Rejected from Scottish nursery - please help!

No, they aren’t obliged to provide a space.

If you find one, you can claim funding towards it however.

Take the further away place for now - and hope a place comes up somewhere closer. Or - look at childminders.

Your local authority website will have a document you can download explaining all this. Each authority has a different published document and dates so there is no point in sending you mine but it should be easy to find. If you search 'applying for a primary school place' etc.

If everyone applied within the window, doesn’t that just mean that the other kids are closer/ higher up the priority list than you? I am not an expert in Scotland but in England schools have published admissions criteria which shows how places are allocated if there are too many people.

I’d suggest speaking to all of the nurseries to work out what has happened and to see if they run a waiting list. I’d also be accepting the place you have got in the meantime and managing the distance.

You could also ask the nurseries about schools, but again in England it is completely lawful for an authority to offer a place at a school which is not the closest if the closest one is oversubscribed. You should be getting some information from your local authority about this surely?

If you live in the catchment area of the primary you will get a place in Scotland. It's VERY unusual not to (unless you don't apply in time or move there after the intake etc).

Nursery is completely different and the nursery you use doesn't affect the school application.

Can you share the sources saying the local authority have a duty to provide a nursery space for you…?

You are entitled to claim the 30 hours at the relevant age… but that doesn’t mean the local authority is obliged to provide a nursery space for you. Most people will be using the funding at private nurseries.

I don’t think there’s anything you can push them on, if they’re full they’re full. You may be entitled to 30 hours funding but that doesn’t mean at specific nurseries.

Yeah especially when it’s ten miles in the opposite direction from your work.

I love the way people are saying that 10 miles isn't far.

10 miles four times a day, is 200 miles a week. That's a lot of petrol, and it'll take the OP or her DH an extra hour at each end of the day to travel it.

10 miles where I live would certainly take half an hour to drive, because of the sort of roads we have.

I'm sorry @PartyRingaRosie you're in a very difficult situation.

Hi sorry to hear this.

Yes it's a problem. I live in a small village with one nursery and often the local children don't all get a place. Even when the older siblings are at the attached school as there is no 'catchment' for nursery.

You can keep your little one on the waiting list. One year I didn't get one of mine in (2 older siblings at the attached school and it's literally across the road) and had no local alternatives. She did end up getting a last minute place as someone declined their spot.

Don't give up hope.

For Primary School, your Local Authority are obligated to give you a place at your local catchment school. You can check where this is online.

For pre-school/nursery, there is no obligation for anyone to find you a space. Some parents are SAHP, some use extended family for childcare, some use childminders, some use private nurseries and some use Council nurseries. If you need/want a space you need to start phoning round - but as PP, you might have to go on a waiting list.

This. It is VERY unusual for a child not to get a place in their catchment school. Find a private nursery suitable for your commute and use your funded place to pay towards that. ScotGov have messed up this “free places” rollout by not funding it nearly enough and expecting Local Authorities and private nurseries to fill the gap. You won’t be the only parent in this situation.

Literally put my daughters’ names down for the nursery I wanted when they were newborns (in Scotland also). Was a private one though.

My friend has recently moved areas and she’s having a nightmare trying to get her kids into a nursery in the new area 😕 she works 4 days a week and she’s in a right quandary with it. I’m not sure what you’re supposed to do. Childminder?

She will be entitled to a place at her catchment school when she reaches the right age, but nursery needs to have space available. I’d find a private nursery just now and then reapply when she turns 3.

If they are full you are stuck. I know there were several kids who missed out on their ante preschool year as didn’t have a place for them.

If it’s any consolation she will definitely be found a spot for primary school. I’d look at private for just now and reapply next year.

That’s not how it works. The nurseries attached to the schools have ratios they need to stick to and they don’t move things around. They end up full and that’s that.

Primary is totally different. You’re in Scotland. It isn’t like England. You don’t fill out a form with your choice of schools. You will get a letter telling which school you are in the catchment area for, and giving you details of when to go along with your documents ans register your kid. If you’re in the catchment area then you go to that school. That’s it. If it’s a big year, then they’ll shuffle around and create a composite class if needed.

You can, of course, make a placement request to any school you want. You don’t have to go to your catchment school. But you’re not guaranteed a space at a placement request. You are guaranteed a space at your catchment school. Your kid will go to the local primary school; it literally isn’t an issue.

Nursery is different. If there isn’t space then there isn’t space and you need to look at private nurseries or childminders.

Childminder until a place comes up?

You go on the waiting list and look for something else in the meantime. When I put DC1's name down they helpfully informed me we were family 100 on the list. I put DC2 down when I was pregnant. Got a place at 9months.
ETA also a state nursery.

School nurseries will still have a limited number of how many children they can take. Nurseries are likely to have a smaller intake than school due to ratios.
If that concerned about school places start checking what the intake might be for schools local to you e.g. if they are one form entry then that will only be around 30 children if similar to England. Two form entry will usually take 60.

not sure how nurseries like this work now, we used to apply in the January and they went in the Sep after they turned 3. It was same process as allocating school places and places allocated to those closest distance wise. Now funding is given to younger children, assume it doesn’t work in same way if you’re applying for now? If you live walking distance sure you’ll be allocated a place for school when time comes. Is this allocated on first come first served at 2? Sounds like it but mine are older now. We used a private day nursery until they started school.

No - there is no obligation for the state to provide nursery places. Some schools happen to have them - they are few and far between.

There are a lot more school places than nursery places; and most schools don’t have a state-funded nursery attached.

It’s a lottery, you haven’t won it, you need to find an alternative. I agree it’s unfair some people can get free nursery and others can’t.

LA 2 year old spaces are very limited in Scotland. You might have more luck when you reapply for her 3 year old place. School is a totally different system and she will get a place at her catchment school, there is much more space for school than 2 year old places at nurseries. Nurseries work in a cluster catchment whereas schools don't!

You live rurally so I suspect that 10 miles isn’t considered an unreasonable journey for primary or nursery school.

Primary schools are often bigger than nurseries with ratio of adult to children being lower.