When do I apply for my 3 year olds first primary school??

[dropinthe]

I know nothing about anything to do with schooling-He was three this January gone and is in a private nursery two full days a week which I really want him to stay in until he is five as he has been there since just before he was two has got friends there. I know he will start primary school when he is five but how and when do I need to apply to the schools??

Have a look on your LEA's website - that should tell you about the school applications procedures, together with deadlines.

From memory, ours had to be in by mid dec 2004 for entry to reception in sept 2005. We will be informed if we have a place this April.

In our LEA children start school (reception) in the September ofthe academic year in which they will be 5. So my ds1 is 4 on Sunday so starts school in Sept.

We have to make applications to state community schools directly to the head by 1st April this year and we hear at the start of May.

Voluntary aided schools (e.g. RC or CofE schools) do their own admissions and you usually apply to those a lot earlier - I know round here the parents have already had 'offer letters' whereas the deadline for our school hasn't even gone yet!!

(Though I was visited unexpectedly by the head last week to 'check I lived here' as we've just moved so our names are not yet on the electoral roll they checked )

check with the local education authority. In Norfolk they cahnged the system this year - previously you contacted each school, now it is done centrally. We had to fill in a form by the end of December for starting next September.

Yours would be starting sometime after Sept 2006 probably - so maybe start visiting schools in the next few months to get a feel for which you like, and ask the head about admissions procedures.

DD is 3 in April. She is due to start school in January 2007 (we have two intakes; cut off point is somethime in January I think)

We have to apply for her primary school place by December 2005/January 2006. It is the same here for both the September and the January intakes.

Your LEA website shoud have all the information outlined there, as they all vary slightly.

We are in this position too. DD is 3 and we are just about to move to a new area. Have got her into the local nursery p/t but know we need to do something about school too. How to you go about applying? Do you contact the school directly and get a form from them or what?

Thanks for advice-I have started to contact the schools to arrange visits,although they all seemed a bit shocked that I was doing so so early-had so many in my area I didnt know where to look-found a good BBC site that listed the schools in order of value added scores so kind of went from there.

news.bbc.co.uk

well done dropinthe, you reminded me to ring the school we want to send Lottie to. Thankfully I have to pick up my form in mid June and it has to be back by October 2005. She was born Dec 2001 so is 3 and a bit now.