have any advice?

JodyBPM

Have you checked the sibling policy at the school. Assuming they offer priority to siblings and its your closest school (or within catchment if it is fixed catchment areas) you are quite likely to be OK getting the girls in when their sibling already attends. You will need to make sure that you put it on the form for your DDs that their brother already attend that school.

LittleMrsThrifty

JodyBPM wrote: »

Have you checked the sibling policy at the school. Assuming they offer priority to siblings and its your closest school (or within catchment if it is fixed catchment areas) you are quite likely to be OK getting the girls in when their sibling already attends. You will need to make sure that you put it on the form for your DDs that their brother already attend that school.

I believe that there is a legal limit of 30 for reception class sizes so if they have already admitted 30 (I'm assuming the deadline has passed?) they may not be able to admit 2 more. You could go on a waiting list and are likely to be near the top.

Alternatively could you ask the LA if there is a local school which could offer a place to all three children to save the possibility of moving your son?

Spendless

Doesn't the reception place allocations come out soon? (Secondary school places came out 1st march and am sure Reception are not that far away. If you waited till then you could find out which schools still have places for reception plus a space for your eldest.

clearingout

get evidence of the address you are moving to from your solicitor (just a letter confirming the address and your intention to buy/exchange/complete in the near future) and call the school admissions team to ask for advice (they'll be based in the county council, probably). Ask them if you can fax your evidence through or e-mail it (solicitor can e-mail you a copy so you don't need a scanner or anything) and say you are applying NOW for a place for your twins. It'll be classed as a late application but if it's before they actually publish who's going where, it should still be accepted. Be pushy.

I moved last year and I am still waiting for the local authority to confirm my eldest's school place. Thankfully, the headteacher took matters into her own hands!

Counting_Pennies_2

If you are just applying now, then I would say you are too late for the admissions procedure and would be classed as a late applicant, so that normally means they will consider the places for your twins after all the places have been allotted

If you place your son in the school, there should be a sibling policy within a school, which would then place the twins at the top of the waiting list for places in the school.

Often schools have a policy of not splitting twins up, so if you got one in, often they allow the other one in regardless of numbers.

You can always delay the twins starting until the term after they turn 5 (January at the earliest) and hopefully a place will come up.

I have to say it is bad timing, if you had known about the move, I would have suggested discussing it with the council much earlier.

property.advert

January 15th was the date. Too late now. I moved last year - you should have considered the kids when making the decision on whether moving was the right thing to do. If schools are oversubscribed, then you will get the !!!! end of the school selection list and that is it, most likely even if you rent the house next to the school you want them to go to.

You need to get on the ball ASAP as there is another date coming up which just might offer a hope but I think you've missed the boat and boy, what a boat to miss. Can't you just not move and send the kids to the presumably good school your first born currently goes to ?

LittleMrsThrifty

property.advert wrote: »

January 15th was the date. Too late now. I moved last year - you should have considered the kids when making the decision on whether moving was the right thing to do. If schools are oversubscribed, then you will get the !!!! end of the school selection list and that is it, most likely even if you rent the house next to the school you want them to go to.

You need to get on the ball ASAP as there is another date coming up which just might offer a hope but I think you've missed the boat and boy, what a boat to miss. Can't you just not move and send the kids to the presumably good school your first born currently goes to ?

We know very little about the OP's situation. I'm sure she has "considered the kids" and there may well be a very good reason why the family cannot "just not move".

The OP, albeit now absent from the forum, is seeking to find the best solution for her children given the situation they are in. You cannot ask for more than that.