Is it a "first-come, first-served" basis ?

[822tinkerbell]

Got DD's school admission pack last monday - visited the school i thought was good ( situated in the rich area - thinking the children there must be well-behaved, polite etc.. ) but it's not in our catchment area. Not impressed as they do not have any sorts of afterschool clubs, very little activities except bits of music and choir. Their 2007 result slided a bit but that wasn't my main concern. I shall put them as my second choice. My first choice is a school which is a mile away from us. DD's cousin is there now and grandad works there too. The have always had outstanding result but i don't know what to say when asked for reason to be in that school. Can't really say "Grandad works in XXX school" Can somebody please help me with something more constructive ?

Also is it a "first-come, first-served" basis ? that if you submit your forms earlier you have a better chance of getting accepted into the preferred school? Thanks girls - thanks very much.

My dd1 is in one of the best schools in our town though I am begining to think that they are a 'leetle' pushy, which am not happy about but she seems to be doing well there.

They said they were a first come first serve basis on children outside the catchment area (which we currently are) and dd1 got in no problem at all but am not sure if that is because we are movibg within their catchment area soon.

no.

The way admitions work is like this:

siblings and children with sn are admitted first, then children within catchment, then siblings out of catchment, and then children out of catchment.

Is the school you're applying to in your local catchment area?

not first come first served - they wait until all the applications are in on the closing date and then start sorting it out.

If your first choice school is your catchment school, you don't need to put any reason. It will be obvious from your address that it is your nearest school

also, if the school is a state school then they have no say in who does and doesn't get admitted - the admitions are dealt with by the LEA.

Thanks girls for your quick reply. All the schools i am putting down are not in my catchment area. The school within my CA has always been an average school but i have never been keen with their open classroom concept. Just recently, twice they lost children wandered off the school premise after school but were found safely. My 1st choice is Grandad's school ( we called it that though he only works there) though it's 2.5 miles and there are 3 primary schools in between. 2nd choice the one i visited but not as keen - saw all the porsches & BMWS park outside the school waiting to pick their children up - find it a bit intimidating next to my old banger ! last choice a school about a mile away - please don't think i am a snob but i just want dd goes to a school has good result. So shall i say in the form that i would like DD to go to a school with outstanding result ?
The reason i asked if it's FC,FS, a friend has been calling me everyday to ask why i have not send the forms in because she knows a friend who works in a school and she said so. I nearly told her to P-O this morning. BTW, all the schools i mentioned are state schools.

Read all the information you've been given carefully so you properly understand how they allocate the places in your area. They may give examples of what happens if someone doesn't get their first choice school. Also look through the information you've had for any kind of numbers showing how many places at the different schools were allocated to people who'd put those schools first, second and so on, or from different catchment areas, in previous years - that can tell you a lot, if you know that e.g. all 60 available places at one school for the last five years have gone to people who put it as their first choice, you know it's probably oversubscribed and some people who put it first won't have got in - similarly if you can find out how many 'out of catchment' children got into a particular school in previous years, you'll have an idea of your own chances. It's also useful to know which local schools are faith schools and more likely to be leaving children from their catchment areas without a place (if they're not religious), so those children will then be competing for more places at their next-nearest schools than you might expect if you're just looking at the map and thinking they'll all be going to their nearest one. How many people in your local area go private? Etc. etc.

The information you need may be in what you've been sent or buried on your council website but it's worth looking for so you don't have any nasty surprises! In some areas it's absolutely straightforward and most people get into their nearest schools or first choices (in which case you don't need to think about any of this) - but in others it's not and you need to be strategic and consider e.g. making sure one of your choices is a 'safe' one you've got a good chance of getting into rather than putting down all your ideal ones. In theory it's the same rules everywhere but the effect of those same rules will vary a lot by area depending on what schools happen to be there!

Thanks girls for all the helpful information. Will do my research thoroughly tonight. X

There's a cut-off date. Makes no difference if you send application in three months before it or one day before.

also, the LEA sorts out the applications - not the schools

Whereabouts are you and when is your cut-off? Our primary school admission cut-off was last Friday.

Some areas don't have catchments any more. We don't - if the school is oversubscribed, admissions are governed by a hierarchy of criteria, starting with looked after children, children with special educational needs who have specified the school, siblings and then all comers based on distance from the school.

That is a fairly standard catchment area policy singersgirl. Most schools have criteria that override distance and the policy on looked after children and children with special needs (if the school has specialist provision) is set t at least LEA leave, probably national. None of these things come into play unless the school is oversubscried though.

In our LEA the admissions go like this:

1. Children in care

1. Children within catchment

3 Children with siblings

1. Children from outside catchment but with special medical and social needs

Yes, but we don't have a catchment. There's no in and out of catchment - it's just distance from the school.