Missed school application for reception

[Nice12]

Hi. I've just joined this site. Feeling so stupid and now extremely concerned. I missed the online application date to get my son into school. In the chaos of moving house over Christmas, one of the most important things I had to do, I forgot. What makes matters even worse, is that we have moved out of the catchment area where my daughter is in year 5 at the school I would like my son to go. I also assumed my son would go to the same school as my daughter. I work every day, and the logistics if they are separated is going to be a nightmare. I'm crying writing this because I know I'very been so stupid. I know the schools are always heavily oversubscribed in our new area also. Any suggestions, please?😢

reception is not compulsary

School is not compulsory at all - ensuring your child receives an education is though. But if you want to send your child to school they have to start by the term after the one in which the turn five. Some schools might let your child start later, but if you wait too long there may not be a space.

But if you want to send your child to school they have to start by the term after the one in which the turn five.

But most reception year kids are younger than this, yes? (Forgive me if I am wrong as we start later here in Scotland)

If OP’s son is only 4, she can miss reception and start when he’s five with no issues, can’t she?

If OP’s son is only 4, she can miss reception and start when he’s five with no issues, can’t she?

If he’s already four, he will turn five during reception year. So legally he has to be in school in whichever term comes after his fifth birthday in the next academic year.

If she wants him to start in reception at the age of five, she has to have already requested he defer his starting date and the school has to have already agreed. Otherwise he will go straight into Yr1.

Otherwise he will go straight into Yr1*

Which isn’t a problem.

Which isn’t a problem.

Not always, no. But it’s important to be aware of the huge difference between reception year and Yr1 when making that decision for your child.

But I'm not going down without a fight first. I will appeal any unwanted decisions.

It was your mistake & your choice to move house at this critical time!!!

I don't think you can use moving house as an excuse.

We moved house in November, we held off on applying until we moved but still managed to do it before the deadline....

I understand you're busy but it just sounds like a lack of organisation on your part. Local authorities can't issue reminders, it would be a logistical nightmare.

This is a nice site. But being nice doesn't mean telling you what you want to hear.

Presumably child about to start school is from an overall lower birth rate year? I guess depending on where you live, this will affect how easy or not it will be to get a school place.
As you've moved, maybe look at schools more convenient to where you live now as that's the school run you'll be doing for the next 7/8 years anyway. Your older child only has one more year to go and after that will presumably be travelling independently.
Yes, it will make the overlap year a pain but perhaps with breakfast clubs/lifts from other parents you can make it work.

Otherwise he will go straight into Yr1

Which isn’t a problem

But getting into yr1 in the OPs preferred school is not necessarily any easier than the position she's in now.

Apply for a place now! Late is better than nothing. Make note of their waiting list and when you need to re apply. My aunt despite having applied for 6 secondary school got one that is further away and undersubscribed. She let him go there and on the night that the waiting list got renewed she went from 100 place and the school she wanted to 27th place. This week her son was offered a place at his third choice school. Lot of parents when it comes to reapplying to remain on the waiting list either forget or decide their child is settled in and choose not to reapply.

Ds1 was also put on the waiting list for his 1st choice, he was 16 place and before I knew it. I was called and offered a place for him and told to come in for some paperwork. We didn’t live in the catchment area, 0.5 mile was their catchment area. We lived 0.6 mile away. There might be hope and you might be put higher in the waiting list as you have a sibling attending there already.

At my DS school so many kids didn't start reception they had to go from 3 classes down to 2! Fingers crossed

It’s an upsetting situation to be in when you don’t get the school you want (we didn’t get our first choice for DC1), I can only imagine it’s more upsetting in a situation like yours where the application is late.

But pp are right to warn you not to pin your hopes on appealing if you don’t get the school your DD goes to.
Reception classes legally can’t go over 30 pupils unless there’s exceptional circumstances. It’d be unusual to have a primary school where the PAN isn’t a multiple of 30.
When we were in this situation, we were advised that winning an appeal was only possible if the LA had made a mistake processing our application. It simply doesn’t matter how sympathetic the appeal board are to your circumstances, they’re bound by very strict rules as to what can count as exceptional circumstances. Applying late generally won’t count as exceptional circumstances.

Really the only thing to do is to hope for the best, while making sure that you know how the waiting lists are maintained in order to stay on the waiting list if necessary.
It also might be sensible to look at some of the other nearby schools, with an eye to getting yourself on their waiting lists.
My youngest isn’t in school yet, and if he doesn’t get into the same school as his siblings, there’s definitely some local schools that would work better than others in terms of doing a school run to 2 schools.