...to be so angry and upset by this unfair school admissions policy?

[SchoolFury]

(Have namechanged as this is quite identifiable)

My DD just turned 4 in September, so is due to start Reception next year. Since Jan this year she has been at a preschool (nursery) which is part of a primary school.

It is our nearest school, and the only one for which we are in the 'priority area'. We actually moved to this flat in 2013 in large part because we loved the school so much

It's a non-denominational, community state primary school. We are in a part of London with a lot of faith schools (Jewish, Catholic, CofE) and we are a mixed Jewish/Christian secular family, so faith schools not for us. It's also got an Ofsted '1' (outstanding) in last inspection, though that is less important than the wonderful atmosphere, the sense of community and the fact that my daughter is really thriving in the preschool.

Under normal admissions rules, my daughter would be very likely to get a place there for Reception based on distance - we live less than 0.2 miles from the school. HOWEVER, last year the school decided to take a 'bulge' class, i.e. take 60 pupils in reception instead of 30. They took from a much wider area - up to 0.5 miles from the school - usually the limit is less than 0.3.

This means that siblings of those in the 'bulge' class will get offered places next year ahead of my daughter, and others in her nursery class who live closer, but do not have siblings at the school. I know personally of two families with one child in current reception, with a sibling a year younger, who will therefore get offered places ahead of my daughter even though they live much further away.

I am really distressed by this. The only other nearby school is a failing school (Ofsted rating 3) - not the end of the world, but we are not even in the priority area for it (very near, but wrong side of the road) so we may not even get a place there . And my daughter is so happy in preschool and has lots of good friends and good relationships with the teachers.

If my daughter had been a week older she would have started reception this year and would have got a place for definite. As it is, she almost certainly won't get a place, instead children living much further away will get priority for no reason other than the 'bulge' class taken this year. I have been told there is no chance of them taking another bulge class this year - so what's the point?

AIBU to feel really upset, resentful towards those who have got in this year, and most of all angry with the school for making this decision, which seems really short sighted and unfair on children in subsequent years?

As many have said, it's quite unusual to have siblings with just 1 school year apart, so I think you're worrying unnecessarily. 2 or 3 years is much more common. I'd be surprised if more than 1 or 2 children out of a class of 30 would have a sibling in the next school year down.

In case anyone is interested here is a link to the Fair Admissions Campaign.

Have a chat to the admissions person. From experience (10 years at school with 4 kids!), it does tend to be more unusual to have siblings in adjacent years than 2 school years apart. I have not come across that many, really. 2 or 3 school years apart is much more common. Xx

I sympathise, and hope you manage to get the place you want.

However, my DD started reception in a small village school that had to create a bulge class the year she joined. It has caused quite a bit of disruption, particularly to the dining hall now that the majority are taking advantage of free school meals for infants.

If every year going forward took a bulge class, the school would have doubled in size in 7 years! That would have a major impact across the whole school community, changing the school character immensely.

I'm grateful that there was a bulge class that my DD could benefit from, I dread yo think how far she would have had to travel to school otherwise.

Thanks tiggy and sugarplum for the encouragement. As I say, I know for definite of two families with siblings who will get a place next year thanks to older sibling in this year's bulge class - the older ones have just started Reception and both of the younger siblings have just started nursery with my daughter (who started back in January).

So there are minimum two fewer places next year thanks to this bulge class, there may well be more.

Mothership many thanks for that link, looks very interesting, I will read tonight.

Enjoyingmycoffee at the moment my inclination is to see what happens in April, to ask the school and LEA for another bulge class next year (think this is probably hopeless), to hope that at least we get a place at the other nearby school and that it's not as bad as everyone (including Ofsted) says, and to think about moving somewhere else completely in the medium/longer term.

Religious schools - I know due to demand it can be different in London, but lots of children of all kinds of religious and non-religious persuasion are taught in C of E schools.

you are correct that the problem of religious schools being mainly for the right kind of faithful is mainly a London problem; however, even outside of London most schools still prioritise children of a particular faith, and must only accept children of other faiths if they are not oversubscribed. Only schools and churches have the right to discriminate in this way.

As a mum of three children at three schools i think the sibling rule needs to stay, i wish it was the same here. In my case even though i'm a SAHM/ full time carer i can't do the pick ups and drop offs because of start/ finish time clashes.

Next year my youngest should be able to go to the same school as DS2 but we're just out if catchment, no places within catchment for DS2 when he joined, so I can apply to local religious in Catchment where we probably wont get in, same religious school as DS2 where we're out of catchment and fall below those who attend relevant religious ceremony at least twice a month or another out of catchment community primary. In which case
I'll have three at three schools and an expensive nightmare of pick ups and drop offs.

Fortunately county fund a taxi with escort for my eldest due to him being at a special school.

I agree with what others say about sibling admissions though. The numbers from previous years being around 16/ 17 and 6 others closer to you means you should be able to get in. Not many people have siblings in subsequent years. A two plus year gap would appear more common.

As your DD is already in nursery in the school could you chat with one of the nursery workers and see if you can better approximate it between you?

School A near us was hilariously over-subscribed for 2009. Parents drive past their two nearest schools, and a village with three other schools (one RC) to the next nearest school with spaces, B, which starts a reception class of 28.

Three years later, there are around 20 siblings applying to School B. The furthest child getting in lives 0.4m away, and a dozen genuinely local children don't get in.

Everyone ends up driving. It's barking.

Why was School A full? 29 siblings that year, many of whom had already moved away.

OP I feel for you. It's very scary. But the system can't please everyone and no version of the system disadvantages nobody. Good luck.

Incidentally you can't say that those two siblings are due to the bulge class unless you know where the cut-off would have been for 30 IYSWIM. They might have got in anyway.

writtenguarantee - that is not quite true. Sorry but my DCs primary as with all the C of E primaries (and actually most of the Catholic Primary schools) locally, all prioritise on faith.

But even though they are "oversubscribed" they always take from the "non-faith" criteria. In fact to get into DCs school in year R, faith is not a criteria. They have an extra intake in year 3 where faith is a criteria.

Sorry not to have RTFT but just to throw in a word of caution.... friends moved due to a similar situation to the one you're in. At huge cost.They didn't get a place. Is it really worth it? Stamp duty alone will prob pay for several years private school if it comes to that.

Siblings-first is good for children and good for reducing the amount of school-running. You can't please everybody.

@mummytime: sure. for one thing I said "most" and another thing is that many faith schools do have some non-faith places.

There are two issues here. For all practical purposes, any good faith school in London will either have no non-faith places or very few. The second issue is that no matter how many non-faith places there are, the school is still discriminating based on faith by having faith criteria of any kind, which is basically illegal in every other situation here.

If it helps at all, in our year group of 90, there were only 4 children in the new year R who had siblings in the year above. It is quite rare. You are talking about the siblings of a cohort of 90 so I think it will only mean 1 or 2 children who wouldn't have been there.

MrsHathaway as it happens I do know specifically about these two families.

I was chatting to one of the mums (her older child was at nursery with my daughter last year) and she told me how surprised she was to have got in, as she thought she lived much too far away (she told me where she lives).

The other one, the nursery teacher told me that the older child has just got a Reception place having been 8th on the waiting list this year. She was telling me to be encouraging I think, but then we both realised that meant the younger child would get priority next year, so not really that encouraging!

concerned I completely agree with you. I don't want to make a huge expensive decision like moving house in a high-pressure rush, not to mention having to sell our flat too. Buying/selling is stressful enough, can you imagine trying to get it all through before admissions deadline too?!?

It's too much. Private school not an option, we just don't earn enough, but private tuition later on (to supplement crap school teaching) might be.

Just read more of the thread, if our school has typical sized families then 2011 bulge class will 'take' more sibling places than the 2013 one.

I think all in-catchment children, should have priority over out-of-catchment siblings.That is the case in this area and upon being offered an out of catchment place you are warned that subsequent siblings might not have a place.It is the chance you take.

'(the school)will be very unlikely to know how many siblings there might be in future years, not would they say if they did know'

really? schools round here keep, a pre-admissions list so they have an idea how many children they are likely to have applying each year and can plan accordingly, and are happy to tell you the numbers (obviously not names!) on tyhe list and how many are sibs.

Siblings-first is good for children

It isn't good for lone or first children, Andrewofgg.

My local school had two consecutive years of bulge classes. Normal intake 60, bulge 90.

The first year that it went down to 60, the sibling v non sibling ratio was 45 to 60. The second year it was 48 to 60. Bear in mind though that the first year it went down to 60, it was still two years after the first of the two years of bulge classes.

Another school had a bulge class of 90 one year. The following year it dropped to 60, and I don't know what the ratio was. The year after that I.e. Two years after the bulge class, every single place was taken by a sibling, and 7 siblings did not get a place.

So the real issue is when two years after the bulge class has passed. Which was the case with us. We got in by the skin of our teeth.

Our local high school has (after looked after children)

1. Siblings in priority area
2. Children in priority area
3. Siblings out of priority area
4. Other children out of priority area

I guess having kids at different schools is less of a problem at high school age.