Bristol Primary - in year admission - any chance?

[nebzil]

Hi. We used to live in Bristol 5 years ago and we are thinking of moving back. We lived off the Gloucester Road before. Our boys are now year 2 and 3. Does anyone have any idea of whether we would stand any chance of getting a school place in year? I read stuff on line about how all Bristol primaries are really over subscribed and that even the secondaries are really full too. Is this the case? I read one article saying kids were being sent on buses out of the city for primary school. Any thoughts much appreciated. thanks

[BarbaraManatee]

I don't know anything about children being sent out of the city but the schools are very over-subscribed. I know of at least one person who's child didn't get a place at the nearest school to them this year despite being fairly close geographically.

I think all you could do is get on the waiting list for a couple of schools as soon as you move. Would HE be an option for you as a stop-gap until a place opens up? There's a big HE community in Bristol.

[nebzil]

Hi - I don't think we could HE as we will have to have jobs in the day to pay the bills sadly. You make it sound more hopeful than various newspaper reports suggest.....

[catslife]

The newspaper article is an exaggeration OP. I think it may refer to one area where new houses were built and there wasn't enough capacity in the local schools. Yes many schools are oversubscribed but in some areas the population is fairly mobile so in-year places do come up.
In some parts of Bristol there are some very small schools so many of the places do get taken up by siblings and people living close sometimes miss out under these circumstances. So would try not to move to an area where there are lots of one form entry schools. In other areas though some families start moving their children to the private sector from Y3 onwards so Junior places do come up. Bristol does have sibling priority for most schools so if there is space for the Y2 child they will probably offer a place for Y3 as well. Extra places have been created in many primary schools across the city to try to address the school place shortage. Bristol City council should be able to tell you which schools have places at the moment but this could change as people do move into and away from the city.
The other stop-gap may be having one child in the private sector until a state school place comes up.
Hope that helps.

[BreeVDKamp]

Aww I can't advise but I went to Bishop Road primary when we lived off Gloucester Road in early 90s ah those were happy days

God I love Bristol, lucky you!!