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Education

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Original poster

what age were your children when...

16 replies

spod · 19/11/2004 21:46

what age were your children when you registered them for primary school? a colleague has registered her 18mth old

OP posts:

blossomhill · 19/11/2004 21:48

You have a cut off date in my area. There is no more putting names down as it is up to the lea to decide not the school.

jampot · 19/11/2004 21:50

same as BH here too

blossomhill · 19/11/2004 21:51

It is usually about 1 year before they are due to start that you apply. You also have to apply seperately for a nursery place.

coppertop · 19/11/2004 22:28

Is it a state school or private? Around here you apply directly to the school in the year before your child is due to start school, eg ds1 was 3 in summer 2003 so we contacted the school we wanted in October 2003 (deadline was Feb 2004, I think) and he started in Sept 2004.

Hulababy · 19/11/2004 22:30

We registered DD for two different private girl;s schools when she was 12 months old.

Slinky · 19/11/2004 22:32

At our school, you apply directly to them. They will not put childrens names down before the age of 3.

The deadline is March of the year they will be starting school, ie March 2004, for the September 2004/January 2005 intake.

ChicPea · 19/11/2004 22:34

DD was 3 days old when we sent the letter to apply. With DS was told to reapply when he was one year old.

helsy · 21/11/2004 00:59

We put dd's name down for state primary when she was three after being panicked by other parents who had their children's names down from 18 months and 2 years, but we were ok whenever we applied (so long as it was by March in the year she was due to start) as we were in the catchment area for our school of choice. It seems more important to apply early if you are applying for a school out of your catchment area. Ring the school(s) you're interested in and ask them, as LEAs may vary.

oooggs · 21/11/2004 18:54

Here you apply to the school, and with all the new houses popping up all over the place, best to get it down early. DS was 5 weeks old

Gobbledigook · 21/11/2004 18:57

Like Slinky - have to have application in to the school by March of the year they will be starting (in the Sept). DS1 starts reception next Sept so I'll do his application in Jan probably.

If you are applying for a school out of catchment then applications have to be with LEA by Jan.

For private schools round here they have to be in by birth pretty much!! It's ridiculous!

Lonelymum · 21/11/2004 18:57

We moved when ds1 was nearly four and he was due to start school when he was 4.3. We applied then so compared to other posters, really late. After that, ds2 and dd were automatically sent letters asking us if we wanted to apply for a place at the school whilst they were at playgroup - about a year in advance if I remember correctly.

Gobbledigook · 21/11/2004 18:59

Should mention - if applying for normal state school, there is no 'first come first served' so it doesn't matter when you get the name down as long as by the March of the year they are starting. Then they offer places according to criteria so they do:

1st - in catchment area with sibling already in school, 2nd - in catchment area, no siblings in school, 3rd - out of catchment but sibling in school, 4th - out of catchment, no sibling in school

LIZS · 21/11/2004 19:08

Depends what you mean by registered. I phoned the local infants schools when ds was just 3 - 6 months before the application forms were due in(October for following September intake). It didn't so much register him as put us on the list to be automatically sent the prospectus and application forms when the time came.

At the same time we registered him for 2 private schools - one of which would have had a place for him but for the other he has yet to reach top of the waiting list almost 4 years on. He is now undergoing an assessment for potential entry into year 3 next autumn. dd (3) was registered at birth for the same private school and has an unconditional place for reception there next September.

tortoiseshell · 21/11/2004 19:44

Where we live, you can't do this. You just apply the year before you are due to start, straight to the council. The forms have to be in by the middle of October, and then you hear in February.

Linnet · 21/11/2004 22:53

I'm in Scotland, seems to be more or less the same as what everyone else has mentioned.

My dd's registration went like this. She turned 5 in the August of 2002 so was due to start school that August. The way it worked was that any child who turned 5 between the 1st of March 2002 and February 28th 2003 would be due to start school in August 2002. We had to apply in the January and heard at the beginning of March I think it was. There is only one intake here in August.

I don't know how it works for private schools though as that was never an option for us. but a girl in dd's class didn't come back after the summer holidays this year instead she transfered to a private school, not sure if they had been waiting on a place to come up or not. they said they'd just decided to move their dd and her sister to a school with smaller class sizes.

throckenholt · 22/11/2004 09:01

We were just given our applications (they go to the county here rather than direct to a school) - closing date is end of the year. This is for a school start of next September.

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