School / nursery enrolment questions

[Blu]

the catchment area thread has prompted me to bring some of my own q's to the surface.

DS will be three in July, a summer birthday.

We live almost equidistant between two schools, (Lambeth LEA) a small Beacon school with a stable staff, good reputation for excellent communication with parents and specialise in promoting good relationships with children with a variety of sp needs. It is hugely over-subscribed with people getting up to all sorts of tricks to get in. The other, which is slightly nearer (150m, perhaps), is huge, brand new, new staff, no PTA, no relationship with parents.

In fact, I feel pretty confident that at primary level DS will thrive academically wherever he goes: he is bright, communicative, eager to learn, and will be well supported by DP and I. However, he has a slight mobility disability, one leg shorter than other, wears special shoes, walks but can't run, is slower than peers on stairs, has a short leg, and hypermobility, so needs watching if doing PE, dance etc, and will spend a year in a fixator for bone-lengthening during his primary schooling. We want him to go to the Beacon school because we believe that they will support him better, get to know his needs, small school, family atmosphere and have more capacity to deal with things like name-calling. We have written all this, with his medical evidence, as part of registering for enrollment for nursery and school.

Should I be doing anything else?

If we don't get a place in September, can I ask for his application to be re-considered in January, for nursery, and then again if necessary for the school? it seems to me that the Sept intake covers children born in 7 months of the year, whilst the Jan intake only has to cater for births in 5 months, and would therefore be less competetive, or am I misunderstanding something? Do we have to send him to school in the Sept after his 4th birthday, or can I wait later and still be on the waiting list?

ALSO, are the rules for taking children out of nursery for holiday the same as for taking them out of school? If he gets a nursery place in Sept, will we have to re-think taking him to his grandparents on the other side of the world in October for 3-4 weeks, or could we delay the nursery place until Jan?

I am SO confused about how it all works!

[bundle]

blu, I thought that SN children got priority treatment when it comes to places so I'd imagine you'd probably get the school of your choice. we'vev applied for schools for dd1, who'll be 4 in june, and she'll go into reception next january but I think different schools operate in different ways so you'd have to check with them about when he'd potentially start.

[twiglett]

message withdrawn

[Blu]

Bundle, I know this sounds really daft, but I don't even know if he is eligible to be considered as having special needs, and how that is determined by the school system!
We have done the visits and enrollment, Twiglett, and they said the Head-teacher did consider every case individually where there was any medical consideration. We sent a letter from his consultant and GP, and Physio, stating what his mobility limitations / concerns are.
But all they will say is they'll let us know in May whether he has a place.

[bundle]

blu, sounds to me like he has special needs, at our nursery we regard everything from asthma to autism as special needs, and those needs are taken into account when assessing how that child is doing & what kind of support they need because of the sn.

[Blu]

Thanks, Bundle, that's helpful.

[bossykate]

blu, are you referring to SR by any chance? we've got ds's name down there too.

[marialuisa]

Blu, you apply separately to state nurseries and state reception classes. Although a nursery class may be attached to a primary school it may have a slightly different catchment area and getting a place at the nursery doesn't guarantee a place in the Reception class. Similarly you may not get a place in the nursery class but be offered a place for Reception. It may vary slightly from arae to arae but the LEA i live in has one september intake for nursery and one september intake for reception. Parents then choose what term they want their children to start school in.

The rules about holidays in termtime don't aply to kids in school nursery classes.

HTH

[chatee]

blu
even a child with a statement of special needs is considered at the same merit as every other child applying, unless you can get the LEA to actually name the individual school on the statement(not just stating *** will attend a mainstream school)
it varies from LEA to LEA but some headteachers decide their intake and then pass on any excess requests to LEA or in other places the LEA decides everything
hope that helps

[Blu]

Thank you all!
BK, yes, the first initial is S...not sure what the R is? Will e mail you, anyway!

[bossykate]

SR might be the street rather than the school, now that i think of it... i'll look forward to your email