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moving Y2 child to preferred school beginning summer term 2012 instead of applying with her peers for yr3 start

27 replies

pellmell · 23/09/2011 13:14

Along with a few other parents we are hoping to send our daughter to a school starting sept 2012. She will be in year 3.
Her very tiny and wonderful village school has traditionally been a "feeder" school for the one we hope to send her to.
We are aware that it might be difficult for her to get a place due to capacity etc.
The Head has remarked that some parents previously transferred their children in the summer term ahead of the new school year giving those children an advantage. This is something my husband and I had never thought of.
Could I please ask for opinions on this? Does anyone have experience of doing this?
Her current school is brilliant and we are very sad about the fact that she has to leave at the end of YR2 anyway but had not considered the idea of moving her befor..hmmmm I find this all so mind boggling!
Thanks in advance

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ChasingSquirrels · 23/09/2011 13:18

Don't you have to apply for the yr 3 place way in advance of Sep 2012? So you would presumably know whether you have it or not.
How would a move at Easter 2012 work - when would you apply for it, how would they judge capacity (ie would the next year yr 3 places already be allocated?), would there be space in the current yr 2 at the new school (as KS1 places are restricted to 30 per teacher).

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ChasingSquirrels · 23/09/2011 13:19

Oh, and is the head saying this to everyone?

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pellmell · 23/09/2011 13:24

We have to apply in october 11 for sept 12 YR3 place!
I have no idea when you know if your child has a place at your preferred school! Good point!!! I am so ignorant about this whole thing!
I went to an open morning on wednesday (The head did not say this then)
I went back for another look with DH today on an appointment only visit. This is when the head made this remark!

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MirandaWest · 23/09/2011 13:25

As ChasingSquirrels say, surely you will be applying for her place in the new school by say January 2012 so you would know whether she has a place or not by then.

Is the new school a primary school or a junior school? How many classes per year do they have - are there more classes in the juniors than the infants for the influx of new children that join?

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MirandaWest · 23/09/2011 13:30

Sorry don;t know why I said you would know by January if your child has a place. Different LEAs will have different times when you get told - often around Easter but you would need to check with your LEA.

I really can't see how getting a place in year 2 would make any difference to getting a place in year 3 (unless there is priority given to already being in the school, but by the summer term this wouldn't make any difference) and anyway it would surely be nicer for your DD to finish year 2 with the rest of her current school.

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AMumInScotland · 23/09/2011 13:31

Presumably the "new" school starts at Year R, but extra places are created at Year 3 to accomodate children moving in from your current school? But not enough places for all the children?

Certainly if you applied for a place in Year 2 (either at the start of the year or during it) and she was offered and took up the place then, she'd be in and that would guarantee she'd get to carry on there. Whereas if she applies at the "normal" time, you might not get the place if they are oversubscribed.

I know someone who did this with a private all-through school - he applied and got a place in the final year of primary, which automatically fed up to the secondary, as he knew it was less competitive than applying for the start of secondary directly.

I guess you have to weigh up how much you want the new school, and how likely you are to be unsueccessful if you apply at the normal time.

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Oggy · 23/09/2011 13:32

If it will be difficult to get a place during the normal applications procedure, what makes you think there will happen to be a place available for you now? I don't understand why there would be a place available mid-term if its such a popular over-subscribed school.

I think I must have missed something

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AMumInScotland · 23/09/2011 13:33

Ah I am assuming that being in the school in year 2 automatically means you would get a place in Year 3 - that's how it would work up here - but if the admissions to the different parts of the school work differently, that may not be guaranteed.

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CustardCake · 23/09/2011 13:35

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pellmell · 23/09/2011 13:41

Thankyou all for your input!
AMIS you have summed it up beautifully! Thankyou. I am never able to do that....
The current R2 has the capacity to take her, however when all the children from outlying villages move on from their smaller primary schools(like our daughter will be doing) it will be tight!
Thinking ahead......and just throwing ideas out there so we hopefully make an informed decision!
I'm very interested now to find out when we know which schools are allocated!
All I know is that we select three by the end of october!

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ChasingSquirrels · 23/09/2011 13:43

the LEA website should have details of when you would be informed of the allocations.

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MirandaWest · 23/09/2011 13:45

Which LEA are you in and it should be possible to find out when you find out.

It is possible that going into year 3 from that school automatically depends on when you were in year 2 from ie this may have had to have been from the application date rather than the summer term.

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Lougle · 23/09/2011 13:45

Why don't you just move her now?

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MirandaWest · 23/09/2011 13:47

I was also wondering that.

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pellmell · 23/09/2011 13:48

Thankyou custardcake..just reading all through your interesting reply now.
He did say we would have to reapply for yr 3 but would be advantaged with her already having a place.
No siblings
out of catchment ....we only have the choice of one in catchment! We definately don't want her to go there.
We are more than happy to apply through the normal means to start Y3 but having been advised of this as an option .....just looking for other peoples perspective.

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pellmell · 23/09/2011 13:50

"Why don't you just move her now?"
we said the same thing as we drove home Smile

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MirandaWest · 23/09/2011 13:57

I do find it hard to see how moving her in the summer term would make any difference to her getting a year 3 place. I would look carefully at the admissions criteria for getting a place in year 3 and then make a decision on what tp do before rhe admissions deadline.

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pellmell · 23/09/2011 13:57

we had assumed (very silly to do so) that she automatically had a place there should we choose to send her because traditionally it was a "feeder school"
The parents with sibling children at both schools would just say "Oh she'll go to such and such from here" blah blah
In the past I gather the school had more control over there admissions and now the LEA have it!
We allowed ourselves to listen to past experience but now looking at the numbers I can see it will be fairly tight if everyone chose to take up that route.

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CustardCake · 23/09/2011 13:59

This reply has been deleted

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CustardCake · 23/09/2011 14:01

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MirandaWest · 23/09/2011 14:06

I would hope they wouldn't do that but think it would be wise to check what the admissions criteria are first as it could be that you needed to be in year 2 from a certain date. Although quite what would happen if someone joined year 2 late on in the year and so missed application for year 3 I would be interested to know.

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pellmell · 23/09/2011 14:13

In year 2 there is capacity for another eight.
Including my dd there will be six hoping to get a place.
Traditionally one or 2 transfer from a couple of the other village schools too but not so many.
So in my opinion it will be tight as it gets.

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CustardCake · 23/09/2011 14:54

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pellmell · 23/09/2011 15:31

In the current year 2 there is capacity for another eight

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yellowsubmarine41 · 23/09/2011 15:55

So it sounds like Year 2 are 8 short of their PAN.

If children already in the school get priority for places in the junior school, it's quite possible that those places will get filled quite quickly with parents in the same position as you.

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