As we are in admissions season again...some top tips for first timers

[BetsyBoop]

On this thread a while ago, I posted some top tips on the admissions system, which people found useful, so here they are again...

1. Visit every school local to you & make your own mind up - don't go on reputation/gossip/Ofsted reports/league tables
   
2. Find out how likely it is you stand a chance of a place by looking at the last few years admissions (eg what category & distance)
   
3. Put the schools in your genuine order or preference (schools are not allowed to operate a "first preference first" system, despite what people tell you)
   
4. Use all your preferences - but be realistic about your chances of getting a place - don't waste a preference on a hell-will-freeze-over-first option.
   
5. Always include one "safe" option (even if it is as last preference) which you are okay with & are pretty much guaranteed to get into (ie "catchment" school) . (Or you run the risk of getting a random "worse" school miles away if you don't get any of your preferences)
   
6. You will not be able to bully the LA/school/appeals panel into giving you the school you want by only putting that school on the application form & refusing places at other schools.
   
7. Read the admission code - you need to know the "rules" as if the rules are broken it gives you a valid reason to appeal.
   
8. Submit any exceptional social/medical circumstances evidence with your initial application, whether or not you are fairly confident you will get a place anyway - much easier than trying to win an appeal based on this later (which will typically fail if it is an infant class size* appeal)
   

* "infant class size" =YR/Y1/Y2 classes can have a maximum of 30 pupils per teacher

[PanelMember]

Excellent advice, Betsy Boop. (6) (7) and (8) are particularly close to my heart! I might also add

(9) It is always open to you to make a case under the exceptional social/medical circumstances category but be aware that the school being on your way to work, near your childminder, or near granny's will almost certainly not be accepted as exceptional circumstances. This category is designed to cater for the needs of the child (although in some circumstances it will also cater for, eg, the needs of parents with disabilities) not the general inconvenience of getting your child to school or arranging after-school care.

[yellowsubmarine41]

I know a few people who came unstuck for this year's admissions, so bump.

[pocketfullofposies]

thank you for this thread.

Any information on how to:

1. Find out how likely it is you stand a chance of a place by looking at the last few years admissions (eg what category & distance)
   

Gratefully received. Is it a case of ring the school, ring the LA or something else? Have tried to google to no avail.

[teacherwith2kids]

I would also say, almost before any rules - remember that you are expressing a preference, not making a choice. You cannot go around all the schools in a 5 mile radius, choose the ones with the best ofsteds wherever they might be, and then express amazement and disappointment when you are not given the school that it was 'your right to choose'. It is truly amazing to me how many people genuinely think that they have a free choice of all the schools in a wide area and that they SHOULD get in to their first choice even if it is at the far end of town.

All you are doing is saying that, if the number of people who have a better claim than you to a place in that school is not too large, you would prefer school a to school b. You are giving the LEA an indication of your preference should you meet the admissions criteria for more than one school - and that is all.

[OfflineFor30Years]

A stupid question from the uninitiated - when does all this take place? My DC is due to start school next September - should I be thinking about doing this now?

[SenoritaViva]

pocketfullofposies you will receive a book from the LEA which is an admissions guide. Each school has information, including how many places available and the history from the past few years of how many were rejected and why (e.g. distance etc.) It gives you some idea of how likely you might be to get a place.

[NickNacks]

Yes offline ths is for you.

Applications usually need to be in around Dec/Jan time and places allocated around Easter.

So get cracking!

[drcrab]

Thank you so much for this. We are first timers and it already appears to be s minefield.

We are checking out a school on Monday. They seem v nice and organized about the visit. But I don't know the chances of getting in as it's not the nearest. According to friends this year they operated the distance rule. We have a really good school near our new home (not moved there yet) so not really worried. Just that DS will not be in the same school as his best mates! will that be a problem?? (sorry to sound all PFB about it!!

And then there's the catholic school. We will most probably get in as we have got that piece of paper signed and ideally we like the catholic education thing (both of us Catholics and in catholic schools when growing up) but they have vv limited afterschool club. V difficult for both of us as we both work full time!
I know we shouldn't discount a school just because of afterschool provisions but it is v important as we have no family about. And if we go to the catholic school we won't really know anyone to share school pickup etc.

Am I worrying too much??

[BetsyBoop]

pocketfullofposies
Some LAs are helpful & publish the information on their website. Some are less helpful, so it would be a case of ringing the LA admissions team and asking for the info (again some are more helpful than others... ) You may need to ring any schools that handle their own admissions (eg Voluntary Adied schools) directly to get the info.

[bytheMoonlight]

So if my daughter is starting reception September 2012, I should be looking at schools now?

[NickNacks]

Yes its only 11 months- when were you thinking of looking?

[bytheMoonlight]

Next year sometime

[Northernlurker]

Not just looking but applying too! You have to complete an application by a certain date.

My rule would be - Accept that 'I like the other parents/ atmosphere / sports field' is a reason for making a choice (though not ncessarily the best reason) but it is NOT part of the admissions criteria and so if you don't get in, suck it up and move on. Don't whine'

I accept that might not be the most helpful advice......

[MegBusset]

Yes, phone the schools you're interested in now to find out when their open days are, some have limited spaces and get booked up quickly, when looking for DS1 last year there were two (hugely oversubscribed) local schools that we didn't get to visit!

[MegBusset]

ByTheMoonlight most deadlines are around January, apply after this and you will go to the bottom of the pile and v unlikely to get a good school in a lot of areas.

[bytheMoonlight]

Will I get told when I have to apply by?

[Northernlurker]

Playgroups and nurseries will have posters up with the deadline and it's on your council website. If you want to PM me your approx location I will look it up for you

[DirtyHabit]

Thanks for this.

When's the latest you should receive your application form from the LEA?

Also, daft question but how do they know your address to send you the forms?

[Northernlurker]

Ime they don't send you the form to home - you may get one through playgroup maybe - but a lot of places it's online applications now. You (all) need to get looking at your council's websites!

[prh47bridge]

You have to apply by January 15th.

You should not assume that you will have a form sent to you. The LA don't know where all the children who will need a place live. They should advertise in the local press and send stuff to the local nurseries. You should also look at your council's website. They will almost certainly allow you to apply online.

[youmustbeyolking]

Thanks.

[PanelMember]

Yes to all of these! I think further rules should be

Don't assume that the LEA or the nursery or A N Other will do things for you. The onus is on you to obtain information about the local admissions process and (crucially) the deadline.

Don't treat the deadline lightly - late applications go to the back of the queue and so are likely to be allocated places in the less-subscribed, less popular schools.

Don't assume that because your child is in the nursery, they will get a place in the school. The school will have different admissions criteria to the nursery, and transition from one to the other is not automatic.

[Northernlurker]

Think about your younger dcs. Do siblings get priority at all at your chosen school? How far does it move them up the list? Can you estimate how likely you are to get your other dcs in - because it's no good getting your oldest in by the skin of the teeth and then realising that your younger dc has no chance.

In my case we got dd1 in to the school of our choice which at that time was always taking children from outside the catchment area (like us) because the number in catchment was below the number of places. In our LEA siblings take priority over children outside the catchment so we knew that as long as catchment population stayed lowish (which as an increasing numbe of the houses are owned by student landlords, it has) we were likely to get a place for our other girls and we have.

[PanelMember]

Ah yes, that's very important Northernlurker.

Check whether the admissions criteria distinguish between siblings in catchment and those out of catchment, because if they do, you live outside catchment and you manage to get your first child in, in a year when applications are low, you might not get places for younger siblings.

[Northernlurker]

That's a good point panelmember - I hadn't considered that because in this LEA a sibling is a sibling regardless of location. Just shows what differences can come up.

Which makes me think of another rule:

'Don't expect that something has happened to sombody else will therefore have to be applied to you'

You may know somebody who got all of her 12 dcs in to a school that takes only 8 children a year and she may live two doors down from you but that does not mean you will have the same experience. Don't assume anything - base your decisions on the admissions code and facts like your address.