4 kids, offered different schools .

[emmamummy5]

i have just moved town due to husbands work, we have been told by school admissions that no school can take all my 4 school aged children, i have been given a school place for my two middle children and have an appeal for a place for my 9 year old on thursday, and am having to appeal for a reception place for my youngest. i have no car and cannot be in two places at once, the school is full so i dont know what im going to do,if i lose the appeals it will mean i can't send two kids to school, will i be procecuted? im so worried, its ot like iv picked the best school and just want my kids in it, i only need them to be in the same school. i have been told i may not even get the youngest and oldest into the same school so three schools to be at for 8.45am!!!
home schooling is not an option, i have a two year old running around, i work two nights a week and my husband works full time not to mention the fact i have no clue how to teach. i feel like crying, im not getting any advise off anyone they all just say appeal the desicion..... but no way will you will infant place and not much chance with the oldest

[Mcdreamy]

I have no advice emma but I do sympathise. I am about to move too and have finally found a school that can take both of my children but for ages it wasn't looking good. My DH is in the military so we move every 2 - 3 years. It's the schooling issue that have made us buy our own house and move one very last time. I've had enough of it all.

Good luck, I really hope your appeals are successful

[choosyfloosy]

Could your 9-year-old go to school solo or with another child? maybe the school could put a notice up asking for a walking buddy for him/her?

would the reception teacher mind if your youngest child comes in a little later? at ds's old reception it was free play until 10 so arriving a bit late wasn't an issue - especially by arrangement.

Hope you find a solution.

[bigchris]

do either of the schools have a breakfast club?
your dh could drop off at breakfast before going to work while you go to the other school?
and possibly use aftersch club in the evenings to help out
or use a childminder sucks though

[MumNWLondon]

once you have one child in a school you'll be priority for the others if someone leaves.

re: the reception child if they are not yet 5 then no statutory obligation to attend school so speak to school and just take them late.

re: 9 year old - worth really pushing schools are allowed to take up to 30 in reception to year 2 but up to 35 in years 3-6, so worth appealing. maybe 9 year old can be dropped off early in playground? or find someone who lives nearby they could walk with?

worth appealing for reception child too as schools I think are allowed to take 31 on appeal, even in reception.

[emmamummy5]

the school my eldest has been offered is almost amile away and its a new town, he doesnt know the way and is way too young to go on his own so if i drop the middle two off first then walk my eldest to school with the baby and my reception child (who will not be offered a place at either of the other two schools)we will be lucky to get there for 9.45am. no breakfast clubs that i can leave them at and my husband sets off for work at 6.30am as he works markets.
i dont know how a childminder will help even if i could afford one.
i understand that classes cannot keep being added to but i really dont know what they want me to do and im really worried about getting procecuted for not sending them to school or for continually being late dropping and picking them up ect.
Is there some special rules or anything when moving from out of area? i mean with two siblings in the school and living so near i would have thought they would ave got in if we had lived here when applications were first put in, so maybe i could go down the reasonable admissions authority wouldnt deny my child a place route?

[emmamummy5]

are they really allowd to take 31?

[MumNWLondon]

i have heard that although only on appeal.

it may be that for this year you have the kids in more than one school, thats a downside of moving house during the school year.

i don't think there are special rules when you move house.

[natsmum100]

I appealed for places for two of my three children after we moved home. The reasons I gave were similar to yours - nearness to home, sibling offered a place, older one could not travel far to school alone as he is unfamiliar with the town. Both of my appeals were successful so keep faith. Good luck to you.

[madamearcati]

Contact your MP.

[emmamummy5]

well fingers crossed for tommorrow, i know the year above have 6 over the 30 allowd and the school capacity says they have one place in the whole school, but im going to state that the need for a place at that particular school for my son would far outweigh the predjudice that having one extra student in that year would cause the school. i dont know if they have set a precident by allowing 6 over in the year above but im going to try for it.
im so nervous.

[cece]

DD's junior classes all have 32 in. The infants are only allowed 30.

[ManicMother7777]

Contact your MP, the local paper & TV station. Get as much publicity as possible!

Good luck.

[teamcullen]

If all else fails, ask your local authority to provide transport for the children attending school further away.

Its not really acceptable to have the children arriving to school 45 minutes later than everybody else, state that it would be detrimental to their schooling and their social well being.

[Fennel]

that's a good point by teamcullen, if your appeal isn't successful you can apply for transport, citing the impossibility of getting to several schools at hte same time.

Good luck with the appeal, we had to appeal when we moved area mid-year and our LEA let the dc into the oversubscribed local school we'd just moved near to, but I think we must have a particularly nice LEA.

But don't give up yet, I was very stressed when we had similar issues and it all got resolved quite quickly and positively, so don't assume in advance the appeal won't work.

[emmamummy5]

just heard back, the clark rang me to let me know iv been successfull! they were impressed that i had tried to get them into another school and that i had even turned up , apparently lots dont bother. im so happy, i have been told by the school and school admissions i didnt have a chance so it really is great news.

[ManicMother7777]

Well done, excellent news!

[roisin]

You've got all 4 into the same school? That's great. I'm delighted for you. I hope they all prosper.

[emmamummy5]

iv got three in the school, my little girl is not 5 till may so she wont have to start legally till next september . im going to have to appeal for a place for her too i think because shool admissions said they have already allocated school places for next year, but at least i won a place for my eldest and im on the waiting list for little one.
my surestart centre lady said she had not heard of an appeal being won in over two years so i was very lucky.
thanks everyone for the advise.

[MadBadandDangerousToKnow]

I've only just seen this thread.

Excellent news that you won your appeal. Because she will be classed as a sibling, your five year old should now go to the top of the waiting list (assuming that the school gives priority to siblings in its oversubscription criteria). You may well get a place anyway, as there's always a few drop-outs before term starts, but if you want any more advice on appeals, the Advisory Centre for Education may be able to help.