Do you know when to start looking for school places?

[SchoolAdmissions]

Hi
After working in the local authority for 16 years I have realised how difficult the school application for admissions process has now become for parents - especially those with pre-school children - to navigate around. There is just so much for parents of young children to think about, when to apply, the closing date, start dates, schools to consider etc., that I am now starting up a business offering free advice and guidance but with the addition of a bespoke service for parents who want a complete report on up to 4 of their own choice schools so that they are able to make informed choices on their application. However I am struggling a bit with the pricing, I need to make the business financially viable so I would have to charge for the bespoke service but am struggling with pricing it as it still needs to be affordable for parents costs so I've done a brief survey (only 9 questions!) to give me some idea on interest and suggested cost. Please if you could spare a couple of minutes to do this survey I would greatly appreciate it. Many thanks.


www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/QB2RGXF

[BackforGood]

IME it is not that difficult for literate parents with a command of English. For those who do struggle, IME, their dcs' Nurseries or the FSWs for the area will help for free.
What will you put in the report that parents who want that sort of information can't find out for themselves?

[SchoolAdmissions]

Hi, thanks for your query.
I don't think its that difficult to complete an application for school places, what is more complicated is navigating around all the different types of admissions criteria for different schools and trying to figure out what the chances are of being offered a place. When I worked for the LA we were inundated on national offer date with anxious parents who just didn't understand why they hadn't got their preference school, (or any of their choices in many cases). Explaning how the process works after the horse has bolted didn't help a lot if I'm honest and their only 'option' was to appeal, which inevitably drew out the process. The information I would give on my website is free and would enable parents to do the research themselves but if they wanted someone to do it for them, then this would be at a cost. There seem to be companies out there that already do this for state schools but charge astonomical fees, I wanted to provide it at a much more affordable cost.