Would you consider taking a school job to get priority admission for your child?

[addictedmoi]

Our school gives priority admission to children of staff who have been employed 2 years or more or who have a role for which there is a demonstrable skills shortage. It applies to teaching and support staff. Many schools have similar policies. Given there is often lots of discussion about the lengths people will go to to secure a coveted school place, is it something you would consider if you didn't have the means to move house into carchment, or qualify for some other kind of priority? I'm curious as to whether people generally know about it being an option, especially as the term "demonstrable skills shortage" could increasingly be applied to many support roles.

Might be policy but in my experience far from guarantees the child a place. The has a parent working at the school criteria is usually a fair way down the admissions list so it's not unusual for the year group to be full before reaching that particular criteria. It seems to help once on the waiting list potentially though. As a teacher myself, I know a few who've wanted their children to attende the same school for various reasons, and none of them have found it straightforward as they had assumed it would be.

in theory yes, if it meant my children got into a much better school. In reality, they'd hate to have their mum working at the school.

Really? In all our local schools it is after siblings, but before distance admissions, so basically a guaranteed place.

I've just done the secondary application for my DD and every one of the 6 choices had this criterion. She will most likely be going to the school where I teach, and it was a factor in my choosing to work there (although not the deciding factor).

It has got the school out of a hole (because they couldn't recruit) and has got us out of a hole (because the secondary places in our area are very unfairly distributed, with some parts of the LA with much more choice than others).

The impact on admissions is tiny though. If you look at the stats then it's generally 1 or 2 places on that criterion compared to a PAN of 180/210/240.