To decline my school place?

[LG123]

I'm so cross, just want to yell at admissions (I won't).

My daughter got offered a place outside of catchment as my catchment school os oversubscribed. They wouldn't have to provide transport because she's under compulsory school age so my tiny 4 year old would be expected to walk 2 miles each way everyday.

Bet all the ones that drive got their place at a school round the corner.

AIBU to tell them to jog the fuck on?

@Honeyzest

You're knowledge on this is subject is nob existent so just don't bother.

@linsey2581

4 miles a day is nothing for a 4 year old? Fuck off.

@ancientgran doesn't appear so.

I don't think people understand.

If I send her this year I CAN'T get her there and they won't help with transport.

If I got the same school next year they are obliged to provide transport.

Delaying was my initial plan. Read my updates if you care to know why, my LEA require you to apply for correct chronological cohort during the process and withdraw application.

@CMZ2018 There are 2 half that distance here. Do you walk more than that with a 4 year old?

Some very bizarre posts. Do those busy and important people, who don't have time to read the thread, realise they can select to read OPs posts only?

I think you've made the right decision OP. My son's class includes a child who delayed entry and he has experienced zero issues, he is absolutely thriving. I also know a few more people who have deferred their child's place for this September as they're summer born and not ready. It's becoming far more commonplace, and in your situation it seems like a no-brainer!

@LG123 I don’t think there is any need for rudeness. Every time someone suggests something you don’t agree with you comeback with a rude comment. I think you think that 2 miles to a school is at the other the end of the country. When my sister and I were at primary in the mid to late 80s (she is also a late August baby so went to school at 4 too) we used to walk to and from school, mainly for the fact our parents didn’t have a car then. My kids also walked to school as we didn’t have a car (only got one last year) and they are now 19 and 20. When kids walk to to school they learn about road safety which is a valuable lesson. It seems you have made up your mind that you are going to defer your child so why don’t you just do that and stop asking for other peoples opinions.

Did you start full time from September in the 80s? In my area in the 80s you wouldn't have started until the Summer term.
How many other schools did you pads on the way?

The OP lives somewhere thst has 2 much closer primary schools, which is different to living in an area where the closest is 3 miles away.

If your plan is to delay then it doesn't matter what school you did or didn't get into, so stop being obnoxious about it.

If your plan was to go, then you do the waiting list process and/or argue for transport, with a good chance of success either way. So again, no need to moan about everything.

Again I think you need to read the thread. It isn't just distance, you have to consider the individual child and the route. The OP has stated it isn't a suitable route, I said I have been hit by a car walking to a village school where there is no pavement and narrow lanes. I can assure you I know about road safety but it didn't help when a car passed to close and hit my right side, I was in pain but not badly injured, a child would have been more hurt as it could easily have hit a child's head rather than my arm. If the car had been going faster it could have done alot of damage.

Hi @LG123 , I just wanted to say that I hope your little one enjoys her extra year at nursery - and has a strong start to school the following year when the YR curriculum will be more suited to her age. I think a lot of people have outdated information on delayed starts, although it used to be the case that children were then inserted into Y1, this is very much frowned upon now.

We have a late summer born who started school at just four- although her nursery had said that she was ready for school she struggled with concentration (huge difference between just four and nearly six!) and coupled with lockdown remote learning it was very, very difficult. She is flying now in Y2 but I regret not letting her play for an extra year.

Maybe the school transport dilemma, although not helpful- and if you joined the waiting list/appealed, you may find you gained a place at your local school, is the ‘best’ disaster- tipping the decision into giving her an extra year at nursery.

Best wishes.

You are clearly a very angry person at this moment in time.
I’m sorry that you have not received the answers you wanted from people who took the time to kindly try to support you. Perhaps you should find another outlet for your rage.
But I Thank You for reminding me why I have steered clear from this toxic community for the past 15 years and for making me aware that it hasn’t changed one bit.

@LG123

100% defer her place until next year. If you're on Facebook, join the group Flexible school admissions for summer borns - there's loads of helpful advice and support on there.

Good luck!

My DC have always been in a school 1.8 miles away and we’ve always walked so I’m used to long school runs. It happened in the city we used to live in then we moved to a rural town with a school on our street which we naively thought they’d get a place in but they didn’t so we were in the exact same situation. It’s about a 30 min walk either way, it was rotten when they were all small especially when the weather was bad but my appeal failed because they didn’t deem the distance large enough. I have an August born DD too so understand that pain, she’d turned 4 about 3 weeks before starting school and she really found walking difficult for the first couple of years.

I’d be inclined to delay her starting for a year and try applying again next year, hopefully you get a place in the closer school.

Do you know that you can definitely do that? My son was born 30th August but we were not allowed to defer - he started school 4 days after his 4th birthday. Others have also said that it is not compulsory for her to go to school - missing the foundation year is a poor option to choose to miss a walk every day - which year will she miss instead to make sure that she will not be too old for the secondary entrance point? My son also had not yet hit a centile and was tiny. Also, like your child, he has a long walk to school everyday. BUT, he has survived, made friends and does his SATS at the start of May. I was terrified of letting him go to school so young and tiny, but it was wasted worry. Enjoy the walk too and from school with your child until she is able to do it alone.

My son started school 2 weeks after his 4th birthday. Our walk is just under a mile each way and he was too tired to walk it so I pushed him in his pram for the first year. He was emotionally not ready for school and we had a bad couple of years. I would have deferred a year but 7 years ago it was go straight to year 1, so I chose not to defer. It's different now I think. We got lucky that he is bright and academic and keeping up in all subjects. Otherwise it would have been a disaster, so I will never say my son is fine so your daughter will be. It sounds like you should turn down the place and get her to school the following year. Hopefully less sibling year and she gets the nearer school. At least both schools are good, that's the main thing.

This whole thread makes me appreciate the system in Scotland a little more. The cut off date here is March 1st so you do not have children who have literally just turned 4 starting school. There is funding for two years of 'School nursery' but other venues take the funding provided they follow the curriculum. The council assess and approves each location. It's also perfectly acceptable to apply for a delay and often this is granted in which case the funding applies for an additional year. We don't have the same oversubscribed schools in most of the country. I hope you get your wee one sorted out OP. Seems to be a lot of hassling you to walk and ignoring the fact your child is little and the system is faulty.

Whilst your child might be a bit more capable emotionally for school next year, won’t everything else be the same and you could end up with the same issues only this time you will have to attend the school given or H/E until a place in your chosen school comes up which wouldn’t be ideal. 


Decline the place and see if you get one at your preferred school. If you decide to wait and reapply, there is usually a link to a box where you can give reasons for your need for your chosen school. This can help them decide who gets places. Not being able to drive would be a good reason to put here.

Wow, what an attitude.
You can pay on finance in most bike shops. You can also use the Cycle To Work scheme which makes it much cheaper. You can also get a trailer instead which second hand is not much at all.

The OP hasn't made it clear whether she drives or not, or if she has a partner who drives. She also hasn't answered people who have asked her how she gets her child to nursery either.
She has said she's a student nurse, so I presume she has transport means to get to work, just isn't happy that her child didn't get a place at the school/s she wanted and despite being offered a nice village school (smaller schools can suit less confident children as there are fewer children both in a class and in the school overall, it can be less daunting and less 'busy' and small schools pride themselves on being able to get to know their children really well because there aren't so many of them) thinks that it's the council's job to get her child to school. Next year the OP may be even more unfortunate and find getting a school place AND transport, more complicated than she thought.
Lots of people have offered her advice too, including people who really know how school admissions work...

@LG123

I don't drive, I don't have a partner who drives. Nursery is on a bus route into the town centre, the placement and university are also on an easy bus route.

The school is an awkward village to get to. The council are obliged to provide transport if placing her there or further.

@Merryhobnobs honestly, I considered moving to Scotland. Thank you 😊

It wouldn’t be a good reason to put here- it would have absolutely zero impact on getting a place at a school. School admissions have to strictly follow the admissions criteria in order. The only things you could write in the reasons box that would make a difference are things that would place a child in a higher admissions category, e.g. a medical need when the school has a category for this in its defined admissions criteria.