Will she get in?

[Summerwood1]

Next year I will have a child in year 11 of an excellent school just out of catchment,she was lucky to get in. I will also have a child in year 6. My question is when I apply for a secondary place for the child in year 6 my other daughter will still be in year 11 but when the younger one starts the older one will have left. Because the older one will still be on roll when we apply, will it help to get the younger one in under the sibling category? Hope this makes sense!!

[Smartiepants79]

Not entirely sure but I think that the criteria is usually that the sibling must be attending the school when the other child starts. So there must be an overlap if you get what I mean.
The admissions criteria will say if this is the case. Just look on their website.

[namechangedtoday15]

The wording is usually quite precise in the admissions policy. Have you checked? It will either say the applicant has a sibling "who is already a pupil at the time of application" or "who has a sibling who is expected to be a current pupil at the date of admission". Certainly here it is the latter.

[Summerwood1]

I'll have a look now,thanks for that!

[AtiaoftheJulii]

Yeah, different schools do different things. My dd3 got a sibling place although dd2 was in y11. But some don't.

[Wolfiefan]

Does this school definitely have a catchment? Many don't.

[t4gnut]

Check the admissions criteria and definition of sibling. Around here they wouldn't count as a sibling as they'd have left the school when the other one started.

[Fleurdelise]

I am in the same situation and DS's school states that the sibling needs to be attending the school at the time of admission. So DS will be at the beginning of YR12 just starting A levels at the same school (hopefully). Would the sibling rule still apply if he is in sixth form?

[TeenAndTween]

Fleur Again, you need to check the exact rules for your school. My understanding is that some schools exclude 6th formers for these purposes, quite possibly because many pupils change schools at this time so there really can be no guarantee they will still be there.

[catslife]

Agree that you need to check this either with the LEA or the individual school. In this area they don't count sixth formers as siblings for Y7 entry because only a small number of schools have sixth forms and the LEA sibling policy is therefore the same for all schools.

[Summerwood1]

Checked it and it says at time of admission. Just have to keep fingers X!

[bojorojo]

As you are looking several years into the future a number of things could happen. The number of children in catchment could reduce if there is an aging population and people do not move house and there are less children. They can change the catchment and they may even expand the school. It is very difficult to know exactly what the situation will be. At least you have time to move house!

[LittleHouseOnTheShelf]

It's usually that the older one still has to be at the school when the youngest starts.

[Fleurdelise]

I have had confirmation that the sibling rule would apply at my DS's school providing he does get into sixth form. Unless of course they change the sibling rule by 2017 when DD would be applying.