when do i have to put ds1 name down for school? help!

[tiredemma]

my ds1 is 3 years old and as he was born mid sept he is not due to go to school until sep2005, just before his 5th b/day.
i dont want to miss the boat and leave it too late to put his name down for a school, my other problem is that the area where we are living at the moment (renting) is not the area where we are hoping to buy a house in within the next two years so im a bit stuck as to where i can enrol him.
im really worried about not getting him into a good school and now im starting to panic.
should i just enrol him now in the school 1/2 a mile away which is very good or just wait until we move but then risk not getting him in anywhere?
help me!!!

There's no rush - a lot can change in 2 years. Good schools can go downhill and vice versa. I'd leave it a good while yet and see where you are in Sept 04. Then I'd visit all the ones you're interested in and apply for several on the basis that you have 2nd and 3rd choices to fall back on.

thanks www, i was going to leave it a while but some fool at work yesterday said they need to have thier names down from the age of 2!
thats why i was starting to hyperventilate!

I agree with WWW - you've got ages. Just a couple of extra info:

tiredemma - some schools do take names earlier - some of those that do their own admissions - church schools, and so on. But it doesn't give you any advantage, as the actual admissions are decided after the advertised closing date.

For most schools you cannot apply early. The applications here are done Nov-Jan before they start school. You do need to have proof of address at this point, for most admissions policies your address at this point is key.

Does that make sense? I'm not feeling very coherent!

Unless you are looking at a private school there should be no rush. LEA's have a timetable for school applications including those schools which have opted out of direct LEA control (such as Church Schools)which can apply their own selection criteria. You could contact the LEA's of the areas you may be living in and ask when to get the information. You could also contact a few of the particular schools you have in mind and they would probably put you on a list to be sent the latest prospectus nearer the time but without commitment on either side. If the schools are private then you would need to put his name down now at the more popular ones and possibly pay a registration fee.

A lot can change in 2 years. Our circumstances change from year to year and I can only advise you to keep your options as open as possible. We've been rolling a place at a private school forward for ds for 2 years already and have already paid a registration fee for dd who is 2 to start in Sept 2005 even though we are not in the country at the moment.

Just to elaborate - in the area we used to live the church school was very keen that names were down at birth ... but this was actually just for their planning purposes, so that they had some idea of birthrates and numbers, which can be crucial or fatal for a small school. It actually had nothing whatsoever to do with the actual application process for the children!

Where we are planning to move (Norwich), the deadline for getting on the list for every school I phoned up was 1 March (they only do autumn intakes). There is no advantage in signing up sooner.

I have put dd's name down for the nursery attached to the (church) school across the road for when she is 3. This isn't for 2 years however so am prob getting over excited/panicky. Hope we will have moved from this area by then anyway.

agree with kmg " putting name down" makes no diff - most state schools start from the deadline of that intake and the Head of our school laughs at paraniod parents of say, 1 year olds getting agitated about it!

If its a private school you are after you may be wise to start looking. Some lists close over a year before the due date to start school.

Agree on the private schools - one at least near us told us that if your child is born between January and August and doesn't already have an elder sibling there they have very little chance of getting a place because their lists are usually full by the Christmas of the school year in which the children are born!

I agree with the others over school places. Here you have to apply by 31st March and the places are allocated between then and 1st May according to published selection criteria.

Your friend may be getting confused between schools that have nursery classes. Often parents put their names down very early and they start at age 3 or 4. There is also a misconception that being in the nursery guarantees a place in the associated primary school. It doesn't, you still have to apply separately at the right time.

Just wanted to say that the rules about dates and entry criteria for primary school vary from council to council and school to school. Some do still give preference to nursery children, and the dates for applications to be in (and the actual process for applying) vary widely.

If you are keen on a particular school, it may be worth 'putting your name down' as in our schools case that means they will send you the info & forms in plenty of time to get them in. Some of the dates do vary (I'm sure in our school the forms have to be back in Feb)